Seattle releases Suzuki; he will join front office
SEATTLE — Ichiro Suzuki was released Thursday by the Mariners and is shifting into a front-office role with the team, although he is not completely shutting the door on playing again.
The Mariners announced that Suzuki, 44, was becoming a special assistant to the chairman, effective immediately. The team said Suzuki will have an active presence with the team and assist with outfield play, baserunning and hitting.
But nowhere in the announcement does it say Suzuki is retiring, although Suzuki is precluded from returning to the active roster in 2018.
“We want to make sure we capture all of the value that Ichiro brings to this team off the field,” Seattle general manager
“Now I don’t feel as bad about walking Ichiro last night.”
Brett Anderson, A’s pitcher, in a tweet
Jerry Dipoto said in a release. “This new role is a way to accomplish that. While it will evolve over time, the key is that Ichiro’s presence in our clubhouse and with our players and staff improves our opportunity to win games. That is our number-one priority and Ichiro’s No. 1 priority.”
Suzuki is in his 18th majorleague season and had appeared in 15 games this year for the Mariners. Suzuki started Wednesday night against the A’s and went 0-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. He hit .205 in 44 at-bats and all nine of his hits this season were singles.
“Now I don’t feel as bad about walking Ichiro last night,” tweeted A’s lefty Brett Anderson, who started Wednesday’s game and walked Suzuki in the third inning.
Suzuki has spent parts of 13 seasons with the Mariners. He also has played for the Marlins and Yankees.
Anything beyond 2018 is unknown. Although there are no guarantees of Suzuki returning, Seattle and the A’s do open the 2019 regular season with a two-game series in Tokyo.
After almost six years away, Suzuki returned this spring to help patch an injury-depleted outfield on the team for which he played from 2001 to 2012. Suzuki was signed after Seattle learned Ben Gamel would miss the first few weeks of the regular season, and the reunion was a feel-good story of the former star returning to where his career in the majors got started.
Though Suzuki struggled at the plate, he did have a few defensive gems, including robbing Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez of a homer on the opening weekend of the season.
Suzuki earned the 2001 AL Rookie of the Year and MVP with the Mariners and won two AL batting titles. He was traded to the Yankees midway through 2012, played parts of three seasons with New York, then spent three seasons with Miami. The 10-time All-Star has a .311 average and 3,089 hits. He also had 1,278 hits in nine seasons in Japan.