Yankees Trade for Ichiro Suzuki

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Yankees Trade for Ichiro

The New York Yankees got a big name outfielder by trading for Seattle Mariners Ichiro Suzuki a few hours before they start a three game series in Seattle. The trade will be sending two Yankee pitching prospects in D.J Mitchell, and Danny Farquhar to Seattle, and will be sending the 10 time All-Star Ichiro to the Yankees.

Ichiro has seen a decline in his hitting over the past year and a half, as his averaged dropped to .272 in 2011, and is only at .261 this season with a OBP under .300. Mariners have not had much protection for Ichiro or have then been very competitive so a move to a contender maybe just what Ichiro needs to get back on track as he is an all-time great hitter. Ichiro does however bring some speed back to the Yankees right now, as Ichiro has 15 stolen bases while on being caught twice this season.

The addition of Ichiro was brought on in large part to the season ending elbow injury for Brett Gardner. Ichiro has been mostly in right field or center field in his career, as he is a great defender and making a switch to left will definitely be an adjustment for the gold glover.

If Ichiro is here to play left field like it would seem this will lead to a decrease in at bats for Andruw Jones, and Raul Ibanez who are both playing very well right now. Jones has 12 homeruns with 26 RBIs, and Ibanez has 12 homeruns as well with 42 RBIs both providing a lot of power.

The Yankees and Mariners will be playing tonight in Seattle, and it is being reported that Ichiro will be in the lineup playing his first game in pinstripes against his now former team the Mariners. It is unclear where Ichiro will be batting as Joe Girardi wanted to talk with him about it privately.