Quick Hits: Today in MLB, 3/8/2018

Seattle Mariners Announce Deal with Ichiro Suzuki

After a five year journey, Ichiro is returning to where his career began.

Yesterday afternoon, the Seattle Mariners officially announced that they had come to terms with free agent outfielder Ichiro Suzuki. The one-year contract guarantees the seventeen-year MLB veteran a base $750,000 salary with an additional $1.25 million in performance bonuses dependent on plate appearances. Statistically speaking, the 2017 season was one of the worst of Ichiro's career. After a resurgent 2016 season that saw him hit .291 with a .354 on-base percentage, the slap-hitting outfielder saw his average drop to .255 while he posted the second worst strikeout rate of his career (17.85%). Making matters worse, the speed that once defined Ichiro's skill set was virtually non-existent as the outfielder only went 1-for-2 on stolen base attempts in 2017. Nevertheless, after outfielder/future Loreal spokesperson Ben Gamel suffered a strained oblique during batting practice, Seattle management felt the need to bring in another outfielder to take his place for the time being and they found a suitable replacement in the forty-four year old Ichiro.

In some respects, the move echoes that of the Mariners resigning Ken Griffey Jr. in 2009. However, bringing in aging superstars in the twilight of their careers is hardly the move that one would expect a playoff contender to make as the Mariners are surely feeling the need to win after a disappointing 2017 season that saw them finish 78-84, a far cry from what expectations were for the squad heading into the season. The 2009 Mariners were a good (but not great) team that went 85-77 largely on the back of an underrated pitching staff headlined by a 19-5 season from budding superstar Felix Hernandez. Expectations couldn't have been high for a Seattle squad that went 61-101 record in 2008 and, after finishing seventh in the AL in attendance the previous season, signing an old fan favorite like Ken Griffey was undoubtedly a move to bring fans back out to the park. 2018 finds the Mariners in a different position as a flurry of off-season acquisitions firmly places the team in a "win-now" mindset. There is no time or space for playing to fan sentimentality on a club that has its focus on winning and one would have to imagine that the proverbial leash on Ichiro will only extend for as long as he is productive.

Prospect Tracker: Shohei Ohtani Finds Himself Between a Rock and a Curveball

Angels DH/P Shohei Ohtani reacts to a called strike three in a game vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Shohei Ohtani hype train hit a slight speed bump yesterday as the outfielder continued his hitting woes in spring training, going 0-2 with a strikeout and grounding into a double play vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers. While the lanky right-hander has shown to be at least competent on the mound (as evidenced by his dominant B-game performance vs. the Brewers (2.2 innings, eight (!) strikeouts, and two runs allowed), Ohtani is batting a paltry .091 (1-for-11) with four strikeouts including this gem on a 2-2 count from Clayton Kershaw:

My knees buckled just watching this clip!

While Ohtani is hardly the first person to go down looking on a Clayton Kershaw curveball (and he'll most certainly not be the last), there seemed to be a little fire in the Dodger's ace when asked whether he was excited to face the Angel's top prospect. "I could care less now...He didn't pick us. Good luck to him." Kershaw's seeming disdain for Ohtani most likely stems from his and teammate Justin Turner's failed winter attempts to lure the Japanese import to Chavez Ravine. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Kershaw reflected on his feelings in regard to the negotiation process and the futility of NL teams attempting to sign the hopeful hitter/pitcher combo, "I'm kind of mad at his agent for making us waste all that time and effort. Fifteen teams should have been out of it, from the beginning." When it became clear that Ohtani did indeed plan on pursuing both hitting and pitching at professional level, any chance of him signing with a National League team seemingly went out the window due to the league's lack of a designated hitter. Dodger's third baseman Justin Turner was a little more blunt in his description of how his efforts to recruit Ohtani went, saying, "We might as well have been speaking to a window."

It will be interesting to see how Ohtani fares in his pursuit of becoming a major league hitter and pitcher. The constant media coverage of every Ohtani pitch and at-bat will only magnify his successes and failures as a player and, when some of the league feels spurned by the fact that you didn't pick them after they courted you, it could be a long season for the young prospect.

Free Agent Tyler Clippard Signs Minor League Deal with Toronto

Bespectacled right-hander Tyler Clippard will be taking his talents north of the border on a minor league deal.

In a move that probably slid under the radar for most, veteran reliever Tyler Clippard signed a one-year minor league deal with the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday afternoon and will be reporting to the major league camp as the Jays look to iron out the final two spots of their bullpen. The thirty-three year old hurler went 2-8 with a 4.77 ERA in a season that saw him struggle out of the gate with the New York Yankees, seemingly turn things around with a mid-season trade to the Chicago White Sox, before bottoming out after another trade to the Houston Astros.

Statistically, Clippard has been steadily regressing since 2013 as he has seen his WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) rise from 0.86 to 1.29 over that time frame. Essentially, he is giving up almost half a runner more per inning than he was four years ago. Over the course of 162 games, those base runners will add up. A certain amount of regression can also be seen in his "stuff" as his fastball has lost 1.4 MPH since he left DC (and 2.2 MPH from his hey-day as the National's closer in 2012). As a result, Clippard has moved away from relying on his fastball-changeup combination and diversified his pitching arsenal by adding a slider (11.4% usage in '17) to the equation. While Clip still has a ways to go before he fully morphs into a Eddie Harris snot-baller, the results have been mixed so far:

Note the catcher's target...and then note where the pitch went.

That, my friends, was supposed to be a slider low and away. What we got instead was, well, I'm honestly not really sure. Somehow he managed to weasel a strikeout out of that pitch (my money is that Steve Pearce was distracted by the reflection off of Clip's goggles), but more often than not, mistakes like that get hit a very, very long way. Just ask Brad Lidge.

They say that to this day, there is still a ball ricocheting somewhere in the light tower of Minute Maid Park.

All that being said, I fully expect Tyler Clippard to break camp with the Blue Jays to start the season and, most likely, he'll put together a fairly decent season (my guess is between 60-70 innings of 3.75 ERA baseball with roughly a strikeout per inning). Although he is competing with roughly nine other relievers for the final two spots in the Jay's pen, Clip probably has an early leg up given his versatility as a late inning option as well as the unusual right-handed lefty specialist (.597 OPS vs. lefties for his career). Here's to you my fellow goggled hurler!

Images and GIFs are courtesy of MLB.com while statistics are courtesy of Fangraphs.com.