I won't claim to know baseball, but I think the Ichiro trade was long overdue, and they probably missed a chance to acquire some good, maybe even proven players by not trading him sooner. As great as he was for about 8 years, his salary has likely been among the major factors holding the team back from rebuilding more quickly. I suspect we'll see his numbers improve in New York. Why? Because that team's batting order is solid, top to bottom. There's protection all aver the place, which means all players get lots of good pitches to hit. In my opinion, a lack of protection has been the reason why so many free agent signings that seemed like no brainers have ended in failure for the M's. This would explain why so many of those players went on to have success with other teams. As soon as they put Beltre in the Rangers lineup, he started hitting like he had before he came to the M's. Conversely, when the M's acquired Justin Smoak from the Rangers, I was lukewarm on the deal, as he had only managed to hit something like .240 with the Rangers. Granted, that is a stellar average for a Mariner player, but now we are seeing what happens when you take a guy with upside and ask him to realize his potential on a team of never-will-be's. With no protection, he won't see many good pitches to hit. As his confidence fades, so does his batting average. How do you suppose a guy like that might perform for the Yankees?

Anyway, I think the Ichiro trade was good, but I was disappointed to learn that they traded him for more pitching prospects. I know, you can't have enough pitching, but they've had a top tier pitching staff for years now, and without a batting lineup that can score more than a run or two a game, some remarkable numbers have resulted in 90+ losses per year. Apparently, they may be preparing to trade Felix, as that would explain the need for still more pitching. If they trade him at the right time, they should be able to get a proven bat to help restore some confidence in their young hitters.

On another note, how the heck can a team that has the worst overall batting average in MLB be tops in their league at scoring runs on the road ( hope I got that stat right)? Is there more to the Safeco curse than we might have thought?