Marlins' exec spins a fish story on Ichiro's worth
Posted: Thursday, July 19, 2007 1:31 PM
Making his weekly guest appearance on a Miami radio program, Florida Marlins president David Samson was brutally critical over Seattle’s signing of Ichiro Suzuki to a five-year contract extension reportedly worth $18 million a year.
In this space it's thought prudent to deal with just the facts when examining Samson's criticism.
Ichiro’s resume shows seven seasons in the majors, seven All-Star appearances, six Gold Gloves, one MVP, and a Rookie of the Year. He has almost 1,500 hits, 260 stolen bases, and a .332 career batting average. He has missed only 15 games since joining the Mariners. In summary, Ichiro is about excellent performance, total reliability, and sound expectation of future performance.
Now to specifically address Mr. Samson’s opinion that Ichiro is a singles hitter who has never led the Mariners to anything. In 2001, Ichiro’s first MLB season, Seattle won 116 games, the AL West, and made it to the ALCS before losing to the Yankees. In 2002 and again in 2003 the Mariners won 93 games.
Seattle sold 3.5 million tickets in Ichiro’s rookie season (an increase of 600,000 or nearly 20 percent from the preceding season, also a playoff year for the team). Despite three consecutive losing seasons (2004-06), the Mariners still average at least 30,000 in per game attendance. In summary, it is easily seen that Ichiro has made a substantial impact on the Mariners’ attendance.
Not easily known is the financial impact on the franchise from marketing and television deals the Mariners have with Japanese companies (the Mariners are majority owned by Nintendo, which is based in Japan). Anyone in baseball who has experienced the signing of a Japanese star by a major league team -- as I witnessed in New York as a broadcaster for the Mets when they signed Kaz Matsui -- understands the economic benefits that partially offset the player’s salary.
Here’s what I find most difficult to accept about Mr. Samson’s comments: No franchise should be held in higher regard than Seattle. Ownership and management turned a disaster into one of baseball’s great successes. After 18 years of on-field failure in a dungeon-like stadium, Seattle had become baseball’s Siberia. Sound scouting, strong player development, and shrewd moves at the major-league level turned the franchise around. A stunning new ballpark followed and the Mariners have been a decade-long success story.
The Marlins are quick to point to their two World Series titles (1997, and 2003). But they have never won anything in the regular season, taking both World Series following wild-card berths. They have drawn only two million fans once since their honeymoon season of 1993. And, in its sixth year, the present ownership is still without a deal for a new stadium. In that period there has been a football stadium, hockey arena, and two basketball arenas built in South Florida. What is Samson's explanation of that?
