Ichiro Suzuki just got a deal with the Seattle Mariners. Wow.

For those unfamiliar with who Ichiro is, he is a baseball legend that just signed a one year deal with the Seattle Mariners, the team that brought him over from Japan after ten years of playing overseas. Ichiro is currently 44, and is almost a guaranteed first ballot hall of famer. This season will be his 17th, and is only the second player to ever win rookie of the year and most valuable player in the same year. Historically, he has been one of the greatest outfielders to ever play the game. The issue is that he is on a decline, and has been for years. Last year he only pinch hit a little over 100 times for the Marlins and that is it. Granted, he broke the record for most pinch hits in a season, but people are beginning to wonder when he is going to call it quits. They were wondering when he is going to call it quits.

A few days ago, Ichiro made a comment saying he wanted to play until he was 50. This season will get him to 45, but at the rate he is declining, and the gigantic amount of young talent in the league right now I do not think he will get signed after this year. The only way is if he has Mike Trout numbers, and I am sorry but I do not think that those numbers are possible for him anymore. And that is not even factoring the huge amount of free agents that will be available this next offseason. So whether or not he wants to play to 50, I do not think it will matter. Nobody will sign him.

Do not get me wrong, I would love to see Ichiro make it to 50 and maybe more, because I have not really begun to be able to see what kind of talent Ichiro brings to the table, and to be honest, he is playing in Seattle so I probably will never, but the amount of new players in the game that can dominate even better than Ichiro makes him nothing more than a second option.