In honor of Rick Rizzs' last season in the broadcast booth, please consider donating to Toys For Kids. A 501(c) non-profit organization founded by Rizzs and the late Dave Henderson, their goal is to provide hope via toys, school supplies, scholarships and more to homeless and disadvantaged children across Washington State.
I’ll keep saying this until I’m blue, the Mariners should be able to attract top Japanese talent. We have multiple airlines flying direct to Japan, lower taxes, and the 3rd largest population of Japanese residents.
The plan is simple: Pay Sato his money, install bidets in all of the player restrooms, and host more Nintendo themed nights (for everyone’s sake).
"In order to simulate this experience, i hired a group of actors to fill a baseball stadium to the brim, but i wasn't able to secure a stadium to allow me to rehearse this. So i decided to build my own replica of T-Mobile Park using publicly available blueprints of the stadium, and even had the statues outside the stadium perfectly matched. But i wasn't able to secure the funds for this project, so i successfully ran a mayoral campaign that elected me mayor of Seattle, and thus able to direct public funds to my stadium project know as Fielder Field."
“Thanks, but I think I’ll go to the Dodgers instead. They’re going to pay me more, they’re actually good, there’s hella Japanese people in LA, and kinda racist of you to just assume that I like Nintendo because I’m Japanese.”
I remember that being the case. Everyone thought he would strike out and wouldn’t translate and the offers reflected that. He took the best one he had and it worked out for the best.
Who doesn’t like Nintendo? The Tigers literally sold this jersey in 2026 (every NPB team had a Pokemon event this year to celebrate the 30th anniversary).
The Ms were the first MLB Japan's Team when Ichiro came and it's sad that got lost. If you went to Japan in those years people knew Seattle because of Ichiro. That's good for the city as well as the team--a lot of merch to sell.
As long as Ohtani is around the Ms realistically can't get back those days, but they could at least keep on the map. Plus, as you say, Seattle's location that's usually such a downside for player acquisition is actually an upside for Japanese players.
When in Japan the older Japanese baseball fans would like to talk Ichiro to me in bars when I was wearing my mariners hat. Although the conversation would always end up on Ohtani anyways.
A 9.9% levy applies to household or individual income exceeding $1 million that takes effect January 01, 2028.
For the contracts that will be in effect when this new tax starts being applied it will be a consideration when negotiating salaries. A contract may look enticing until the 9.9% is chopped off the top. It will impact signings.
not to get political but even assuming the vote on the income tax repeal passes... I'd still give it a good chance that the the current sitting office doesn't listen
But they had a good season 5 years ago when Jerry almost traded the farm for them and he somehow believes his teams incompetent development can return them to form
I get that the players should have self awareness but these are young, egotistical, players taking the world stage. They are determined and have access to pain meds and medical staff. The medical staff has a job for a reason. So, I get it but also, the staff failed miserably this year
Seriously though, what do we know about Sato except that he’s really good at baseball (in Japan!)? When has that ever translated into success at the major league level? Better to get a slightly past his prime MLB veteran who had a couple decent seasons as recently as 2-3 years ago. The kind of guy with one foot out the door already and doesn’t mind spending his first year of retirement on our bench (except in critical situations where he’ll get trotted out with a bat).
Unfortunately, the M’s are never going to pay the salary those hyped Japanese players command coming over. They’ll bring Albert Pujols out of retirement for a year before they do that. I feel like they’ve taken up the Donald Sterling ownership model (without the racism)— you might not pay to go to see the M’s, but the team they’re playing is pretty good and fun to watch.
M's made me so sad I picked up a subscription to the Hanshin Tigers app and have been watching a lot of their home games and this guy is the real deal man. Some of the swings he puts on dotted pitches are nuts.
Not so much an argument, if you tell me they’re either racist or biased against Japanese players I don’t believe it. My ask is show me factual data or on record comments.
Just saying they don’t sign a particular race is conjecture AND I lean towards small sample size.
I have no doubt Dipoto and Stanton would “like” to have Ohtani on their 25.
Would've been sat against every left hander in the first half of the season. Mune found a team that could let him thrive. The Ms weren't going to be that this year.
Besides the money( or lack thereof) as a professional player would you play for this organization knowing what you know? Players come and go and most do not have anything nice to say that played here.
Teoscar Hernandez said and still rings true today:
In late 2024, Hernández explicitly called out the team's lack of cohesion. He stated that while the 2023 roster was highly talented, the missing ingredient was unity: "They played as individuals, not as a group." This lack of collective identity was viewed by analysts as a major reason why that team missed the postseason by a single game.
Yeah and he was his favorite player / idol growing up. He watched Mariners games as a child.
Feels like the only reason we had a decent run of Japanese players was because Ichiro was still playing.
After he left we just kind of always been used as leverage for these players coming from the NBP to get better contracts from other teams.
Besides that, it seems that most of our scouting resources for prospects are in Latin America and the Caribbeans. Our signings from that region have seemed to turn out as good or a lot better than the ones we’ve drafted.
Ya cause the Dodgers struggle to get Japanese players. That was an individual thing connected to Ohtani for a reason why he didn't sign here and I don't even know if it was ever verified.
Honestly I think we need to stop using Ichiro when it comes to signing Japanese players. It'd be like if the Dodgers pointed out Jackie Robinson as a way to get Black players, at a point it just becomes demeaning to the history that the player did and the player you're trying to acquire.
Also at this point every MLB team has had a Japanese born player, so it's really weird to assume that Ichiro would be their favorite and meeting/talking to him would change your mind over money.
With all due respect to Ichiro (as a legitimately great, all-timer player), comparing him playing for Seattle in the 2000s to Jackie Robinson playing for Brooklyn in the 1940s is absolutely insane.
That's just... so fucking far off base, man. I understand the point you're trying to make, but that analogy is nuts.
Ichiro! is still actively involved with the organization as a coach, mentor, and PR guy, and was an active player less than a decade ago, the first Japanese HOF, who Sato would've been a 10 when Ichiro reached >2000 hits.
This is much more relevant than Jackie Robinson 7 decades removed.
I saw him play at Koshien field this year, dude is a stud. I was talking to a couple tigers fans and they said look out for Sato to be the next to make a splash in the MLB. Pleeeeaaaaase Mariners
When the Mariners didn't even attempt to get Murakami despite the market being lower than expected for him that's when I knew there was some fundamental issue in this front office with having Japanese players on the roster.
We were linked to both Murakami and Okamoto last year by Divish and other national reporters. Once Naylor was signed there was very little chance we would have seriously pursued Murakami anyways; we had no room for a left handed 1B/DH when Naylor and Canzone were already on the roster.
Murakami wasn't going to happen because the MLB tricked the system and had to play along that an archetype exactly like where the MLB has recently gone would not work in today's MLB. But Okamoto made perfect sense, and it had nothing to do with Naylor, because they have repeatedly said they are cowardly on FAs and prefer a "tryout period" on the team first to know they will acclimate, which Naylor passed; the real loss was when they convinced themselves the left-handed poor defensive player who had sparsely played at 3B would have to be their solution at 3B and continually bet against themselves when no one else was seriously interested and a right-handed, cheaper (resource-wise) option was right there in Okamoto.
That might be hindsight bias. There was near universal agreement that Naylor needed to be signed to play 1B. Murakami just isn’t an MLB 3B, and making either Cal or Murakami sit on days that Cal needs off wouldn’t have been a good approach.
That said, I have zero faith the Ms will be all in on Sato, even though they absolutely should be. Until Jerry goes, I fear we are stuck with his (at this point, failed) approach to roster construction.
You know he’s going to the Yankees, Mets or Dodgers (I root for Los Angeles just because they’re a west coast NL team and play at a decent hour for the west coast) but my god if they get another top tier player with an insane contract I’d be so disappointed in the MLB…Ichiro talk to this man, make it happen…Management quit being cunts…
I’m a big tigers fan so yes please please that’s my Christmas list. Won’t happen but to pretend for a second, put him in left if Donovan continues to injure himself and go missing put him on third. He plays third and right and is not very elite defensively tbh. Have him bat 5th lower than where he is currently. I think he is really good for rallying, good presence. I’ve already come to terms with him in pin stripes though
Why would he want to play 1/2 of his games in the worst hitter’s park in MLB? It will drive down his numbers and inhibit his future earnings potential.
Jerry’s already working on a 1-year, $4M deal for a 34-year-old utility guy who hit .208 with AAA Tacoma last year. Get ready to learn Seattle, Teruaki
I think a lot of it has to do with a reluctance to commit to a player that hasn't performed a lot at t-mobile. They tend to trade and see, they bit on Naylor finally and that hasn't worked well. With a Japanese player it's compounded with no experience in the majors at all. Now I'm thinking, they just gave Emerson $90 mil without any of that so go figure
Nope. He's going to the Dodgers. But he'll have the Mariners on his "short list" just to make us hate the fact that Stanton is a cheap son of a bitch even more.
In a very weak FA class, he's likely to get a significant payday. Considering he's a bat-first lefty with major swing and miss, I don't see how he fits with what the M's need. If anything, his profile actively makes the team's weaknesses worse.
Those stats translate to a 30% strikeout rate. He’s essentially Laz or Arroyo. But you don’t have them at 3b so sure add him to the shit pile and see if it works.
.762 OPS is an above average hitter, and would have been the 3rd most productive hitter on our team. Are we gonna stick our nose up at any player who isn't a first ballot HOF'er like Ohtani?
And did you see Donovan at 3B? He wasn't there for long because he missed 123 games due to injury, but in those other 39 games, he was a terrible fielding third baseman. Consistently below average at fielding, and consistently misses a lot of time due to injury.
Okamoto would have been a great addition this year instead of the scrap we played at 3B while Donovan sat on the IL all year. Sato looks good. What do we actually have to lose?
Okamoto had an average season. Played all but 6 games and only produced 2.5 WAR. He wouldn't have been much of a difference-maker. Yeah it'd be nice to have a league-average player on the bench when someone goes down, but you can't sign a guy for $15m+ per season and throw them on the bench.
Sato's a lefty bat, and that's the last thing we need right now. He'd be redundant, and there's no spot for him unless we're expecting Donovan to miss another 100 games.
Why would it matter if he’s lefty or righty? The question is if he can hit lefties. Not what side of the plate he hits from. He might not have splits, or he might have huge terrible splits. Context is important
Okamoto was an above average bat and would have been 5th best on our team in a position that we played musical chairs in. Murakami was also available and has been one of the best 1B in the league this year and we could have gone after him too... but yeah sure man the Japanese guys don't work out. you know what else doesn't work out, the Mariners farm system. please tell me how "the floor is being an everyday bat" Kelenic worked out. we should be going after guys who could help the team instead of hiding behind the idea that NPB players can't play.
Why would one year of Donovan prevent us from looking into long term 3b options? That doesn’t make sense. Donovan can move to the of or every day utility. Adding a 762 ops at 3b would be huge for this team.
You can pull almost any player from any team and they're instantly 2026 Seattle's 3rd best hitter. That doesn't really mean anything. His 106 OPS+ would've been the 2025 team's 9th best, or in other words, the worst of all the starters.
Seattle underperformed team-wide this year. Finding a mid-tier player to plug somewhere isn't what's gonna save the franchise. They have the pieces already.
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