Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Yankees Officially Bring Back Ichiro



As expected, the Yankees and Ichiro Suzuki reached agreement on a new two-year deal. The Yankees were hoping to sign the 39-year old to a one year deal, but when Suzuki got two year offers from other teams, the Bombers had no choice but to add a second year.

Ichiro will earn $13MM over the life of the contract and is expected to platoon in right field with a player yet to be acquired.

The future Hall of Fame right fielder was having the worst season of his career, when the Seattle Mariners dealt him to the Yankees at last year's trade deadline. After a slow start, Ichiro was blisteringly hot over the final month of the season and hit .322 as a Yankee. He also added a small ball component to the lineup, something the Yankees lost when Brett Gardner went down in April with an elbow injury that kept him sidelined until the end of the season.

Yankees' fans also have an outside chance to see a second player reach 3,000 career hits in a Yankees uniform for the second time in three years. Ichiro is 394 hits away from joining Derek Jeter in the 3K club.

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