Ichiro Signs for $100 Million

by tobytobytoby on Jul 13, 2007 4:35 PM EDT Comment 20 comments

If I have to hear about Ichiro signing for $100m one more time, I'll have to punch myself in the face.

Now Seattle will have 100 million reasons why they won't make the playoffs in the next five years...unless, of course, they are becoming the Yankees of the west coast. We all see how well unlimited spending works for them.

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Re: Ichiro Signs for $100 Million

Even with Pronk's big payday, he is still 1 M/yr less than Richie Sexson.

by oxforddave on Jul 13, 2007 4:46 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: Ichiro Signs for $100 Million

Just updated...it is actually a 90M contract. Now this officially becomes a bargain. (insert laughter)

by tobytobytoby on Jul 13, 2007 4:53 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: Ichiro Signs for $100 Million

If I played for a perennial loser, I would punch myself in the face

by Roger Dorn on Jul 13, 2007 4:54 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: Ichiro Signs for $100 Million

Big big contender for post of the month.

by Jay on Jul 13, 2007 6:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Ichiro Signs for $100 Million

I think Ichiro is an interesting case of contract value. Many of his numbers aren't all that exciting (especially compared to the hitters whom he is now joining in the salary stratosphere) but as a player he is fun to watch. His contributions to run scoring and to winning probably aren't worth what they are paying him.
But I am pretty sure that Ichiro staying in Seattle is a good deal for the M's at any price. I think that more than any other player, Ichiro pays for himself by opening revenue streams. How much ad revenue in Japanese does he bring in? How many more people are buying Mariners clothes or MLB.tv or getting Extra Innings (sure, this money is pooled centrally, but Ichiro still makes a net gain for the M's here).
The value of the Ichiro contract is not entirely in run production. It is in asses in the seats and fan goodwill and ads and all the rest. I really wouldnt be surprised if this contract is a net gain financially for the team compared to the impact of letting him go.

by mpstable on Jul 13, 2007 5:24 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: Ichiro Signs for $100 Million

Best and most reasonable post of the year.

Champion of the Kelly Shoppach for Catcher and Franklin Gutiérrez for Right Fielder campaigns.

by E5 on Jul 13, 2007 8:21 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Ichiro Signs for $100 Million

agree....this is also what drove the bosox to pay such a price for Dice-K. It would be foolish for us to rip these deals until we know what kind of revenue is brought in from Japan assuming a correlation.

by hans on Jul 14, 2007 1:55 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Ichiro Signs for $100 Million

Yes; I agree with all of this. The Mariners basically have to pay Ichiro whatever he wants. It's not just in terms of overseas dollars either. Seattle is the only Pacific Rim city in the country. It's the gateway to Japan, both for travel and commerce. The city, moreover, has a comparatively large Asian-American community; Ichiro's presence brings that community to the Mariners (which they had never had access to before). In pure baseball production, yes, he'll be overpaid. But in terms of what he means to the M's presence both abroad and in Seattle, this will be a bargain for the organization.

Railing against the sacrifice bunt since 2000.

by jdudas on Jul 14, 2007 9:10 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Ichiro Signs for $100 Million

Seattle is the only Pacific Rim city in the country

I can't wait to share this post with my Honolulu friends.

Sometimes you just gotta be lucky

by mauichuck on Jul 14, 2007 10:32 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Ichiro Signs for $100 Million

Fair enough; I was thinking major metropolis.

Railing against the sacrifice bunt since 2000.

by jdudas on Jul 14, 2007 1:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Ichiro Signs for $100 Million

You just compounded it - it's even more hilarious now.

Sometimes you just gotta be lucky

by mauichuck on Jul 14, 2007 2:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Ichiro Signs for $100 Million

Well, if you're already in, you may as well go in all the way!

Railing against the sacrifice bunt since 2000.

by jdudas on Jul 14, 2007 7:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Ichiro Signs for $100 Million

You got it.

The Law of Holes: when you find yourself in a deep hole, stop digging.

Sometimes you just gotta be lucky

by mauichuck on Jul 14, 2007 7:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Ichiro Signs for $100 Million

Oh by the way, this is an example of how little we (I include myself in this group) "mainlanders" know about the Pacific Rim. I imagine most of these posts are written by folks who've never been out here and have little knowledge of the culture/business practices etc. of the area.

Let me just pass a little tidbit on to you. Japanese business men love to come to Honolulu. That's one of the reasons the Pacific Rim Business Conference is held in Honolulu every other year. It's a fun time for them with the various diversions they can't find back home. There a triving business in shooting galleries in Honolulu who cater to the Japanese tourist. The biggest attraction there is shooting machine guns. Evidently you cannot own an automatic weapon in Japan, so they come to Honolulu to play Rambo. The other big attraction is Occidental hookers. In fact the Pacific Rim Conference is considered the Super Bowl of Hooking by all of the blond-haired, round eyed ladies of the evening from around the world. They come from all over to ply their trade during that one week period.

The Japanese business man, on the other hand, looks forward to a trip to Seattle with the same dread the US POW's had for the Bataan Death March.

Sometimes you just gotta be lucky

by mauichuck on Jul 14, 2007 7:39 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Ichiro Signs for $100 Million

I've been involved with Japan for over 25 years and lived in Japan for 8 years. There are PLENTY of round eyed hookers in Japan, and a lot hotter ones from all over Eastern Europe too. No need for a trip to Honolulu for that. In any case, Thailand is a lot looser if that's one's preference, and a lot cheaper. It's more likely Japanese businessmen go to Hawaii for the great weather and (relatively) cheap golf, not the hookers. But I do hear that shooting galleries are attractive. The chance to shoot a gun in the US is a safe little walk on the wild side. It's well known that Ichiro (and most Japanese ballplayers) are appalled at the rate of violent gun crime in the US. There were less than 100 gun related homicides in Japan last year, and most of those were Yakuza hits on other Yakuza. What's that, less than Cleveland? Seattle doesn't generate any extra dread, not that I've ever heard. I lived there for ahile and Japanese like it. Large Japanese-American community, Japanese food, laid back lifestyle. All good. Los Angeles is considered a bore for businessmen, but that's another story.

As for Ichiro signing, Ichiro was on record in the Japanese press as getting tired with the losing, probably compounded by his dislike of Hargrove. It was really unlikely he would re-sign before the season started. But a few things have changed. Seattle is winning (but frankly there run differential masks a lot of weaknesses that may become apparent as the season progresses). They are riding a streak of luck. Second is Hargrove falling on his sword. He probably got the hint a while ago. Third, and a critical point I've never seen even mentioned, is that Nintendo is hauling in gobs of money due to the runaway success of Wii. Ichiro's contract is a speck in that world. Has anyone taken a gander at the stock price of Nintendo. Through the roof.

by Bogalusa Bomber on Jul 14, 2007 9:04 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Ichiro Signs for $100 Million

Cleveland's homicide rate is well over 300/year. In fact there were three homicides on the fourth of July caused by some guy's over reaction to his neighbor's fireworks display.

Your right about Thailand and I'm aware of the Eastern European girls working in Japan, in fact there's an awful lot of 'em plying their trade in Hono. It's just that I was in Honolulu when they had the last PRBC and I could not believe all the working girls - many from the former Soviet bloc - around Waikiki - 2 to 3 times more than when the fleet's in Pearl. I just asked a local bartender what was going on and he said that this was a common phenomenon whenever their was a large contingent of PR business men - Japanese as well as Indonesian and Filipino. He's the guy that gave me the "Super Bowl of Hooking" thing.

The golf and the beaches are a given - everybody comes over here for that.

I imagine you saw the earlier post of the video of the American ball player chasing the Japanese pitcher after a brush-back pitch. Most on this site found it amusing. The Japanese would find it shameful. That's one more aspect of the different cultures that we rarely address.

Sometimes you just gotta be lucky

by mauichuck on Jul 14, 2007 9:21 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Ichiro Signs for $100 Million

Don't stop, Chuck. Tell us more about the hookers.

by Jay on Jul 14, 2007 9:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Ichiro Signs for $100 Million

In 5 minutes of searching I haven't found anything that quantifies the impact Ichiro has on the club, but this non-scientific reports are kind of interesting:

#12 Seattle Mariners
#18 Cleveland Indians.

Oh, and the #1 New York Yankees

by homelytourist on Jul 14, 2007 1:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Ichiro Signs for $100 Million

This is actually a decent signing, I think. If you take the $4M/marginal win figure (without inflation) in the Pronk calculations, Ichiro needs to be worth around 22.5 wins over the course of the contract. Certainly within reach.

by mkwng on Jul 13, 2007 5:36 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: Ichiro Signs for $100 Million

My Reds fan roommate and I have often had this conversation- that a player like Ichiro has a value greater than what can be determined by his actual baseball talent. My roommate actually thinks that Griffey has a similar advantage for Cincinnati, and that is part of the reason he doesn't mind his contract. This conversation also got brought up recently because of David Beckham coming to MLS for a big contract.

What other players have this type of effect in baseball?
Ichiro
Dice-K
Matsui?
Junior?
A-Rod??

Anyone else?

by Ryan Kelsey on Jul 14, 2007 12:14 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs