Seattle Mariners ignore team history and reunite with Ichiro Suzuki

The Seattle Mariners have brought former players back for a swan song late in their careers before, and it didn’t work out well.

Word on the street is the Seattle Mariners are close to signing free agent outfielder, dual-continent legend Ichiro Suzuki. Casual fans will be perked up a bit. Ichiro is, by all accounts, a great guy and he’s always been fun to watch. He’ll stand in the outfield doing his deep knee bends, and stretches between pitches, then step up to the plate and slap singles to left field.

Serious baseball fans know that Ichiro, at 44 years old, is very unlikely to push the Mariners closer to a playoff spot. He was a below average hitter last year for the sixth time in his previous seven seasons, and his defense isn’t what it once was. At Fangraphs, the projection system known as ZiPS has Ichiro hitting .264/.323/.344 this year.

Ichiro is committed to his fitness routine and works hard to stay in shape. He claims he would like to play until he’s 50. Unfortunately, history is not kind to old baseball players, and it’s especially unkind to old position players. The last position player 44 or older to get a plate appearance in a major league game was Omar Vizquel, who was 45 back in 2012. He hit .235/.265/.281 and was worth -0.7 WAR (Fangraphs).

Going back to 1961, there have been just six position players 44 or older who had more than 10 plate appearances in a season. Julio Franco is the gold standard among this group. He was still an above average hitter in his age 44, 45, and 46 seasons, averaging .294/.367/.447 across those three years. Pete Rose was the only other member of this group who was an above average hitter after turning 44. He had a 107 wRC+ in 1985, the year he broke the all-time record for career hits (100 wRC+ is league average, so Rose was seven percent above average as a hitter that year).

Along with Vizquel (2011, 2012), Franco (2003-2007), and Rose (1985, 1986), the other members of this age-44 and older group are Tony Perez (1986), Carlton Fisk (1992, 1993), and Rickey Henderson (2003). Perez, Fisk, and even the great Rickey Henderson were all below average hitters during these years. It’s tough for guys in their mid-40s to hit major league pitching.

So we know that baseball history is not on the side of Ichiro as far as old position players go. The Mariners have their own history of bringing back former players at or near the end of their careers, and it’s not impressive either. These players were usually part of one of the great Mariners teams in the past, but the reunion rarely provides the same magic. Let’s look at five examples of this phenomenon.