I know I’m a little late, but I just got done with an 11 hour shift, so here is my reaction to the crazy news that broke today.
The first thing that happened: I froze. I didn’t know how to react. I was rattled. I was not at my finest at work today, forgetting things and making mistakes left and right. I was lost. It took almost an hour for me to even consider who we (the Mariners) got in return. Once I could think about it, I was severely disappointed that we got two pitchers. It didn’t matter whether they were good or bad–we have pitchers. We need hitters. After this thought process had run its course, I was overcome with regret that I was working and couldn’t go to the game tonight. Next I ran through possible companions for the Wednesday afternoon game that will be the true send-off for Ichiro.
My last thoughts were about how I had been in fact preparing for Ichiro to leave. Many of the Mariner-centric blogs I read have been focusing on Ichiro’s contract, specifically the fact that it is up at the end of the season. What the team would do about it–sign or send–had been constantly addressed. (Jay Buhner recently said he would vomit if Ichiro got a large contract extension.) The city was torn, and now we don’t have to deal with it.
If Ichiro has served as the Mriners’ band-aid these past few miserable seasons, today was that moment when you pull off the band-aid fast. The possible contract negotiations, the media storm, the debate–these were the slow, cruel way to remove the band-aid. I have always been a proponent of the quick and clean route so I guess I can’t be too upset, but at this point in time I am still shell-shocked.
-David Ringold
