Ichiro Suzuki is a bench player for the first time in his career at age 40. He’s yet to appear in a game for the Yankees, as they go with Brett Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Carlos Beltran as the starting outfield, and Suzuki talked to Brendan Kuty of the Newark Star Ledger about how he’s feeling:
It’s nothing I’ve ever experienced before. So I have nothing to compare it to. This is just a first-time experience for me. … As human beings, there are things we have to adjust to. And that’s what I’m going through right now. You just never know. You don’t know. I don’t know if I should assume if this is going to be what’s going to be happening in the future. You just don’t know what’s going to happen. All I can do is what I’m doing now and just adjust accordingly.
And then, because Ichiro’s humor is always underrated, he also said:
I know the rules in baseball aren’t going to change, but maybe they can play four outfielders? I haven’t thought about that before. But now I do.
It’s tough to blame the Yankees for not playing Ichiro and also tough to blame other teams for not making a run at trading for him, because he’s old and hit just .273 with a .605 OPS in 473 games from 2011-2013. Still, it’s sad to see him go out collecting dust on a bench.
