Miami went all out for Ichiro

The Miami Marlins announced their one year deal with Ichiro Suzuki this week making the one year and $2 million deal official. Miami went all out to make their new 41 year old fourth outfielder feel welcome as the team made an 18 hour journey to Japan to announce the deal.

Five team executives made the 18 hour flight to Japan in an effort to make a strong first impression to Ichiro and to welcome him to their family. Ichiro was said to be humbled and energized by the gesture and was quoted as saying “I feel incredible enthusiasm. My feeling then was that somehow I really wanted to respond to their enthusiasm. That’s also a very good driving force to be a good player for this team. Now what I needs to do is prepare for this great season I’m anticipating.”

Ichiro will be the first Japanese born player in the Marlins franchise history after starting his career off in Seattle with the Mariners before being traded to the New York Yankees in 2012. Suzuki is a 10 time All-Star and a mere 156 hits away from the 3,000 hit mark in the United States.

Suzuki will join Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuna in the Marlins outfield and will join an ever growing list of newcomers to the team including Dee Gordon, Michael Morse, Mat Latos, Dan Haren, David Phelps and Martin Prado.