He's not thinking...he's thinks you're nuts!

[The Loveable Losers]

From Rotowire:

Manager John McLaren said he will challenge Suzuki to steal 80 bases and hit .400 this year, the Tacoma News Tribune reports.

For Ichiro to steal 80 bases, he'll have to take many more chances on the basepaths, something the cautious player isn't quick to do. And hit .400? "There�s not anything Ichiro can�t do," McLaren said. "He had 262 hits, and I put it to him, 'If you had 15 more bunt hits, you would have hit .400.' He looked at me. He was thinking hard, and if anyone is capable of hitting .400, it�s Ichiro. I just planted a seed."

Yeah he was thinking hard. He was thinking hard to try and figure out if you were joking or if you were just nuts. Some more gems from the article:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Whatever their offseason produces – and the Seattle Mariners and most everyone else were shut out again Wednesday – manager John McLaren has ambitious expectations for 2008.

Like what?

Like 80 stolen bases from Ichiro Suzuki. Like 40 home runs from Richie Sexson. Like an improved starting rotation that should take pressure off the Mariners bullpen. Like Jose Lopez maturing into a consistent player.

As stunning as any of that, McLaren plans on trying to get the hitters in his lineup to work the count on pitchers, not just to drive up their pitch counts but to put Mariners in “hitters’ counts” such as 2-0, 2-1.

With one exception.

“One player has got a hall pass,” McLaren said, breaking up a group of writers and media types.

“I think I mentioned last year when someone asked about Ichiro swinging at bad pitches, ‘Well, when you hit .360, you swing at bad pitches, too,” McLaren said.

Ichiro, he said, will be challenged this year not only to steal 80 bases – “minimum” – but to drop enough bunts to give himself a chance to bat .400.

I'm all for setting lofty goals but a .400 average with 42% more sb's than Ichiro's ever gotten as a FLOOR?!? Dang...McLaren's got expectations like Bill Belichick.

[thedude]

Why doesn't say to Richie Sexson, "Richie you hit 20 homers last year, just 50 more and you would have had 70... you just need to hit one extra homers every three days and you will be all set."

[The Loveable Losers]

Why doesn't say to Richie Sexson, "Richie you hit 20 homers last year, just 50 more and you would have had 70... you just need to hit one extra homers every three days and you will be all set."

It's just unreal. The only questions I have are (1) was Ichiro drinking anything at the time and (2) if so, how did he avoid spitting it out and laughing uncontrollably for the next 10 minutes. It's only a 108% increase in production on his 3-year sb averages, a 43% increase on his best sb season, and a 23% increase on the number of hits that he's gotten over his 3-year averages. No big deal.

[StlSluggers]

Sounds simple enough to me. What's the problem?

[horatio]

If Ichiro thinks those expectations are bad he should go work for Bank of America: "Allright well, you did $3 million in production last quarter, this quarter, you should easily be able to hit $10 million".

[StlSluggers]

If Ichiro thinks those expectations are bad he should go work for Bank of America: "Allright well, you did $3 million in production last quarter, this quarter, you should easily be able to hit $10 million".

Hmm... Sounds like every corporation I've ever worked for.

[Captain Jack Sparrow]

Sounds like he's been spending too much time with John Kitna

[The Loveable Losers]

Sounds like he's been spending too much time with John Kitna

At least Kitna can blame it on post-traumatic stress disorder brought on by the massive number of sacks. What's McLaren's excuse?

[moochman]

Maybe if Ichiro cuts down on his HR swing....

I love to hear that kind of talk. Ichiro is a very proud man and challenging him should only increase his productivity. .400 and 80 though?
I'd settle for say .380 and 65.

[acsguitar]

U Guyz are all NOOBS!

IChiro has the Zeal of a Challenger and can do anythign!!!