Yankees acquire Ichiro from Mariners hours prior to first pitch; will be in Yanks’ road grays tonight

The New York Yankees have traded D.J. Mitchell and Danny Farquhar to the Seattle Mariners for Ichiro Suzuki and cash first reported by Jack Curry of the YES Network via Twitter. Ichiro will be in tonight’s lineup for the Yankees, but the position in the lineup has yet to be determined by manager Joe Girardi.

The Yankees, sitting on the periphery for weeks knowing full well that Brett Gardner may not be returning, stressed they would not make moves that would only marginally help the team and would shy away from unloading too much talent to acquire talent shocked most of baseball with the move.

The Yankees must have felt that the lack of a speed game was going to be an issue as well as how long Raul Ibanez and Andrew Jones would hold up. Nick Swisher getting injured last week may have pushed general manager Brian Cashman to consider the move.

He must have also been happy to move minor league players of which they were probably not planning on relying on in the future. The Yankees had been linked to Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino, Arizona Diamondbacks OF Justin Upton and Minnesota Twins OF Denard Span in recent days.

Suzuki has a triple slash of .261/.288/.353 with 49 runs, 15 doubles, 5 triples, 4 homers, 28 RBI and 15 stolen bases this season. His production is nowhere near his best seasons, but Suzuki could provide the dynamic that went missing with Gardner down, namely being a catalyst at the top of the order.

Suzuki is owed about $6.7 million for the remainder of the season, but the Yankees will only be responsible for $2.25 million according to MLB Trade Rumors.

According to multiple tweets Ichiro will mostly play left field for the Bombers. Ichiro stated in the press conference that he will get a new number because he knows the meaning of #51 (Bernie Williams‘ old number) means a lot to the Yankees.

Coming into tonight’s action Suzuki owns 2,533 Major League hits all with the Mariners over a decorated 12 years.

Mitchell, 25, appeared in four games (4 2/3 innings) with the Yankees this season accumulating a 3.86 ERA. He was 6-4 with a 5.04 ERA in 85.2 innings this season with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Farquhar, also 25, was claimed off waivers by the Yankees on June 26 after the A’s designated him for assignment. Dewayne Wise who had several memorable moments for the Yankees this season was designated for assignment.

We’ll have much more coverage on the trade over the next couple days along with deeper analysis. For now, enjoy the moment Yankees’ fans.