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Remember Brendan Ryan, the castoff from the Cardinals who went to the Mariners?

Ryan has made himself fantasy viable by having a hot week this week.

Unfortunately, this bearly fantasy viable player before this week, is now leading the Mariner hitters in on base percentage for Seattle hitters with at least 275 at bats.

Yep, the Mariners are THAT bad.



Six hitters on the Mariners have 275 at bats. Ryan, Justin Smoak, Ichiro, Adam Kennedy, Miguel Olivo, and Chone Figgins.

The Mariners would have preferred Ryan to be at the bottom of this list. He was signed as a slick fielder and projected to hit at the bottom of the lineup. Now, he hits second while Figgins has taken his place in the area of fantasy irrelevance.



Ichiro is finally showing his age. Before, Ichiro could be counted on to hit .300 no matter if it were a pitchers year or not.

Next year, he'll be lumped in with the other Judy's.

This year, he resembles Derek Jeter, not the younger Jeter, the Jeter of now.

Here are their lines-



Ichiro- .268/49/1/25/26

Jeter- .271/47/3/29/11



Some would prefer the extra speed with Ichiroand, at the least, he is stealing bases. Others would prefer the positionality of Jeter, but essentially they are close to the same fantasy player.

And both are fading fast.

How fast?



.264/37/2/32/8



That is Brendan Ryan's line this year.

A guy who has hit eighth or ninth over 100 at bats for the worst hitting team in baseball and a guy who remains fantasy kryptonite to many. Yet, his line is close to both superstars.



Ichiro will remain at the top of the order. His speed and team dictate it, at least for this year and next.



Jeter should be lower in the order, but he's Derek Jeter. The shift from the top of the lineup and from his position at shortstop will come more slowly due to his history with the Yankees.



Ryan is now hitting second for the Mariners. Putting that in perspective, most days in 2010, he would hit NINTH for a National League team.



While broadcasters slobber over the lifetime achievments of both Jeter and Ichiro, fantasy owners only concerned with this year, will fume.

They're making Brendan Ryan look good.





.

Not that he needs an excuse- word is that the Japaneses catastrophes have taken a big toll on Ichiro. He gets a pass this year (Although I am not an owner)

Maybe.....



I was listening to the Yankees radio team last night. They said they had talked to Mariners management and they opinioned that Ichiro has not been able to handle inside pitches like he has in the past.



Ichiro has been the master of the 'cheap' hits over the years, but he also has been effective in turning on a ball and driving it. This year, he has but one home run and only 17 extra base hits. The two previous years, he's had 85 extra base hits and 17 home runs.