Yankees manager wants to settle on three outfielders
by Michael Hurcomb | CBSSports.com (5/23/2013) Yankees manager Joe Girardi has been juggling a lineup of four outfielders for three spots since Curtis Granderson came off the disabled list May 14. Girardi expressed Wednesday he would eventually like to settle on a rotation of three outfielders among Granderson, Brett Gardner, Vernon Wells and Ichiro Suzuki, but for now he will continue with the status quo.
"At some point you will probably get to where you will try and put out the same lineup every day," Girardi said.
Girardi has a simple message for his outfielders.
"Just go out and play, that’s all you can do," Girardi said. "As we have seen there are so many things that can happen in this game that we might need to play all four of them."
Ichiro Suzuki not in Tuesday's lineup
by Chris Cwik | CBSSports.com (5/21/2013) Yankees outfielder Ichiro Suzuki is not in the team's starting lineup Tuesday against the Orioles.
Suzuki is hitting .241/.280/.333 in 141 at-bats this year. He'll be replaced by Curtis Granderson, who will bat sixth. Suzuki can return to the starting lineup Wednesday against Jason Hammel.
Ichiro Suzuki powers up Friday
by Jeff Lippman | CBSSports.com (5/11/2013) Yankees outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, who was batting fifth against the Royals Friday, went 3 for 5 with his second home run of the season.
Suzuki went deep off Wade Davis for a two-run shot in the second inning. He added a double and scored three times. Suzuki is batting .282.
With three multiple-hit games in May, Suzuki has gone 9 for 28 (.321) for the month over eight games. He's amassed the cycle over that span with a homer and a triple to go with five runs scored, three RBI and three stolen bases.
Give Ichiro Suzuki just a little more time
by Al Melchior | Data Analyst (5/1/2013)Ichiro Suzuki's ownership rate in CBSSports.com Fantasy leagues has been in steady decline since Week 1, and given his lackluster stats, it's easy to grasp why owners are losing patience with the 39-year-old. Though Suzuki is not the top Fantasy option he once was, there are still signs that the Yankees' outfielder is worth a second chance in standard mixed leagues.
Suzuki's value has come from getting frequent steals and infield hits. He has just a pair of steals to date, but Suzuki was streaky with steals last season, so a big burst in that category could still be in his future. As for infield hits, he has already notched seven of them, and he is batting .293 on ground balls. It's the flyball hits that have been more scarce for Suzuki, but over time, he could find the gaps more often.
His contact skills and speed aren't quite what they once were, but they're good enough that Suzuki could still rebound from an underwhelming first month of the season.
Ichiro Suzuki on track after early season slump
by Michael Hurcomb | CBSSports.com (5/1/2013) Yankees outfielder Ichiro Suzuki capped April with a season-high three hits Tuesday against the Astros. Ichiro had a strong finish to April after his batting average dropped to .161 April 12.
Ichiro finished the month batting .333 (17 for 51) with a .382 on-base percentage in his last 14 games.
"To get him going was really important," manager Joe Girardi said, per The Star-Ledger. "It took a little while. But as I said, there’s always one or two guys that get off to a slow start. A lot of times, there’s no rhythm or reason. But it happens. And he’s swinging the bat good."
Ichiro Suzuki putting some hits together
by Ed Gauna | CBSSports.com (4/27/2013) Yankees outfielder Ichiro Suzuki hit safely for the eighth time in nine games Saturday against the Blue Jays. He went 2 for 4 with two singles in the 5-4 win.
Suzuki has hit in five straight and is batting .421 (8 for 19) during the stretch with two RBI and a stolen base.
Ichiro Suzuki gets Monday's game off
by Jeff Lippman | CBSSports.com (4/22/2013) Yankees outfielder Ichiro Suzuki was given Monday's game in Tampa Bay off with left-handed starter Matt Moore on the mound. Suzuki has sat, at times, against lefties.
That said, Suzuki was in right field the last two times a lefty took the hill when he faced off against Mark Buehrle Saturday and Arizona's Patrick Corbin last Thursday.
Suzuki is still struggling at the plate for New York. He went 0 for 4 with a strikeout Sunday and is batting .200 with a homer, three RBI and a .250 on-base percentage.
Ichiro Suzuki sitting against lefties?
by Jeff Lippman | CBSSports.com (4/17/2013) The Yankees have gone without Ichiro Suzuki in the lineup in two of the last three games in which left-handed starters have taken the mound for the opposition. Suzuki was left on the bench Sunday against Baltimore's Wei-Yin Chen and again Wednesday against Arizona's Wade Miley.
This is interesting considering Suzuki has always been a better hitter against lefties. He is a career .330 batter against southpaws as opposed to .318 against righties. In fact, Suzuki has gone 2 for 6 (.333) against lefties while going just 5 for 31 (.161) against right-handers.
New York skipper Joe Girardi has been going with Brennan Boesch in right field with lefties on the mound recently. That makes sense as Boesch is a much better hitter against southpaws.
This is a very small sample size, however, and Girardi could simply be sitting Ichiro with the veteran struggling and Boesch needing some at-bats.
Ichiro Suzuki off to really slow start
by Jeff Lippman | CBSSports.com (4/14/2013) Yankees outfielder Ichiro Suzuki has not gotten off to a very good start over his first 10 games, ESPN notes. The 39-year-old is hitting just .176 after going 1 for 3 Saturday against the Orioles.
Suzuki has mostly been hitting ground balls and soft flies and is struggling to get on base with a .237 clip.
Certainly, Suzuki is not hitting as he did when he first came over to New York from Seattle last year. He was hitting .261 with the Mariners but was at .322 over his final 67 games in pinstripes.
Suzuki, who signed a two-year, $13 million deal in the offseason, needs to begin manufacturing runs for the Yankees as he did last year when he had more homers and just one less RBI with New York than he had in 28 more games with Seattle.
Ichiro Suzuki swats first home run
by Jeff Lippman | CBSSports.com (4/9/2013) Yankees outfielder Ichiro Suzuki smacked his first home run of the season on Tuesday during a 14-1 rout in Cleveland. Suzuki went deep for a solo shot to right field in the third inning to make it 5-0 New York.
Batting sixth, he went 1 for 5 in the game and is now batting .185. Off to a slow start, Suzuki has hit in three straight games with an RBI and run scored in each.
Ichiro Suzuki off to sluggish start
by Bill Passonno | CBSSports.com (4/5/2013) Yankees outfielder Ichiro Suzuki was hitless in four at-bats and failed to reach base for the first time this season during New York's 8-3 loss at Detroit on Friday. Suzuki is now 0 for 9 over his past three games after collecting a hit in the season opener, although he does have two walks in that span.
The Yankees also appeared to abandon their early plan for Suzuki against right-handed pitchers as he slotted seventh in the batting order instead of the No. 2 spot he was expected to serve in against righties, according to manager Joe Girardi.
Manager has plan for Ichiro Suzuki
by Michael Hurcomb | CBSSports.com (4/1/2013) Yankees manager Joe Girardi rolled out his starting lineup for Monday's season opener against the Red Sox and had veteran outfielder Ichiro Suzuki batting seventh against left-handed starter Jon Lester. Girardi said the plan is to bat Ichiro second against right-handed starters.
Ichiro has spent most of his career as a leadoff hitter. He has made appearances batting second in 24 games, hitting .299 (32 for 107). Coming into Monday, he's hit seventh in just eight games, batting .188 (3 for 16).
Ichiro OK after car accident
by Jeff Lippman | CBSSports.com (3/3/2013) Yankees outfielder Ichiro Suzuki was involved in a car accident on Saturday, reports the New York Post. Suzuki was not hurt when his car collided with another vehicle. "He struck her," Tampa Lt. Ronald McMullen said. "She ended up hitting a third car, but there were no injuries." It was not immediately known whether or not Ichiro would miss any spring games due to the issue.
Ichiro feels renewed
by Michael Hurcomb | CBSSports.com (1/15/2013)Ichiro Suzuki is looking forward to starting the baseball season the way he ended last season: as a member of the New York Yankees. The Yankees and Suzuki finalized a $13 million, two-year contract in December that kept the 10-time All-Star in the Bronx after he was obtained in a trade with Seattle last July. "Signing with the Yankees has given me a new sense of determination," the 39-year-old outfielder said Tuesday after a workout in Kobe. "This is a unique team, a team that can have a player like Alex Rodriguez as a pinch hitter is special and to be part of that is exciting."
Yanks, Suzuki agree on 2-year deal
by Nando Di Fino | Senior Fantasy Writer (12/14/2012) CBSSports.com Baseball Insider Jon Heyman reported on Friday that the Yankees had reached an agreement with outfielder Ichiro Suzuki on a two-year, $13 million deal. Suzuki, 39, hit .283 last year, with nine home runs and 29 steals.
