Mariners Go Above and Beyond to Keep Ichiro

The Seattle Mariners wanted to keep their franchise player…seriously wanted to keep him….very seriously…too seriously, if you ask me.

The club agreed to pay him $90 million over five years with $25 million deferred until 2032.

He gets $12 million each year with $5 million held back at 5.5% interest. I am not smart enough to calculate this, at least not off the top of my head, but I think that works out to at least $275,000 in interest he will make each year compounded on the amount that is deferred! 

Somebody tell me how much he can make on $25 million at 5.5% each year for 20 years.

The club also gives him and his family four first-class round trip tickets to Japan each year, a personal trainer and an interpreter (he can concentrate on playing

instead of studying English.)

He also gets a new Jeep or Mercedes SUV and an annual housing allowance of $32,000 that goes up $1,00 each year from this season.

Ichiro is 33.

He's also hitting .352 and leading the majors with 133 hits. He's good.

But…nobody should be paid what he is being paid….to play.

However, the only problem with him getting that much money is that someone will pay him that much.

Ultimately…it's the fans who pay his salary…tickets, goods, products advertised and so on.

I think that all ball players salaries should go back to zero and we should start over.

What do you think?