I/O:  Peter Gammons tweeted that:

A Mariners source told him that:

>> Ichiro told Yamauchi that:

>>> Ichiro would like Valentine to manage the M's, which led to:

>>> Larry Stone reporting on it, which led to:

>>>> National controversy over Ichiro's gall, which forced Ichiro to say that:

>>>>> Ichiro would never consider "disrespecting" (sic!) his teammates and current manager that way.

Thus goeth the breathless tone:

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If Ichiro indeed went straight to Yamauchi in Japan and lobbied for Valentine -- and it's at least conceivable he did that without informing anyone else in the Mariners organization -- it's a hugely significant development. It's no secret that Yamauchi has a special relationship with Ichiro, and his endorsement would be powerful. Lincoln, however, said he had no knowledge of any conversation between Ichiro and Yamauchi regarding Valentine, according to the spokesman.

And SSI is confident that Ichiro must have said very little to higher-ups, or else he wouldn't have phrased his denial this way:

Update 2 p.m.: I've now been informed that Ichiro told a Mariners official that he has not talked to anyone about any manager, and would not. Ichiro told the official that would be disrespecteful to his teammates and his manager.

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CRUNCH:  Much ado about nothing ... rather, what should be "nothing," but in the reality-altered dimension known as the MLB(TM) Zone, actually is something.

In the NBA, nobody worries about LeBron picking his next coach.  ESPN doesn't make a fuss over that.  The fans don't feign shock over it.  Why wouldn't LeBron pick the coach? 

In the NFL, nobody would much care whether Peyton Manning or John Elway influenced the next coach. 

But in MLB, everything warps.  ARod went through this when he left Seattle:  would he have the gall to attempt to dictate that the Mariners retain Lou Piniella?

................

It's one more illustration of the fact that baseball is loaded with jealousies, tensions, and pettiness that do not afflict other sports.  Baseball is a tense game, and you don't get to release that tension with tackles and boxouts and elbows in the paint.  The tension builds until suddenly, somebody gets hit in the head.

................

What that means to me is this:  as a fan, I don't care whether Ichiro attempts to influence org policy.  I consider it natural for him to do so.  Players have hairfine sensitivities about this kind of stuff, and reporters (Stone notwithstanding) tend to spray charcoal fluid on the flames.  But it doesn't mean that I have to reinforce it.

If Ichiro's preferences could help get Valentine here, great.  In any case, as we noted earlier:  whoever hires Bobby Valentine will have important advantages in the Japanese arena.

Cheers,

Dr D