Mariners keeping Ichiro due to matchups, clubhouse presence

With Ryon Healy nearing a return from injury, the Seattle Mariners needed to make room for him on the major-league roster. To do so, they chose to send outfielder Guillermo Heredia to Triple-A and instead kept veteran Ichiro Suzuki.

General manager Jerry Dipoto responded to the negative reaction to the move by explaining that it wasn't a public relations decision to hold onto the 44-year-old outfielder; he sees Ichiro as an invaluable resource in the clubhouse.

"Sometimes, managing a 25-man roster is more complicated than it seems from the outside," Dipoto told Greg Johns of MLB.com. "I don't think people realize the impact Ichiro has made in our clubhouse in one-and-a-half months in mentoring young teammates and even the older players who respect him so much."

He added that upcoming matchups also played into the decision-making.

"Outside of today, we won't see another left-hander for 10 days," Dipoto said. "That's Guillermo's niche, so he wouldn't be playing much more than late-game defense. Our thought while navigating through this is to give Guillermo the chance to play regularly, and my assumption is he'll be back in 10 days."

Ichiro reunited with the Mariners on a minor-league deal this offseason after spending the last five seasons with the New York Yankees and Miami Marlins.

He hasn't been invisible at the dish, but he hasn't made much of an impact either. After Sunday's game against the Texas Rangers, he's batting .250/.289/.250 in 36 at-bats.

The veteran has amassed 3,089 hits over parts of 18 seasons - good for 22nd all-time - even though he didn't make the transition from Japan until his age-27 season.