re: Where do you rank Ichiro all-time as an all-around player?

I'm always curious about this kind of question, because it also applies to the Pete Rose type; you'll run into guys who defend Rose to death, but spit on Ichiro, despite them being similar in a number of ways.

Yeah, losing some highly productive seasons as a young player here, undoubtedly hurts him. It might not mean the difference between chasing down Rose's record, but it probably means the difference of a few hundred hits- I think it is supremely reasonable to say he'd be in the Top 10 in hits-- he's only 323 away from that right now.

I'd likely put him in that 35-50 range, subjective to the momentary preference for power, or whatever. He's a poor man's blend of Tim Raines and Pete Rose, with a better glove.