New York Yankees' offseason news, rumors: Ichiro still wants to stay

Ichiro Suzuki remains the most likely candidate to be the starting right fielder for the New York Yankees next season, but it looks like that decision won't come for a while.

George King of the New York Post is reporting that the 39-year-old Ichiro is drawing interest from other teams, but prefers to stay with the Yankees and is willing to wait for New York to make a decision.

The Yankees did not bid for Torii Hunter, and signing Ichiro to a one-year deal would seem to fit their current strategy of staying away from long-term deals and trying to get under the $189 million luxury tax threshold by 2014.

My opinion has always been that re-signing Ichiro would be a good move for the Yankees. He is no longer a superstar, but had a .322/.340/.454 batting line in 240 plate appearances with the Yankees after being acquired from the Seattle Mariners. He hit .283/.307/.390 overall.

Having Ichiro in right field and Brett Gardner in left field would change the Yankees somewhat from the slow-footed home-run happy approach they have employed recently and that has failed them in the playoffs to more of a balanced team with better defense, more speed and more offensive manueverability.

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