While I like the guy a fair bit, its clear that playing on a bad, small market team has hurt him. His supporters can get a little carried away about his talent too. I'm not saying that he isn't very good, but he's more like a 21st Century Rod Carew, than a Ty Cobb or Stan Musial.

Ichiro is a star, and is no doubt that a lot of his votes to be an All Star came from overseas. However, his numbers are not as dominant as they have been in his previous seasons, and the Mariners are not doing that great as a team. Ichiro makes this All Star team on past performance and notoriety alone.