According to ESPN.com’s rumor page, it appears that there’s speculation that Ichiro could hit the trade market sometime in 2007. This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise because a) the Mariners probably won’t win the AL West and b) Ichiro is in the last year of his contract. If the Mariners find themselves out of the playoff hunt in July, they’d be doing a disservice if they didn’t at least look at their options for the lead off hitter. If the Mariners could get a couple of top notch prospects, it might be worth going without the superstar.