An Awkward Send Off For Ichiro

On Thursday, the Seattle Mariners announced that Ichiro Suzuki would be "transitioning" from being a player to a special assistant to General Manager Jerry DiPoto. 

In the course of the announcement, DiPoto indicated that Ichiro would not play again in 2018, but that he was not retiring and the door was open to play in 2019.

This seems awfully ambiguous to me. If the door is open for Ichiro to play in 2019 then wouldn't it be for a team other than the Mariners? I don't see how he can be both a player and a member of the front office.

It could be the case that this move was a face saving measure for the Mariners to spare Ichiro the embarrassment of being unceremoniously released as he was only hitting .205 without an RBI in 15 games this season. Yet if Ichiro has taken his last swing then it seems to me that someone of Ichiro's stature in the game deserves a far grander send off. Baseball fans deserve to give Ichiro a proper goodbye.