Torii Hunter In 2006?
Posted by Steve Lombardi on September 16th, 2005 · Comments (6)
From the Star Tribune:
Twins center fielder Torii Hunter has put his Golden Valley home on the market — an indication of his personal uncertainty that he will be with the club in 2006.
The uncertainty appears justified.
The Twins will lay everything on the table over the next several weeks as the makeup of the 2006 roster is discussed, according to two Twins officials with knowledge of the team’s offseason plans. Trading Hunter and unloading his large contract will be considered as an option, according to the officials.
In a totally open market, Torii would not be my choice for the next CF in New York. But, if the options are Damon, Bradley, and Wilson, I would take Hunter in a heartbeat.
For what it’s worth, Torii (gotta love that spelling) would be due 10.75MM in 2006, with a club option for 2007 (the option is for 12MM with a 2MM buyout).
Also, maybe I don’t get fielding statistics but I had always assumed that he was a great CFer. Apparently, that hasn’t been the case for the last 3 years (though he seems to have rebounded this year). Weird.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/dt/hunteto01.shtml
And he hasn’t been…ummm…stellar…in his Yankee stadium appearances.
http://tinyurl.com/dxg27
As an update, he has performed better in the recent past – 2002 till now.
http://tinyurl.com/dys6m
So Mr. “The Yankees don’t have any fun” looks like he’s not having much fun anymore either in the Twin Cities. Perhaps he can move in with Selena Roberts.
Obviously, throwing is just one aspect of fielding, but it’s hard to ignore when you see stats like these from Gabriel Desjardins at ProTrade :
bases saved on fly ball outs :
Hunter : 3rd best, 11.2 bases saved
Lawton : 5th worst, -8.4 bases saved
Bernie : 2nd worst, -14.5 bases saved
http://www.protrade.com/insight/InsightArticleDesjardinsBestOutfieldArm.html
I don’t want Hunter for one simple reason – he makes too many outs, and doesn’t know how to walk. He’s 31 next year, and his numbers have been going down since his peak age-27 season. My guess is he’s out the bigs by 34 (or should be). Ditto Preston Wilson.
Bradley, however, off-field problems aside, I’d take his production and defense in a second.
Shaun- put Hunter in the Yankee lineup and a better hitter he will be. He will not be expected to go .300-30-100. He will hit around 6th or 7th, and his Defense is second to none.
I won’t even touch the price tag…because, quite frankly, it doesn’t matter.