Torii Hunter finishing his career in Minnesota

[superfly]

Torii Hunter, the 16-year veteran free-agent outfielder, is returning to his roots with the Minnesota Twins.

 

Hunter, after playing five seasons for the Los Angeles Angels and two with the Detroit Tigers, has agreed to a one-year, $10.5 million deal with the Twins, a source familiar with the contract confirmed Tuesday night to ESPN.com senior writer Jayson Stark.

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/11970380/torii-hunter-returning-minnesota-twins-1-year-deal

 

Feel good story, I guess it makes sense on the surface for the Twins providing a bridge to the next wave of players, but I wouldn't discount Twins brass using him as a pawn to draw in more ticket sales and cover for their own deficiencies. Unless Torii knows how to pitch, leadership is by far his biggest asset at 39 years of age, and the Twins will just lose 90 games again.

[DocLuna7]

I believe I read somewhere that Molitor was really pushing Torii hard to return to MIN. Apparently he foresees Hunter's role as a mentor to be somewhat similar to the role that Molly himself provided to him as a young player.

[jerichoholicninja]

Incredibly pointless move by the Twins. They may say he's brought in to "mentor" but it is obviously to sell tickets and merch. He's going to play 150 games between OF and DH. He's still actually putting up decent numbers despite his age but it's just wasted money for a team that isn't going to compete next year.

 

I'll give Torii credit for wanting to go back to Minnesota but they probably also offered him the most money too. I was expecting him to sign with Texas. He could probably put up some respectable numbers there, not so much at Target Field.

[pacopete4]

Incredibly pointless move by the Twins. They may say he's brought in to "mentor" but it is obviously to sell tickets and merch. He's going to play 150 games between OF and DH. He's still actually putting up decent numbers despite his age but it's just wasted money for a team that isn't going to compete next year.

 

I'll give Torii credit for wanting to go back to Minnesota but they probably also offered him the most money too. I was expecting him to sign with Texas. He could probably put up some respectable numbers there, not so much at Target Field.

 

 

Sooooo the Twins can't flip him for other prospects towards July if they are out of it? Meanwhile they sell a few extra tickets and get a pretty good player for it. Doesn't seem to be so incredibly pointless to me. It could very well work out for them just fine. And who's to say they are done making moves.

[bill hAll Star]

I can't imagine a team is going to give up prospects for a 40-year-old outfielder. It's more of a "here, just pay for his contract" type of trade situation.

 

Also, I'm not sure either party would want a deadline trade. Hunter clearly signed because he wants to come back to Minnesota and the Twins clearly overpaid in a year where they might not yet be competitive for the hoopla of having Torii back.

 

I feel like if Hunter really wanted to win he'd have just signed with a team that looks like they could win. There is always a chance that could change come July and that the Twins also gave him a wink wink that they will trade him to the contender of his choice as well.

[BrewBalls]

Hunter’s contract contains a full no-trade clause, per Jon Heyman of CBS Sports

 

[sauveb]

Hunter's press conference took a sad turn at the end. A writer for the St. Paul paper started asking questions about his political views, which Hunter didn't want to answer. Hunter ended up calling the writer a p---k and told him that he had ruined the press conference.

[jerichoholicninja]

Ya, the reporter pretty much is what Torii called him. He was clearly just trying to create a stir and make a headline. Torii didn't handle the situation well at all but the reporter was way out of line.

[Invader3K]

The money seems a bit high, but it's a feel good type of move and only a one year deal. Good for him and good for the Twins, I guess.

 

re: that reporter, they should be reprimanded or possibly fired for acting like that.

[brewcrewdue80]

I like the move for Minnesota. Think it's a classy move to bring him back and finish his career while keeping a seat warm for the future. I also like the Mollitor push for him. Probably some real respect among the two, and for him becoming a rookie coach, Hunter may show a little respect to be given attitude to rub off on these young guys.

Hunter is just a solid player there's not much downside here in having him. You give the fans someone to cheer for on a team not likely to compete, but towards the end of the season will be the farewell to Hunter games come out and cheer for him.

[djoctagone]

http://blogs.mprnews.org/newscut/2014/12/why-torii-hunters-views-on-gays-matter/

[SRB]

Setting aside all the politics of the issue involved, Torii Hunter is a total chump for reacting like that. Number one, he's talking to the media, who for once actually did their job and didn't just ask "are you in the best shape of your life?" nonsense. Number two, Hunter has actively endorsed political candidates on this issue. If you're going to start leveraging your baseball fame to make political endorsements, you are opening yourself up to questions about it, sorry.

[GAME05]

Based on last year's attendance (which will likely be lower this coming season) they could have dropped ticket prices by $4.66 and come out even. I bet that would've made people a lot happier than having Torii back for a goodbye year.

[MNBrew]

Setting aside all the politics of the issue involved, Torii Hunter is a total chump for reacting like that. Number one, he's talking to the media, who for once actually did their job and didn't just ask "are you in the best shape of your life?" nonsense. Number two, Hunter has actively endorsed political candidates on this issue. If you're going to start leveraging your baseball fame to make political endorsements, you are opening yourself up to questions about it, sorry.

Regardless of what Hunter may have publicly said before, I don't believe that topic was germane to the point of this press conference. The MPR article linked by djoctagone notes Hunter's thoughts/politics came to light in 2012, and that has NOTHING to do with choosing to come back to finish his career with the Twins. There may well be a time and a place for that question, but yesterday's press conference was NOT it. To me, that the guy brought it up in that particular situation reeks of "sound byte" reporting in the guise of "I'm going to ask the tough question on a controversial topic and try to tie it in as relevant." In the end the reporter's choice to "go there" reflects a certain lack of either wisdom or sensible professional discretion.

 

It bothers me a lot how way too many media outlets & reporters seem to act with the mindset of tabloid journalism, often aiming to ask ("tough") questions at least in part so that they might net headline-generating responses. In many instances the story is reported or subsequently given life from a rather self-righteous posture, coming across with the talk-radio mentality that the reporter's/host's/outlet's perspective is the way everyone should think about the topic -- or even just that it's news because the outlet or reporter promotes it as such. (ASIDE: While that was probably less the case in this instance, an interview with local Twin Cities media), that ESPN has a report & makes a story about that exchange itself so blatantly typifies the issue.) It seems motivated by the "the public deserves to know" mentality that the media constantly touts but which in reality is often generated by the media's self-serving interests. . . . And over the years, that's evolved into a media-generated sense of entitlement to know people's personal business regardless of its appropriateness or the normal "boundaries" by which most of us function in our daily lives and interactions. The media may create a buzz resulting in folks wanting to know, but that's NOT the same as deserving to know, and the criteria for the two is often vastly different.

 

(further rambling...)

 

That's exactly the way the whole steroids/PED thing blew up. While many serious fans were interested in it, my sense at the time was that more fans including most "average" fans WEREN'T as interested and generally weren't talking about it a whole lot, but the media kept talking about it as if it mattered -- that it SHOULD be news -- and along the way largely generated the whole "well, they sure shouldn't be in the HOF" mentality that turns out to be quite ironic given how many cheaters & drug users are in the HOF even though those players from earlier eras ALSO created an artificially or illegally generated competitive advantage, were intentionally using deceptive means, aided their body's recovery time, or otherwise compromised the integrity of the game yet somehow are immune to the equivalent standards. . . . SORRY, I get sidetracked on that particular topic. But the main point in all of this is that going for headlines either for shock value or without substance, or insisting that something's a story that quite possibly truly isn't, is really more about getting a scoop and ratings, and NOT judicious professionalism or responsible journalism. . . . . What ever happened to a proper balance of critical thought, personal integrity, and responsibility to high standards and the big picture/greater whole?

 

BACK ON THE THREAD'S ORIGINAL TOPIC, based on how the Twins have been a pretty unsound & not-good baseball team over the past 4 years (all with 90+ losses), looking at this team's needs, Torii Hunter is the exact sort of player this team needs AND all the more so the type of clubhouse leader to help re-instill the type of clubhouse culture that the team has sorely lacked ever since Hunter left, which combined with the effects of former GM Bill Smith's 4 years of decisions account for much of the major erosion of quality of play & team-focused loyalty/commitment. On top of that, Torii Hunter's still quite a productive player, which wasn't the case for the Twins OFs collectively for most all of last year, decent spurts by Arcia & really-a-SS Santana notwithstanding.