Torii Hunter
 

For all those who hoped we would sign him this off-season, you can put those hopes to rest.

The Twins picked up his 12M option today, so he's off the market.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_yl...v=ap&type=lgns

You can forget about Torii Hunter...
 

Unless you want to trade for him. The Twins picked up his $12 million option for the 2007 season.

http://sportsline.com/mlb/story/9718407

Sorry I guess dburke beat me to it by a minute.

Re: Torii Hunter
 

is $12M overpaying Hunter?

Probably but I suspect the Twins looked at the situation and realized
1) There is no internal replacement
2) with $12M for one year they couldn't get as good as an external replacement
3) In the generally inflated free agent market you get a much lower return on your dollar

Re: Torii Hunter
 

4) If they're "out of it" at the trade deadline next year and he's having a decent season, he'll make for a nice trading chip.

Re: Torii Hunter
 

I wonder how much Matthews Jr. will get? He made $2.3M this year, seems like a bargain compared to Hunter:

Matthews Jr. (32) 147 G, 620 AB, 102 R, 194 H, 44 2B, 6 3B, 19 HR, 79 RBI, 58 BB/99 K 10 SB/7 CS

.313 avg/.371 oba/.495 slg/.866 ops

Hunter MIN (31) 147 G, 557 AB, 86 R, 155 H, 21 2B, 2 3B, 31 HR, 98 RBI, 45BB/108 K, 12 SB/6 CS

.278 avg/.336 oba/.490 slg/.826 ops

Re: Torii Hunter
 

I'd take Matthews...

Re: Torii Hunter
 

I'd take Deno, both of these guys are north of 30.

Re: Torii Hunter
 

Good.

Hunter's fools gold at this point.

Let him fade away.

Re: Torii Hunter
 

career OPS for Matthews is 745 (age 32)
career OPS for Hunter is 786 (age 31)

Was 2006 Matthews a never to be repeated career year? (his history would suggest it it).

Who is likely better moving forward?

Re: Torii Hunter
 

Good answer. I would say there is a real possibility that Deno could do as well as both of them in 2007.

I think back to the Depodesta comment that the great inefficiency in baseball are the players in the middle.

Re: Torii Hunter
 

Matthews looks like a late bloomer. Although Texas may have something to do with that. I'm not saying Matthews is better than Hunter, because he's not. But he's a much better deal from a financial perspective.

Re: Torii Hunter
 

looks like a fluke to me.

Depends on what he gets. There is absolutely nothing in his resume to indicate 2006 was possible, so i would say Matthews is a huge "buyer beware".

Re: Torii Hunter
 

Any outfielder they bring in needs to cover ground.

At 32 years old, that ability's almost gone by the wayside.

They need fresh legs, not some guy that pounded himself sensless on astroturf and outfield walls (sound familiar?), and not a guy that had a one year bump in hitters park.

This is the wrong time for chasing one's own tail.

Re: Torii Hunter
 

throwing big money around in the free agent market has proven time and time again to be a bad idea (especially at pitching).

Re: Torii Hunter
 

I don't know. Johnny Damon can still cover a lot of ground. He just can't throw...at all.

I'd rather pay Matthews $2.5M than $12M to Hunter or Griffey for that matter.