Buxton to Stay?

[DaveW]

 

 You look at players as stats and numbers.

Not true at all actually.
I think his leadership skillz are vastly over-rated, unless you can convince me he is the reason why Milone and Gibson are pitching so well. The way he approaches his at bats are the same they were when he was 24, lots of swinging at bad pitches in hitters counts resulting in outs. Again this is fine, but I'm not going to give him credit for someone like Sano's immediate success in the majors or anything like that. If you want to credit his "dancing" in the clubhouse for the reason of the Twins success or something of that nature, that is fine. I think the Twins success is more due to the starting pitching coming around and timely hitting (along with some great offensive numbers from Sano, Dozier and even Plouffe).

 

People need to stop acting like Torii sacrificed so much to come back to Minnesota, he came back because the Twins offered him 10.5 million dollars. He isn't having a bad year or anything, but his defense is below average, and his bat this year is average. He won't be traded, but it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to happen since there is a very likely chance that one or both of Buxton and/or Arcia could give you better overall value pretty quickly. However, there is no reason whatsover to bring him back for 2016, unless its a small 2-4 million dollar contract and he agrees to be a platoon RF with Arcia or something of that nature.

[DaveW]

 

 

Molitor has stated that he depends a lot on Torii Hunter in the clubhouse.

 

"I can tell these kids how to prepare for a ballgame, but they really need to see it from a veteran  they respect."

 

There are aspects to this game that go beyond the numbers.  We're dealing with human beings here, aren't we?

Joe Mauer is a veteran and one of the best pure hitters baseball has seen in the last 10-15 years.

Kurt Suzuki is a veteran and by all accounts a "good" guy.

Brian Dozier and Plouffe have 1,000+ combined MLB games between them, that makes them somewhat "veterans"

 

It's not exactly 8 rookies under 25 and Torii Hunter that are in the lineup every day.

Also, let's not forget some of the leadership Hunter showed in the past with the Twins last group of up and coming players, great hits including:

 

-Trying to punch Justin Morneau in the face (missing and punching Punto instead)

-Criticizing Joe Mauer publicly for not playing hurt.

 

He also tried to fight Albert Pujols while he was in LA, but I will call that one a wash

[ckrolak]

Hunter and Dozier are leaders and invaluable to a team dedicated to stocking its team with talented rookies and other young players.  Whatever Hunter may have done in the past, I believe he has matured and given what he has contribted to the team this year, should be extended next year and offered a position with the organization as a coach when he no longer wants to be a player.  Regardless, I trust Molitor to surround himself with the best personnel -- coaches and players.  He has earned that trust.

[Highabove]

 

Joe Mauer is a veteran and one of the best pure hitters baseball has seen in the last 10-15 years.

Kurt Suzuki is a veteran and by all accounts a "good" guy.

Brian Dozier and Plouffe have 1,000+ combined MLB games between them, that makes them somewhat "veterans"

 

It's not exactly 8 rookies under 25 and Torii Hunter that are in the lineup every day.

Also, let's not forget some of the leadership Hunter showed in the past with the Twins last group of up and coming players, great hits including:

 

-Trying to punch Justin Morneau in the face (missing and punching Punto instead)

-Criticizing Joe Mauer publicly for not playing hurt.

 

He also tried to fight Albert Pujols while he was in LA, but I will call that one a wash

 

The Hunter leadership comments are coming from Paul Molitor.

The (Tori has helped me) comments are coming from the Players. The latest being from Sano during his post game interview. I guess the Manager and his players should take the blame for the Torii Hunter hype.

 

 

 

[drjim]

 

You are always dissing Torii, and now I know why. You look at players as stats and numbers.  

 

Anyone else think of this:

 

[jokin]

 

The Hunter leadership comments are coming from Paul Molitor.

The (Tori has helped me) comments are coming from the Players. The latest being from Sano during his post game interview. I guess the Manager and his players should take the blame for the Torii Hunter hype.

 

And Terry Ryan gladly signed off on the high-bid contract offer to get him here.  The Morneau-Mauer stuff from the past evidently carried ZERO weight. in the decision to bring him back.  I'm also thinking there's a good chance they ran it past Mauer, and he signed off on it, as well.

[Oxtung]

This whole thing will probably play itself out in the next 3-4 weeks before Buxton is ready to come off the DL. Either Hicks continues to make strides at the plate (any power against righties is what's missing right now) and then Buxton goes back down. Hicks is still OPSing .650; then Buxton stays up with Hicks moving to 4th OF role. Hicks crashes and Buxton is up with Hicks being sent down.