tobi0040

Not to mention Hunter pushes payroll to $90M, which limits the pitcher we will go after. I think the move was to get clear upgrades. The guys that improve our OF defense and starting pitching, yet were also in our price range were Colby Rasmus and Ervin Santana. Obviously not going after Rasmus now and I don't think we are going to really spend on a pitcher. Maybe we could have signed an OF for $3M that is a good defender and platoon your way to decent offense to go with it, then had money fro Ervin or to take on salary via trade. I would also note that the 2012 and 2013 Twins were more of a destination for the reclamation project like Brett Anderson. A guy like that needs innings and he is probably going to come by them easier somewhere else (I think that is why Boras wanted Pelfrey to sign here initially and why Harden chose MN). We have three guys locked in, Nolasco, Hughes, and Gibson. Two other guys we really want to see succeed, Pelfrey and Milone, and two youngs guys we want to get innings (May and Meyer).

I would suggest a potential for bias. The UZR ratings and other metrics would seem relatively impartial to me. Twins scouts rating a fan favorite, likeable guy that reminds us of when we were good may have rose colored glasses on.

I don't want a meddling owner like Daniel Snyder or Jerry Jones. But I would like some pointed questions to the staff, particularly the GM when we make decisions like this. Force the guy to do a little bit of bench-marking with peers. Ask for a detailed presentation on why our approach is the right one. Or how about go back 3-5 years on all free agency decisions. What our thought process was at the time and if the strategy worked. If not, lets re-evaluate the strategy.

I hear Goin has been spotted slumped over in a booth at The Local.

This is quite interesting. In 35 games, the worst single game report has Hunters range at average (Twins scouts). And he could slide into CF for a few games and we would "not miss much". http://blogs.twincities.com/twins/2014/12/04/twinsights-terry-ryan-defensive-metrics-twins-ignore/

Does anyone else find it funny that the Twins say they still think Torii can play defense, yet they moved Arcia to left? Isn't that an indictment that we feel Arcia > Hunter, so much so that it is worth moving the 23 year old out of his long term position? Or did the Twins take a look at last year and say, we need to give Acia more space to chase balls down!

I don't have time to list the things I would have done before signing Hunter.

We still have Duensing.....

While I agree with you. What should happen and what will happen are different.

I think we have a 22 year old DH that is 270 pounds. We are content letting him ride there. We have a 1B that isn't moving. Given that Arcia is a long term RF in Minnesota, I think we should leave him there. I don't think moving a 23 year old who struggles in the OF around is a good idea.

Day 1 is figure out who the pitcher is before arriving to the park.

They have probably talked themselves into....Hicks floundered becasue he didn't have anyone to mentor him. I see no way we pay Hunter $10.5M to mentor guys, then send Hicks to AAA. Zero reason to believe that will happen. With Arcia and Hunter in the corners, I am hoping we sign a cheetah trained to catch baseballs and put him in center.

I think we are probably done on position players outside of maybe a bench pickup if one we like hits the waiver wire. With Fien and Duensing back, I think we probably don't add another reliever and lean on our system to fill the void. I think the off-season will conclude with one starting pitcher in the 1-8 or 1-10 range. Someone that is about 30-33. Career ERA in the mid 4's. Probably had 1-2 good years out of 7-8 so far and we are somehow hoping they have that year again here. Probably missed some time with a shoulder injury or TJ. The types we seem to love that never pan out. If my prediction on the pitcher is accurate, we will have $26M locked into three players (Hunter, Pelfrey, and the FA pitcher). About 29% of our payroll devoted to three guys that will likely not produce a MLB average season (Hunter will likely be slightly above average for a typical RF offensively, well below defensively). That is certainly an interesting way to construct a roster.

I thought all along that Hicks would be handed CF one last time. The signing of Torii makes that a virtual lock in my opinion. When they talk about the culture, attitude, being a professional I see the broader locker room, but also I think they are talking specifically about Aaron Hicks. I think one of the main reasons Torii is here is to play along side Hicks and get on him and hopefully salvage the former first round picks career. I am guessing the thinking is that if Torii can't motivate Hicks he is a lost cause. And if he does get motivated and prepares better and his numbers don't improve, then he should be cut anyway (or told to go to E-Town and pitch out of the pen).

In hindsight that it easy. But in the thick of it, most on these boards were suggesting he had no interest in returning to the Twins, but was using the coming home angle as a ploy to get more money out of a contender. He very well may have been having dinner with folks in Seattle, Baltimore, Texas, or other areas. I guess I am just not sure what the story TD missed should have said? It was common knowledge we were pushing for him and we were allegedly on his list. Should they have broken a story that he was coming here when it was still not clear he was? I don't see anyone that broke a story saying that. The only newsworthy item beyond rumors with multiple teams linked was the fact that he signed, about 36 hours ago. The fact that the story was broken by USA today is probably not worth noting either. I am guessing they have slightly more resources at their disposal than the typical TD writer, who best I can tell all have other full time jobs. Personally, I like the fact that TD writers always give props to the actual person that breaks the story. It is very classy. I see them go out of their way to do so on the message boards and within their columns. Another approach would be the one CBS did on their story "our own Jon Heyman has confirmed that Torii Hunter has signed with Minnesota on a one year contract". It gives the appearance that they are breaking something when they didn't, with no mention of who did break it.

I guess I don't know what was missed. Seems like the site has stories about things that happened and things that we would like to see happen. That would have been gossip and rumors.

Don't feed the greed, Up until 24 hours ago, hunter was linked to at least four teams and some reports suggested the twins are not in his top three. What type of story should they have ran a week ago?

The story was broken about 24 hours ago.

Dumb question or not, the veteran guy should be used to them and have acted more professionally.

Well. Our role model and professional is on a roll.

Like calling Mike Beradino a prick at his press conference....a few minutes ago.

I would not compare the career stats of a guy that is 40 years old with any sort of expectation that he will achieve them. History has not been kind to 40 year olds. I will be very generous here and take Torii's age 35-38 numbers, OPS of .765, .817, .800, and .765. That is not much better offensively than the career numbers Rasmus has put up (.751) and Rasmus has done so ages 22-27. Even if you think Torii Hunter will put up better offensive numbers this year than Rasmus ( I don't think that is anywhere near a given).....but certainly a few other things draw fans towards Rasmus. Defense, he had a positive dWAR at CF last year. I am guessing that means he would play any of the 3 OF positions better than the guy rated as the worst RF in baseball. That flexibility could mean he spells Hicks if he continues to struggle. And of course Rasmus offers the potential for a long term solution and/or gets us something when he leaves. Torii does not. I have no clue if Rasmus would come here or not, if we reached out, etc. But I can see why fans would rather have him than Hunter.

How about this for a thought..... "It's year to year, but I plan on being there the rest of my career," Hunter said. "If I go hit .280 with 17 (homers) and 83 (runs batted in) again, I'm playing again. If I do that, I'm pretty sure the Twins will have me back." http://www.twincities.com/twins/ci_27054560/minnesota-twins-sign-torii-hunter-one-year-deal Can anyone rule this out, 100%?

No more of that Ole BS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ccUDrB_8jQ

I was using the same logic, but taking a step further (runs lead to wins). I think Josh in LF and Arcia in RF is about on par with Arcia in LF and Hunter in RF. Defensive metrics had Arcia better than Hunter last year. But Arcia scares me in LF. I think this is probably a wash or close to it. Willingham had an OPS of .747 in 70 games. Hunter had an OPS of .765. So it is hard to make a meaningful dent in the run differential here