Torii Hunter

[Willy]

Quote:

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Well at least it wasn't 20 mill 18 mill is bad enough but it helps when your talking 4 or 5 year contracts.

I'm still thinking 15 mill per year for Hunter to keep him minimum but I think he and his agent will want 5 years which puts his contract at 70 or 80 mill......DOAH!

It's not my money SIGN HIM!!!!

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It seems like the media usually blows up the numbers higher than what they actually sign for. 18 mil is still a TON for a slap hitting outfielder. Now don't get me wrong Ichiro is a great fielder, base stealer, OBP guy, but that kind of money is putting Hunter in the 15-17 mil a year range I think.

My guess is the Twins will offer a 3-year 40-42 million dollar contract. It will be up to Hunter as to where he goes from there. From the Twins perspective, they are probably wanting to keep him around for a few more years so that he gets to play in the stadium and to bridge the gap until their next centerfielder is ready to be called up(who and when is anybody's guess).

After 3-4 years you are probably going to see Hunter start slowing down and usually the Twins like to get the most out of their players and then let them go when they get too expensive and have started past their prime.

From Hunter's point of view, he is looking at his biggest contract if he tests the market. I would say he would have offers in the 4-5 year 65-80 million dollar range.

Hopefully he and the Twins will be able to work something out. Sure be nice to see him patrolling centerfield in 2010 in the new park and NEXT year is when I really think we will need him. Next year is our chance to win it all...

[schweady]

While we were at Yankee stadium for the Twins' series, I talked with a few folks about Hunter. Their standard line was a cheerful, "There's our center fielder next year." (Even though Damon made a great play in center during the get-away day, who could blame their giddiness?) I usually countered with arguments centered around his loyalty to the Twins organization and having a one-team guy like Puckett as a mentor, but I knew the position sounded pretty hollow, given today's totally out of whack salaries. And then, while catching up on my reading of TwinsNotes I come across Torii saying, "All I can do is go out there and have fun. I'm at peace with it right now, but once the season is over with, then I'm going out there to have fun with it. As long as I get to play the game of baseball, it doesn't matter what team I play for." <GROAN>

[Willy]

Don't you just love that smug New York attitude.

Hunter has made all sorts of comments so you really don't know where he stands. One time he says he wants to stay in Minnesota, the other he is talking about how he loves this team or city and how he wouldn't "mind" playing for them.

He will want big money. If we had anyone in line to replace him, I think it's a given we let him walk. However, with noone to replace him, I would guess it's a fairly decent chance we keep him around.

All things being equal I think he wants to stay in Minnesota. However, he likes the big lights and attention he would get in a big market. I wouldn't expect that the "hometown discount" will be that much less than market value. But we will see. Either way it's obvious both he and Santana are a little frustrated with TR and the Twins no contract talk during the season company line.

[Mudcutter]

I wonder how much the A-rod speculation and the Yankees will affect Hunter going to the Yanks. I know the yanks have $ and lots of it, but resiging A-rod plus the fact that their pitching is in disarray; might this help them stay away from Hunter and allow us to be more in the ballpark?? I guess If I could only keep one, I'd keep Santanna. Hopefully, we can keep him. His stats for his career put him with Pedro and the like. K/9 BB/9 etc. hunter is probably the best cf in the game, but a avg to above hitting OF.

[Jarrod32]

Here are some more interesting details about Ichiro's contract from the AP:

NEW YORK (AP) - The Seattle Mariners will be paying Ichiro Suzuki for at least a quarter century.

The All-Star outfielder's new contract extension calls for the team to defer $25 million of the $90 million he is owed, money that the team will not have to fully pay until at least 2032.

Suzuki, MVP of last week's All-Star game, gets a $5 million signing bonus and annual salaries of $17 million from 2008-12 under the terms of last Friday's deal.

Seattle will pay $12 million in salary each year and defer $5 million per season at 5.5 percent interest. Suzuki, who turns 33 in October, will receive the money in annual installments each Jan. 30 starting with the year after his retirement from the major leagues.

Because of the deferred money, the average annual value of the contract is discounted to $16.1 million under the provisions of baseball's collective bargaining agreement.

In addition, he gets a housing allowance of $32,000 next year, an increase of $1,000 from this season, and the amount will rise by $1,000 each year. He also will be provided with either a new jeep or Mercedes SUV by the team, which also gives him four first-class round trip tickets from Japan each year for his family. Provisions for the Mariners to give him a personal trainer and an interpreter were continued.

[Jorgie]

Wow, deferring salaries until after the player is retired? I hope this doesn't set a precedent for future negotiations by other teams. It could lead to even more bloated salaries.

[Fishin Beast]

You wouldn't think the league would allow that type of salary. So would this 5 mil a year after Ichiro retires count against the cap all of those years?

[Trainman]

I say give him a reasonable offer that the Twins can afford. If he leaves for more money then let him go. He's decent, but not worth breaking the bank. It seems like he hits alot on solo HR's when the game is already lost and strikes out with guys on base when we're down by 1 run. I'd miss watching his outfielding effort though.

[greebs]

why not trade him now and get something in return in case they can't sign him in the offseason. trading him now doesn't mean that they can't try to resign him for next year. I suppose you have to deal with the typical professional athlete pride issue, but if presented to him that hey, we are going to give you a chance to play for a playoff contending team for the rest of this season but we are still planning to give you our best offer that we can once the season is done, and by accepting this, if you come back next year, you will have helped us add to our talent for next year.

[Down to Earth]

I've been thinking about the whole Torii Hunter situation myself and here are my conclusion is they have to do something NOW either way. If they plan on keeping him around get the contract offer out there and get him signed. If they plan on not keeping him around either because they want to go another direction or because they simply think they can't afford him, then we need to trade him to a contender and get something in return. My gosh, the front office must have some type of clue as to what they are going to do with Hunter at the end of the season. My guess, is if they wait around long enough Hunter will leave anyways. We need to be more aggressive.

[Mudcutter]

grebs-

i agree with you--- let'em go and get something for him when you can. i'd like to keep him, but if not-- get the most for him while we still can. hunter has been around for some time.

[Jarrod32]

Thought I'd bring this up with this bit of info from one of the baseball sites I frequent:

The News

The Twins offered Torii Hunter a three-year, $45 million contract late last month that the outfielder rejected, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The paper reports Hunter is looking for a deal like the one J.D. Drew received, which was worth $70 over five years.

[Juneau4]

SEEMS TO ME THAT 15 MILLION A YEAR FOR 3 YEARS IS BETTER THAN 14 MILLION FOR 5. 3 years later at his age just think of the dollars then!

[Bobby Bass]

I had heard he wanted the 5 years so he can play out his career here in MN