Torii Hunter At 4/60?

Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press believes Torii Hunter will snag a contract in the neighborhood of four years and $60MM after this season, if his strong offensive output continues.  That's an entirely reasonable estimate and may be low. 

A 32 year-old Johnny Damon received four years and $52MM, but that was two years ago and Hunter plays better defense.  Alfonso Soriano might be a better point of reference at eight years, $136MM.  He turned 31 shortly after he signed; Hunter will be about 32.5.  Soriano was simply an experiment in center, while Hunter is a pro. 

If Hunter is no longer a .480 SLG type guy, but rather a .540 SLG type (admittedly a long shot), his contract could ramp up to $16MM annually over five or even six years.  The only concern is that his newfound power is coming at the expense of walks - Hunter has just three of them so far this year.  It works as long as he's hitting .330.

With Jacoby Ellsbury coming on strong in the minors, the Red Sox don't need a huge CF expenditure.  I could see the Orioles, Rangers, or Phillies splurging on Hunter this winter.

Comments

[kevmill21]

five or six at 16 would be a franchise crippling contract and i can only pray the rangers stay far far away from this, his defense is great, but no one knows for how much longer and his offense has always been very suspect to me, i guess im just not a fan, great guy, i just wouldn't spend half that on him

[Baseballfan79]

There is going to be a lot of CFers on the market next year. It will be interesting to see where they all go

Ichiro (top for marketing reasons)
Jones
Hunter

All 3 of them are elite players.

[gtliles]

Jones has to be more sought after than Ichiro - marketing value be damned.

I think Hunter will be a bad signing by a bad GM - Bavasi sounds right.

[WestCoastBias]

The Rangers seem like the likely destination point for Torii Hunter. That's my early prediction along with Andruw Jones staying with the Braves and Ichiro Suzuki going to San Diego.

[gtliles]

Anyone know the Twins options for CF if Torii's gone?

[WestCoastBias]

I could see the Twins going after a second-tier option in Cameron, Byrnes or Patterson.

[Guitar Hero]

I've seen him in interviews. He is hungry for his next contract. I think he'll want, and likely get, at least 14 million a year for 5 years. So 5/70, but I could see him going to close to 6/90 or so.

[quintjs]

To fill in some info, Jacoby Ellsbury is the top prospect for the Red Sox, CF, a young Johnny Damon, he has been killing the ball to the tune of a .452 average in AA so far this year and has already been moved (today) to AAA.

That probably makes Crisp available, as well as 1or2 of the Sox' outfielders at AAA, who have being going well too, such as David Murphy who the Marlins are one point were said to be interested in.

[quintjs]

*crisp available in the off-season*

[astralpanda]

Hunter's no longer an elite player and he runs his dumb mouth way too much for any team to even consider giving him 10+ Mil per year.

Yes he's having a great start, he always does and then when it really counts, he chokes. Not worth over 10 million but there's always a sucker who'll overpay his lazy ass.

[quintjs]

If Pierre and GMJ are worth 10+ million, why isn't Hunter?

If he could take a 3/38 contract, I can see quite a few teams interested.
4/60 is probably too much, but no doubt someone will do it.

[nrmax88]

"five or six at 16 would be a franchise crippling contract and i can only pray the rangers stay far far away from this, his defense is great, but no one knows for how much longer and his offense has always been very suspect to me, i guess im just not a fan, great guy, i just wouldn't spend half that on him"

Did it bother you spending that much on Arod, Chan Ho Park, or one of the 10 other guys the Rangers gave absurd contracts too. Nah, but I agree I wouldnt give him 5 or 6 years, but I would give him 4/60, and if the Rangers signed Torii for 4/60, it wouldnt be a bad contract at all, especially considering some of the other awful contracts Texas has given out.

[nrmax88]

"Hunter's no longer an elite player and he runs his dumb mouth way too much for any team to even consider giving him 10+ Mil per year.

Yes he's having a great start, he always does and then when it really counts, he chokes. Not worth over 10 million but there's always a sucker who'll overpay his lazy ass. "

I think Torii Hunter is worth more per year then Soriano, Lee, Drew, or any other out fielder who was a free agent last year. Soriano is worth 17 mil a year, coming off by far his best season ever, and Carlos Lee is worth over 15 million, but Torii Hunter isnt worth 10? Are you kidding? Torii will be good for 25/90 and a gold glove in every year of a 4 year deal. 15 a year seems reasonable.

[nrmax88]

And im not trying to knock Sori or El Caballo, they're both sick, but Torii plays a more important defensive position and plays it sick, and hes gona produce when hes healthy, theres no doubt.

[kevmill21]

just because it isn't as absurd as others doesn't make it good. i wasn't too upset with the a-rod deal at least we knew what we were getting even though it was crazy money and did hurt the franchise IMO, chan ho was an awful deal from day one and everyone outside of the organization knew it

[DentalPlan]

Torii Hunter at that price is a horrible buy. The GM that makes that deal will instantly look bad. At this point in his career, you know what you're going to get - a .785ish OPS and fewer steals. His defense is also erratic and he gets Gold Gloves as often on reputation as he does actual merit. From 2002-2004 Hunter was well below average defensively in center field, 2005-06 just slightly above average.

I think he's a bad consolation prize for a team interested in Andruw Jones.

[boomshwa12]

in the rangers defense, arod averaged 52 bombs per year as a ranger. park probabaly would have given up 52 per year if he could have stayed healthy for an extended period of time. park was the contract that really crippled the rangers for the long haul.

the rangers have a new gm now, and hopefully tom hicks has learned his lesson. if gagne can come back and stay healthy for a while, then i could see an otsuka for crisp/ellsbury deal going down sometime in late june or july.

[beaminack]

Texas sounds about right. i wouldn't mind seeing him go somewhere thats ganna win something tho. i kid but seriously maybe the O's pick him up i bet he gets along good with miggy. or else hes headed to the NL. witch would be a shame. always did like the guy