Torii Hunter Rumors

Rosenthal's Latest: Hunter, Santana, Quentin

It's Sunday again, so we've got some tidbits from Ken Rosenthal's Full Count video: Torii Hunter was courted by the White Sox and Rangers before signing with the Angels this past offseason; however, according to Hunter, he had a meeting scheduled with the Dodgers to discuss taking the spot that Andruw Jones would come to occupy. The Angels signed him, preventing the meeting. As we enter June, the sky is falling in Seattle... Rosenthal doesn't think there's a lot of regret in the Yankee organization for not acquiring Johan Santana. One executive notes Santana's throwing with increased effort this season...   Continue Reading

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Rangers Were Close To Acquiring Johan

SI.com's Jon Heyman checks in with some inside info from the What Might've Been file. He says the Rangers and Twins were close to an agreement on the players involved in a trade that would've sent Johan Santana to Texas. The Twins pulled the plug when Santana was noncommital about whether he'd approve a trade to the Rangers. They felt that this would've decreased his market value (instead the Twins ended up overplaying their hand and accepting the second or third-best offer). Heyman speculates that the Rangers could've offered Eric Hurley and/or Edinson Volquez, for starters. A Taylor Teagarden and...   Continue Reading

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Cubs Never Called Torii

I don't have enough for an odds and ends, so this little tidbit gets its own post today. Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times learned that the Cubs never put in a call to Torii Hunter's agent this winter before he signed with the Angels. Torii's friend Derrek Lee found this shocking; he could have facilitated some talks. Hunter grew up a Cubs fan because of WGN, like many people outside of Illinois. The Cubs don't quite seem sold on Felix Pie as their center fielder, given their interest in Marlon Byrd earlier this year. He's had about 200 plate...   Continue Reading

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Brewers Pursuing Hunter?

We recently named the White Sox, Dodgers, and Rangers as the teams in hot pursuit of free agent center fielder Torii Hunter. However, those aren't the only clubs after him. Yahoo's Jeff Passan talks of how Hunter was impressed with the Royals' pitch. Passan also adds the Brewers and Nationals as teams interested in Hunter. Out of all these clubs, this is the first I've heard of Milwaukee being in the mix. Perhaps if the Brewers let Francisco Cordero walk they'll spend the money on Torii. They could then move Bill Hall to third base and Ryan Braun to left...   Continue Reading

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Rangers, Hunter Talking Five Year Deal

According to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan, Torii Hunter denied the Chicago Sun-Times report that he would sign with the Sox this week. The White Sox, Dodgers, and Rangers remain the major players for Hunter. The Rangers had dinner with Hunter last night; he's their top priority. Currently the two sides are talking about a five-year deal but Jon Daniels doesn't expect anything to happen this week.   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: LaRue, Rogers, Hunter

Some random rumorage before I shut it down for the evening... My 2008 MLB Free Agents list is current; take a gander. The Cardinals signed Jason LaRue to be their backup catcher. LaRue had a nice five-year trend of rising OPS, culminating with an .806 mark in 2005. Then he lost all ability to hit whatsoever. Fortunately, he can still throw guys out. The Cards also inked a couple of sweet former Rated Rookies in Dewon Brazelton and John Wasdin. The Tigers have begun chatting with Kenny Rogers again, this time with The Gambler representing himself. Don't buy that Torii...   Continue Reading

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Hunter, Sox Could Agree This Week

Torii Hunter might be a White Sox before the week is out. According to Joe Cowley, "'the climate was there for a deal to be announced soon." Of course, Cowley adds that this is unless another team swoops in at the last second with a mind-boggling offer. Next to the White Sox, the Rangers are mentioned most often as Hunter's destination. The Royals also have interest. This report is coming from sources within both the club and Hunter's camp. The two sides have sat down twice, with the financial package being discussed in the latter meeting. Buster Olney has mentioned...   Continue Reading

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Rosenthal's Latest: Bonds, Broussard, Hunter, Rowand, More

We missed an installment from good ol' Kenny Rosenthal yesterday. He's back today in full force (unlike another great rumor source, Buster Olney, who posted nothing really new in his blog today). The A's, once considered the best bet for Barry Bonds, are no longer interested in the indicted slugger. Rosenthal thinks it's likely that Bond's trial will start after Opening Day, causing him to miss time regardless of the verdict. And then there's the whole prison issue. The Rangers spoke to the Mariners at the GM meetings regarding the availability of Ben Broussard. Talks didn't really go anywhere, since...   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Hunter, A-Rod, Bedard

Sunday morning minor rumor collection... There's always some skepticism from readers regarding Charley Walters rumors. Nonetheless I'll report that he names the Nationals, White Sox, Braves, Yankees, and Dodgers as teams that will bid for Torii Hunter. I don't see the Braves getting involved at $15MM per. And are the Dodgers ready to move Juan Pierre to left field already? The other clubs named seem reasonable. As expected, the Cardinals interviewed Chris Antonetti for their open GM position. No doubt it's an attractive position but you have to wonder what kind of autonomy he'd have with Tony La Russa around....   Continue Reading

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Torii Hunter's Option Exercised

As expected, the Twins exercised Torii Hunter's $12MM 2007 option today. Next year will be his age 31 season. Baseball Prospectus projects his value at just $3.55MM for 2007. On this one I will have to disagree with the numbers; I would exercise the option with little hesitation. The Twins still have roughly $13-15MM to spend this winter; here are the team needs. With Hunter off the market, the likely free agent center fielder options are: Jim Edmonds Gary Matthews Jr. Juan Pierre Dave Roberts Kenny Lofton Steve Finley Darin Ersta   Continue Reading

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Olney: Cards Considering Stewart/Hunter

I haven't addressed the Cardinal outfield situation since March 5th. Since then, many things have changed: Kevin Mench is hitting .300/.328/.591 with 9 home runs. He's been driving in a lot of runs as the Rangers' sixth place hitter. What's more, Jason Marquis has stunk it up (6.00 ERA) and John Koronka came out of nowhere to toss four quality starts in seven tries. Can't see any kind of Mench for Marquis swap now. Also, Jim Edmonds is hitting .240/.333/.417, and Will Carroll thinks he may have to shut it down for a while to get completely right again. Toss..   Continue Reading

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The Yankees And Torii Hunter

In my April 6th post "The Torii Hunter Situation," I didn't mention that Yankees as a potential suitor. I figured Johnny Damon was cemented as the team's center fielder. But now Damon says he'd be willing to move to right field for Hunter. Such a switch could push Gary Sheffield to DH, not a bad thing. If Damon's arm is not good enough for center field, I don't know how it would suffice in right. But let's put that little problem aside for a moment and try to determine whether the Yanks have the goods on the farm to get..   Continue Reading

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The Torii Hunter Situation

I noticed in the Star Tribune yesterday that Torii Hunter, the Twins' highest paid player, "has expressed doubts the team will pick up his $12MM option for 2007." The Twins have the option of buying the option out for $2MM. Hunter is, of course, only the highest-paid Twin in 2006 because the club backloaded Johan Santana's four-year deal. Santana will make $9MM in '06, $12MM in '07, and $13.25MM in '08. Without doing any research whatsoever, I'm guessing the last two years of Santana's deal will be Twins records for salaries. Tough to say whether the Twins will keep Hunter..   Continue Reading

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Torii Hunter To The Yankees

The Yankees' need for a center fielder is well known. The latest rumor making the rounds is that GM Brian Cashman will make a play to acquire Torii Hunter from the Twins. Although his glovework hasn't been anything special since 2001, the Yankees are after Hunter mainly to solidify their outfield defense. The 30 year-old Hunter never really developed plate discipline, but he'd still be worth a couple of wins compared to the current shell of Bernie Williams. Hunter is under contract for 2006 at $10.75MM, and the Twins would love to get that money off the books to pursue..   Continue Reading

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