There’s a couple questions lingering about the Minnesota Twins going into next season. What will the Twins do with the wholeMiguel Sano/Trevor Plouffe/Joe Mauerfiasco? WillPlouffe be tradedor Mauer become asuper-utility guy? What will the Twins do to improve their pitching? WillTorii Huntercome back?
The Hunter question is an interesting one. There is little to no doubt that Hunter did something for that clubhouse this season between the dance parties and the looser feel around the team, he brought something to the mojo of the team. Is mojo enough to bring a 40-year-old outfielder back?
Last week,we delved into the Twins’ leaders in WAR, wins above replacement, and discovered that Hunter was not on the list. In fact, Hunter was the second worst position player on the Twins with a -0.8 WAR with onlyDanny Santanaat a -2.2 being worse.
The common stats in the batting realm were all down for Hunter this past season. Hunter’s .240 batting average, .293 on-base percentage and .409 slugging percentage were all career lows for a complete season of play. The only number he was kind of his own self at were at home runs with 22 and he averages 24 per 162 games for his career.
Hunter’s defense is down, too, and it naturally should be. Hunter isn’t as good of a defender when he was a young 20-year-old with the Twins in his first go round.
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His play doesn’t constitute bringing him back, plus there are obvious replacements for Hunter right away. The outfield is stacked withEddie Rosario,Byron BuxtonandAaron Hicksat the moment with the likes of Oswaldo Arica wanting another shot andMax Keplerbeing closer to the majors than being away from them. The Twins have an overflow of outfield talent and talent that is currently much more talented than Hunter.
There’s nostalgia around Hunter. He’s one of the best players in Twins history and helped bring the team out of the late 90’s doldrums, but that doesn’t mean he should automatically be brought back again in 2016. There’s no guarantee that the dance party shtick will even work again and if it does, well, shouldn’t someone younger that can be around the team for years to come as a player take the reins so the environment doesn’t die when Hunter hangs it up and takes over forBert Blylevenin the booth.
Hunter was a part of my childhood, it’s hard to give him up, but it doesn’t look like having Hunter return is a logical thing for the Twins to do, but, of course, it seems to be up to Hunter about what he wants to do. It’s hard to hear and comprehend, but Torii Hunter just isn’t what he used to be.
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