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| Torii Hunter had a career-high .317 batting average last season, but at age 37 has to be finding the downslope of a distinguished career. |
Five years ago, the Twins let Hunter leave as a free agent, and he signed with Anaheim. The Twins traded for Delmon Young, with the expectation that Young would at least match Hunter's offensive production.
That seemed a reasonable expectation at the time. It didn't work out that way. Young hit .287/.324/.429 for the Twins in 2008-11; for the five years, his slash line was .282/.316/.427. Hunter, meanwhile, hit .286/.352/.462 for Anaheim.
I certainly didn't expect Hunter, in his mid-30s, to outhit Young in his mid-20s. But he did. Plus Hunter was and remains a far superior defensive player. And he's never been arrested and charged with a hate crime. Torii Hunter >>> Delmon Young.
And so it is that, five years after the Twins sought to replace Hunter in their starting lineup with Young, that the Detroit Tigers will replace Young in their starting lineup with Hunter.
Hunter was surrounded by Trout, Pujols etc. In the Angels lineup. Now he will be inserted among Cabrera, Fielder, Martinez. He will get pitched to rather than around. I expect he will maintain those numbers. So do the Tigers. Smart move, Torii!
ReplyDeleteThe thing that caught my eye and made me chuckle was when Hunter said he felt "disrespected" by the Angels' low-ball offer. Now where have we heard THAT before? Talk about deja vu! With Hunter, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
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