!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woo hoo! This postseason has suddenly gotten much better! Thanks Torii!

I'd rather rob a big-market team of a 30-homerun-gold-glover, than give a big-market team a 30-homerun-gold-glover any day of the week. I LIVE FOR THIS!

Makes sense, I guess, from the team's standpoint. I don't think that it necessarily means Hunter will end 2007 (or necessarily even start it) with Minnesota, but this buys time to either (a)negotiate a 4 year deal for a more reasonable annual hit against the payroll budget or (b) shop him around to a team that will be willing to take on the 12 million and maybe give up some young talent in exchange for Torii either before the season starts or at the trade deadline next summer.

Funkengruven.

Coincidentally, my wife and I are picking up the rest-of-his-life, kibble-and-litter option on the other Torii's contract. (Click my name for stock photo.)

YES!

could you even imagine if torii was playing centerfield next year for the redsox or something?

I can, but the vision also includes a legion of apocalyptic undead rifling through innocent children's innards for undigested edible scraps after a freak solar flare renders Earth nearly uninhabitable.

Three cheers for the return of Sweetcheeks in 2007!!

My boyfriend's back so you're gonna be in trouble! :)

I'm gonna have to agree with JimCrikket on this one. If Sweetcheeks isn't willing to do some of that restructuring stuff to his contract, we'll trade him in order to get something in return.

So boy do I hope he agrees to that restructuring stuff!!!

It is very good news, and he earned it.

Go A's or Tigers!
The playoffs are a different feeling when you are indifferent as to who wins, because you respect both teams. Unlike last year where I hated all 4 teams in the playoffs, and other years when I rooted for the Yankees to lose/Twins to win.

I'm glad. He's really earned it, and now we can move forward to the M&M boys, or see if we can restructure it so he's here for a good bit longer.

craig MON-roe, curtis ganderson...
I know these guys aren't pronouncing easy yankee names like giambi or abreu, but learn how to pronounce the freaking names already.

they should at least know how to pronounce monroe correctly, a Yankee used to date one.

When did the Twins pick up Mantle and Maris?

Now that the little contract is out of the way get busy on signing M M @ C please. I want that middle locked up for the next five years please. Are you listening Pohlad???!!!!!!!!

(I said please)

Torii

It cut off the rest of my comment. I said...

YAY!

The Sporting News All-Star teams and awards:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Catcher: Joe Mauer, Twins
First base: Justin Morneau, Twins
Second base: Robinson Cano, Yankees
Third base: Joe Crede, White Sox
Shortstop: Derek Jeter, Yankees
Outfield: Jermaine Dye, White Sox
Outfield: Manny Ramirez, Red Sox
Outfield: Vernon Wells, Blue Jays
Designated hitter: David Ortiz, Red Sox

Pitcher of the Year: Johan Santana, Twins
Rookie of the Year: Justin Verlander, Tigers
Comeback Player of the Year: Jim Thome, White Sox
Fireman of the Year: Francisco Rodriguez, Angels

I guess I can't really disagree. Except maybe the last one.

Manny Ramirez is about as much of an outfielder as I am.

I agree that there were more deserving players for that OF award. Like Hunter, Sizemore, or even GMJ.
Unless they needed to spread out the awards to each position, then I guess ramirez is the best left fielder.

Sweet! And here's to a long term (Cheaper) deal.
Wishfully,
Twin-X

according to the article I was reading on Yahoo! sports, Hunters last contract called for the option to be picked up within 5 days after teh season was over so the Twins and him did not have time to negotiate a long term deal (if that is the route they wanted to go)

Also, the twins "Outrighted" 3 players.
http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20061009&content_id=1706609&vkey=pr_min&fext=.jsp&c_id=min

I think this is a huge step in the right direction. There is simply no one out there that could come close to replacing torii right now.

$74,000 per game, eh? (A bit less if you count the playoffs and spring training, I guess.)

Dang. If only I'd been born with coordination.... Stretch those muscles, BabyBoof!

I'm not so thrilled. 1/6th of our payroll to a injury-plagued, error-riddled, aging CF.

Meanwhile, Morneau-Liriano-Mauer-Cuddyer-Bonser are all cornerstones of longterm success, and without the longterm package yet to lock them up.

Not to be the wet-blanket, but I'm not ecstatic with this move. Is Torii a good guy to have around? Yes. Is he worth $12m on a club with only $63m to work with? ABSOLUTELY NOT.

*also not thrilled*

and when I imagine Torii playing centerfield for the Red Sox, it's watching him half-heartedly run on his now injury-prone ankle. Especially in Fenway, the park that hates Torii Hunter. If he were playing for the Red Sox, he wouldn't be a threat to us. He'd be on the DL.

Look at it this way, JW: He would've made more on the open market and we couldn't have gotten a 25-30 hr hitter and good defensive center fielder for less.

Regarding the mispronounciations of the Tigers' names last night, I honestly fell asleep in the 4th inning and didn't wake up until the bottom of the 8th so I missed most of the game.

I did see some pretty shaky fielding by the A's, causing their ace lefty starting pitcher to throw too many pitches early in the game and give up some runs that never should have been given up. I heard afterward that they failed to hit in situations with runners in scoring position and hit in to something like 4 double plays.

Are we SURE the Twins weren't playing last night???

I have as many doubts about the long-term wisdom of keeping Torii in Minnesota as any of y'all, but calling him "error-riddled" is disingenuous. (Methinks you're letting the Kotsay play cloud your judgment, Mr. Wayne.) Defensively, he's still as good as there is in the majors, even with his ankle troubles. Offensively, on the other hand...yeah, he got hot at season's end. But he still hits into way too many double plays, and swings at way too many first pitches. He's great in the Twins commercials, though.

I also have mixed feelings about the Torii thing. I like the guy, but yeah, a sixth of our payroll just went poof, and that worries me when you have Mauer, Morneau, Cuddyer, Punto, et al. looking at arbitration and such. I'd rather keep the majority of the core we have and lose Torii than vice versa.

It is often about marketing the team, and they might feel like Torii is still the most marketable Twin. They also might be setting up a long term contract or a trade. They might also just think he's earned it, the way Radke did a few years ago.

For six million, I'd be content. For seven or eight, I'd mutter a little under my breath, and deal with it. For twelve million? To quote JW: NOT THRILLED.

Especially when we really ought to be looking for a well-above-average veteran righty starter to (*sniffle*) replace Radke. And there are other holes to plug, a task made much easier by that elusive commodity, available cash.

And I know Radke's salary has presumably been freed up, but other guys' contracts call for increases this year, plus we've got some negotiatin' and arbitratin' to do, and I just don't think what we used to pay Radke's going to last us as far as the free agent market. (Check out Twins Geek's budget analysis from last Friday, 'cause he's got a much better handle on the numbers than I do. I think he'll be expanding on it this week, too.)

Anyway...it's not that I don't want Hunter on this team. It's just that I don't want to pay him so freakin' much.

--infield

At this point, Hunter's future with the team is still far from assured. This simply gives everyone time to sort out - a) how much is he willing to take as a paycut to keep the teammates he has right now. b) how much COULD he be worth in the general market.

Honestly, I think he is worth the $12 million as long as the bean counters can work the numbers with the five guys we still have on the arbitration drawing board.

But I honestly think that these players really want to try to work to keep as much of this group together as they can - which might reduce a lot of the self-oriented contract discussion that is the norm.

We save on Stewart's salary, and, hopefully, Ford's. Along with the radke $, this should free up a few bucks, plus the increase in attendance, and getting the new park may cause Pohldad, or whatever his name is, to add $5 mill or so to the payroll. We can maybe even buy a real 3rd baseman.

I don't think this move changes anything. It was just a procedural thing that had to be done. To my eye, there's still a tremendously good chance that Hunter goes elsewhere before Opening Day.

Sure, the signing will look better once other outfielders are getting $15M-plus-a-year deals in December, but that $12M is a better value to richer teams than to the Twins, so I see him getting traded for cheap youth. Like you all said, Mauer Morneau et al simply must be the focus. The Twins front office can't possibly forget that.

Even if LNP isn't a "real" 3B, I'm pretty darn happy with a utility player with good range, a strong arm, an accurate throw, magic fucking unicorns, and an average that hovers around .300.

I rather like the mythical 3rd baseman we already have.

It's not any of our position players. Hunter belongs. Punto belongs...
WE NEED A DH! I mean did the division series teach us anything? A productive DH would not have won us a game, but a productive DH would make me happy.

I will become a multi-billionare and buy the Twins in 10 years. So just be patient.

Steve Holt! That post of yours was pretty funny. I patiently await your purchase of the Minnesota Twins sometime in the next decade. Just remember, hundreds of millions of dollars can buy you some fantastic talent, but it can't buy you a World Series ring. Make sure you spend your billions wisely.

p.s. Wanna share how you're going to make those multi-billions? I could use a cut of that!

Oh... I will not turn into steinbrenner. I will just be more generous than pohlad.

A DH may have won us a game... we'll never know. I do know our DH cost us a whole inning in at least one game. You can do a lot in a whole inning.
I like Nicky as a "real" third baseman. If anyone knew him, he'd have a shot at a gold glove. If he improves as much next year over this year, imagine the possibilities -- he even stayed healthy all year!
Regarding Torii... I was a hater most of the season, but his offensive efforts once off the DL are pretty amazing (minus the GIDPs) -- to hit 30 HRs in, what, 2/3 the season?? Not bad. Also, I'll hold out hope he can get his ankle to 100% in the off-season. You think he doesn't know it's his weak point?? He'll be working on it. So... not sure about $12M, but if we can keep him reasonably, count me a renewed fan of ii. (Gotta have a "no GIDP" clause in any new contract he writes, tho...)

mauer grounded into more double plays.

while presumably having faster guys on base in punto and castillo, vs morneau.
and Hunter had more at bats... not by much, but more.
The whole team should stop GIDP.

David Ortiz. Our biggest mistake.
Thats why it was fair of us to get Liriano/Nathan/Boof for AJ. Because we made one of the worst moves about a year earlier.
Piranha
Mauer
Ortiz
Cuddyer
Morneau
Hunter
Piranha
Piranha
Piranha

Imagine the possibilities.

JimCrikket, regarding the uncanny resemblance the A's suddenly have to the 2006 postseason Twins...I'm firmly convinced that whatever ass-bat, double-play, error-causing virus we contracted between clinching the division title and playing the A's in postseason, it was highly contagious, and we passed it on as a little parting gift.

Either that, or they're putting something nasty in the champagne all of a sudden.

Incidentally, when I posted that last comment there were 48 comments already on this post. I felt a little bad to be disrupting the numerology.

And I'm glad he's staying, even if he shouldn't be getting that large a percentage of the team's payroll.

Al,
What? A real third baseman? When did Punto ever give you any reason to doubt his ability?

losing david ortiz was not a mistake nor one of the worst trades in baseball history. . . nobody wanted him/would give anything for him, terry ryan was trying. . . if not for a talented/lucky coaching staff in boston that changed his swing, nobody would be or ever would have gave a hoot about david ortiz

the torii situation: keeping him is good, paying him 12 million is bad. not because he's not worth it, but becuase so many other players on this team are worth more (mauer, cuddyer, morneau, nathan, not liriano he needs to prove the injury is not chronic, the last thing we need is a kerry wood/mark prior) mr. carl needs to stop being a nancy and spend some of that money he's got before guys like morneau start questioning why hunter's getting paid more than they are. . .cause that's the fastest way to ruin team chemistry

Unrelated to Torii, but player news none the less -- my husband was in Lee Ann Chin's the other night, when who comes in to get his take-out? None other than the Chairman himself. He just sort of smiled at everybody and tried to act like any other customer. I love that boy.

Dee: That boy is everywhere! At Lee Ann Chins, at the hockey game with Justin, and - as a coworker told me today - at a burger place on West 7th just down the street from our office.

is he still sportin the burns?

I'm sure he is. They are pretty much his calling card, you know. Those and his bat, and the catcher's mitt, and the former Miss America ...

My husband said he is HUGE. Even bigger than you'd expect.

To all Batlings, I'd like to pass along a musical recommendation I received from a good friend (though he is, sadly, a life-long Indians fan) recently. There is an album called "The Baseball Ballads", by folksinger Chuck Brodsky (available at Amazon; click my name link) which is an absolute gem for anyone who loves baseball. Nine songs about baseball, all written with intelligent lyrics and lovely music, and performed beautifully, covering incidents and subjects from baseball's rich past, including:

- Max Patkin, the Clown Prince of Baseball

- Dock Ellis pitching his famous no hitter

- "Bonehead" Fred Merkle, whose baserunning blunder cost the Giants the pennant in 1908

- Eddie Klepp, who crossed the reverse color barrier - a white man who played in the Negro Leagues

- Eddie Waitkus, a ballplayer who was shot by a deranged and infatuated woman fan (the historical incident which provided the initial idea for what became the movie "The Natural")

. . . and others, all lovely, poignant, humorous, or otherwise thoroughly enjoyable, and all directly related to and about the game we all love. I cannot recommend this album highly enough. I loved it on first hearing, and listen to it often, and everyone I've played it for was equally charmed.

(Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Chuck Brodsky, nor Amazon, nor anyone associated with the production or distribution of this CD. I'm just a baseball fan sharing a baseball gem, is all. We now return you to your regularly scheduled blogging.)

Despite how this postseason turned out, you can make a good argument that the Twins are very close to having the peices in place for a serious World Series run. They have good, young players, a solid middle of the lineup, a "Big Bat", a strong fielding team, a fantastic bullpen, and (probably) two dominating aces.

One of those peices they have in place is Torii Hunter. He will have time to heal in the offseason. Even if he doesn't come back as a Gold Glove center fielder, he's still going to be very solid out there.

As long as Liriano is healthy and the Twins can piece together the final two spots in the rotation (I'm sure Garza will get one), this team might be as complete as they have been since the early 90's.

The point is that I prefer the Twins overpay to bring Hunter back then remove a key peice to a possible World Series puzzle.

This just in...

Yankee Pitcher Lidle Dies In Plane Crash

New York Yankee pitcher Cory Lidle was the pilot of a small airplane that crashed into a 50-story condominium in Manhattan, and Lidle is one of two confirmed dead, New York police said.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/11/plane.crash/index.html

You wanna talk about great baseball music? If you don't have "Ride the Ride" by Jeff Arundel (a local MN boy), you're missing out on the best baseball tune ever penned - "Harmon Killebrew", a paean to Killer, open air baseball (with a bit of a slam on Mall O' America thrown in), and Halsey Hall. The rest of the record is great, too.

Heraldguy: OMG. !??! For real?

so sad....His poor family.

For real. A co-worker just called me about it. It's breaking news on MSNBC and ESPN.

That's absolutely terrible. Prayers for him and his family.

This is just tragic. I feel so bad for his wife and son.

Wow. I feel bad for Lidle's family, I feel bad for the Manhattanites whose nerves were understandably jangled today, and I feel bad for Yankee fans old (or savvy) enough to be suffering through Thurman Munson flashbacks right about now. Wow.

This is terribly tragic.

I thought about Thurman Munson immediately. He was a longtime Yankee and the captain. And much loved. The city was in shock and mourning.

This is unbelievably horrible. My thoughts and prayers go out to Mel and her little boy, and Cory's brother Kevin. RIP, Cory.

What if the Yankees had been playing? People's lives - be they famous or anonymous - are precious, and fate can be cruel, and life goes on regardless of how we feel about it.

I'm glad they've cancelled the NL game. I can't imagine that NY has the spirit for a festive opening game tonight. I've had a hard time getting through the afternoon myself. You look pretty silly when you're sitting at your desk crying.

Wow. At certain times, the uniforms just don't seem to matter.

RIP, Cory Lidle.

Our game was cancelled because of the weather. But I am glad we're not playing. Cory Lidle was a Met too.

For everyone who was ever told there's no such thing as a stupid question, consider this:

During a commercial break in the Oakland/ Detriot game tonight (10/11/), I was flipping channels and ended up watching Greta Van Susteren on Fox. She was interviewing a NY sports writer about Corey Lidle. Best as I can remember, these were her exact words: "I understand that Cory Lidle played for a number of different teams; is there anything we can make of this?" To add to this stupidity, the crawl across the bottom of the screen calmed us by saying that the FBI reports that there was no evidence that terrorist were involved.

RIP, Cory Lidle.

I don't even understand Greta Van Susteren's question. how do these people get work?

Private planes are SO dangerous, but not as dangerous as riding a motorbike without a helmet.

This is just so so sad, bizzare, terrible, all those things. Sometimes bad things happen to good people.

I hope they do something nice for him, say during the WS, but baseball's always really good at that stuff

D

You should all probably check out the latest edition of the dugout (wordupthome.com). Normally - very strange but laugh your ass off hilarious. Today - poignant, touching, and laugh your ass of hilarious. Click my name for the link.

...and I want some of those footy pajamas.

Aww, thanks for the link, Pat.

Fm, He gave me reason to doubt his ability for his entire career, except for June, and July of '06. He is a foolish baserunner, with no power, who consistently dives into outs at 1b, has no idea of his role in the batting order-draw walks, avoid strikeouts, succeed on a high percentage of steal attempts,learn how to bunt, learn how to run thru the bag at first, stop swinging from the heels. Batting him second is like batting Bartlett 4th- not a good idea.

You can take shots at Punto all you like - I myself doubt he will repeat on this "career year" he put up. But the fact remains - his emergence into the lineup sparked a turnaround in our ballclub. You cannot discount that fact. I have trouble seeing how Bill Mueller or Hank Blalock could have made such an impact.

I'm glad I'm not the only one frustrated with spending 1/6th of our payroll on Torii. I suppose we just have to have faith in The Godfather (Terry) that he's got it all figured out. He hasn't failed us yet...

I seem to be a little out of the norm that if torii didn't come back i would fall into depression. Don't get me wrong, Torii hunter is an awesome player on and off the field. He is super classy and has a fun personality. He is a wonderful part of my beloved twins team.

But when i think about all that other talent on this team, and how tight Mr. Pohlad is, i wish he would come down in price. I think i would rather have us wrap-up mauer, mornue, santana, and liriano before hunter. These guys are more in their prime than hunter is. Torii is by no means old, but he isn't as young as these other guys. Just some thoughts

The important point to remember here is that the Twins picking up Hunter's option just means they retain rights to him through 2007. What they do with him remains to be seen. Torii seems determined to get a multi-year deal done, but, if his price and the Twins' are a long way apart (I expect the Twins to want his salary per year to go down, but I doubt Torii and his minions will be too keen on that), I doubt he'll finish (or even start) the season with Minnesota. Surely the Yankees will want him more than ever after watching the Tigers run freely on any ball hit to Johnny "why can't the cutoff man get just a wee bit closer?" Damon, though I don't see much they could offer that we'd want; maybe Torii will be part of some blockbuster three-team deal. In any case, I'm fine if he stays and agrees to a reasonable deal, and I'm fine if they move him for pitching and/or a big young bat (Grady Sizemore would look OK in a Twins uni, too, wouldn't he?). No hard feelings, Torii.

Oh, and for those thinking the Twins will keep Torii because they need him as "the face of the franchise", I have two words for you:

Joe Mauer.

Good luck with the whole grady sizemore thing.
That's about as likely as the indians with a catcher named joe mauer.

6-4-3. What else is there to say. Please note that Mr. Hunter's payoff was $2 M so the team really only had to pony up another $10 M for 2007. Let's hope he heals up real good this winter.