Sacrilege!
One of my fondest memories of Twindom in recent years has to be the tied All-Star Game a couple of years back in Milwaukee. Most notably, I remember the Torii Hunter catch in center-field that robbed the greatest offensive force of our lifetimes, Barry Bonds. My reaction was a definite exuberance, but surprise? Surprise was the farthest thing from my mind.
As Twins fans, we have come to expect those home-run saving catches from Torii on an almost weekly basis. He seems to make at least one amazing play every game. When he isn't jumping at the wall, Torii is getting turf-burns from diving after short bloopers. His glove gets more attention than his bat in nearly every discussion about his play.
I will repeat that:
His glove gets more attention than his bat in nearly every discussion about his play.
This isn't a good thing. His pitiful OBP (.320 career) makes him somewhat of a liability at the plate. His shortcomings as a hitter cannot be made up by his defensive prowess. He simply cannot make up more runs than he costs us with the rate he gets on base and produces runs. I love Torii Hunter. I love to watch him play centerfield. He is the face of the Twins and their identity but Torii Hunter is overrated and should not get more money when his contract is up.
In this contract year, the Twins are paying Hunter an estimated $8 million. For another $4.5 million the Twins could be paying the best outfielder in the game today, Vlad. I know that you are thinking the Twins would never have a guy on the team making over $12 million a year. In fact we would probably cut costs and go with a cheaper player than Torii Hunter.
OK.
Juan Encarnacion has put up eerily similar offensive numbers in his career and is a year younger than Torii. Their OBP and SLG% numbers are so close that there is a .023 difference between the two. Encarnacion is having a great year so far and could prove to be a better hitter than Hunter. All in all, its nearly a push. They are equally productive at the plate. The difference is that Torii makes nearly TWICE as much as Juan Encarnacion. His fielding is not so good that he merits making twice that of Encarnacion.
Here is another way to look at this. We could do the following with $16 million:
As Twins fans, we have come to expect those home-run saving catches from Torii on an almost weekly basis. He seems to make at least one amazing play every game. When he isn't jumping at the wall, Torii is getting turf-burns from diving after short bloopers. His glove gets more attention than his bat in nearly every discussion about his play.
I will repeat that:
His glove gets more attention than his bat in nearly every discussion about his play.
This isn't a good thing. His pitiful OBP (.320 career) makes him somewhat of a liability at the plate. His shortcomings as a hitter cannot be made up by his defensive prowess. He simply cannot make up more runs than he costs us with the rate he gets on base and produces runs. I love Torii Hunter. I love to watch him play centerfield. He is the face of the Twins and their identity but Torii Hunter is overrated and should not get more money when his contract is up.
In this contract year, the Twins are paying Hunter an estimated $8 million. For another $4.5 million the Twins could be paying the best outfielder in the game today, Vlad. I know that you are thinking the Twins would never have a guy on the team making over $12 million a year. In fact we would probably cut costs and go with a cheaper player than Torii Hunter.
OK.
Juan Encarnacion has put up eerily similar offensive numbers in his career and is a year younger than Torii. Their OBP and SLG% numbers are so close that there is a .023 difference between the two. Encarnacion is having a great year so far and could prove to be a better hitter than Hunter. All in all, its nearly a push. They are equally productive at the plate. The difference is that Torii makes nearly TWICE as much as Juan Encarnacion. His fielding is not so good that he merits making twice that of Encarnacion.
Here is another way to look at this. We could do the following with $16 million:
- Pay for two Torii Hunters
- Pay for an Encarnacion (equivalent hitter with some drop in fielding) and add a Vlad (huge step up)
posted by Jonzard at 2:45 AM
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