Angels Notes: Abreu, Hunter
MLBTR readers won't be surprised if the Angels emerge as one of the league's top teams in 2012. More than a quarter of some 19,000 voters said yesterday that the Angels are the likeliest AL team to turn things around in 2012 (2011 playoff teams excluded). Here are today's Angels-related links via Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com…
- Angels GM Jerry Dipoto said he “absolutely” expects Bobby Abreu to open the season with the Angels. Some baseball people believe there’s a real chance the Angels will work hard to trade the outfielder/DH before Opening Day.
- Torii Hunter said he hopes to re-sign with the Angels after the season, when his contract expires. But if a new deal doesn’t make sense, the outfielder will look to sign with a championship caliber team. "Right now, I'm focused on winning," Hunter said. "Money? I've made money. I want a ring.”
- The Angels appear to be seeking a left-handed reliever, just one year after signing Scott Downs and Hisanori Takahashi.
Hunter Wants To Play Two Or Three More Years
Just last September, Torii Hunter was talking about retiring following the 2012 season. An offseason of rest and rejuvenation seems to have quelled that urge, as Hunter recently told ESPN's Mark Saxon that he'll look to play for another two or three seasons after his contract expires this season:
"I'm just going to keep playing and get it out of my system, because I don't want to go home and be like, 'I've got like two or three years left,'" Hunter said. "I know I've got two or three good years in me. My body's good, my athletic ability is good. I can go out there and play."
Hunter, 36, struggled at times in 2011, but finished with a torrid two-month stretch in which he hit .324/.396/.537 with 10 long balls over the season's final 51 games. That tear propelled his home run total to 23 — the tenth time in 11 seasons that he's broken the 20-homer barrier. Only an injury-shortened 2005 (14 homers in 98 games) broke that streak.
Hunter is entering the final season of the five-year, $90MM contract he signed with the Halos following the 2007 season. The Angels and Twins are the only organizations he's ever known in his 19-year professional career. Minnesota selected Hunter with the 20th pick in the 1993 draft, and he's totaled a .274/.332/.467 line while winning nine Gold Gloves in his career.
Torii Hunter Considering Retirement After 2012
Torii Hunter is thinking about retiring once his contract is up after the 2012 season. In an interview with Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Angels outfielder says there is about a 40% chance that next season will be his last.
'I am going to retire an Angel," he said. ''Next year is my last year, and I'm going to retire an Angel. I'm going to evaluate it this offseason. That's when I'll know. It's 60-40, to the positive, that I'll keep playing."
Hunter has a .261/.332/.423 line for Los Angeles this year and was hampered in the early part of the season by a quad injury. Since getting back to better health, however, Hunter has been on fire, posting a 1.013 OPS in 118 plate appearances since August 2. Hunter will be 37 at the end of the 2012 campaign and told Souhan that he doesn't want to keep playing just for the sake of playing: "You don't want to see your skills diminish. You don't want to linger."
If Hunter did decide to return for 2013, he would give the Angels "first dibs" on bringing him back but also noted that he would enjoy returning to Minnesota, where he spent the first 11 seasons of his career. This isn't the first time Hunter has talked of rejoining the Twins, but a return could be difficult given Hunter's feelings about Twins GM Bill Smith, who he describes as having "no heart, no compassion, no nothing."
Hunter said he would have re-signed with Minnesota as a free agent after the 2007 season had the club offered him a four or five-year deal, but Smith's largest offer was for three years. Hunter believes Smith's offer was just a token effort and thinks the Twins are making a similarly half-hearted attempt to re-sign Michael Cuddyer, who is a free agent after this season and was reportedly offered a two-year, $16MM contract by the club earlier this month.
"Cuddyer is going to make less, as a free agent?" Hunter said. "I told him before, 'They'll make an offer and people will say, 'You turned down the money, you could have stayed, you're money-hungry.' "
Odds & Ends: Crawford, Indians, Lopez, Brewers
A few links to check out after the Rangers picked up their first World Series win in franchise history…
- Torii Hunter is at the World Series for TV work, though he did mention liking the idea of Carl Crawford in an Angels' uniform according to ESPN's Jerry Crasnick (Twitter links). Hunter wouldn't confirm if he's been lobbying the soon-to-be free agent outfielder.
- In a mailbag piece, Paul Hoynes of The Cleveland Plain Dealer answers questions about the Indians chances of signing quality free agents and whether or not Javier Vazquez is a fit for them.
- FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal tweets that Giants' lefty reliever Javier Lopez will fall short of qualifying for free agency this offseason by just five days of service time. It's a shame he won't be able to cash in on his dominant postseason (5.2 innings, one hit, one walk, six strikeouts).
- Rosenthal also says that the Brewers are just doing their due diligence, and are expected to name a manager shortly after the World Series (Twitter link).
- Mark Gonzales of The Chicago Tribune lists the hurdles the White Sox would have to clear if they want to acquire Colby Rasmus. He also noted that St. Louis had people watching ChiSox prospects at a recent Arizona Fall League game.
- Chad Jennings of The Journal News provide an offseason to-do list for the Yankees.
- MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli tweets that the announcement of the Orioles' coaching staff is being held up by Don Wakamatsu. He'll be their bench coach unless he lands a managerial gig elsewhere.
- Joel Sherman of The New York Post explains what impressed him about Sandy Alderson's introductory press conference yesterday.
- Meanwhile, Newsday's David Lennon wonders if Alderson's hiring will boost ticket sales (via Twitter). Mets' attendance has dropped from an average of 51,165 fans per game in 2008 to 32,401 in 2010 despite the opening of CitiField last season. Obviously the economy is part of the problem.
- Jennings also passed along a lengthy quote from Yankees GM Brian Cashman, who explains his desire to make his team younger without sacrificing their ability to be competitive.
- Richard Justice of The Houston Chronicle compares the path the Rangers and Giants took to the World Series to some of the moves the Astros made a few seasons ago.
Odds & Ends: Dunn, Beltre, Lee, Sabathia
Links for Tuesday, as we wait for David Price to throw the first pitch of the All-Star Game to Hanley Ramirez…
- For the second time this month, Torii Hunter lobbied for the Angels to acquire Adam Dunn (MLB.com's Bill Ladson reporting). Hunter's willingness to weigh in on personnel decisions should come as no surprise, given his desire to be a GM one day.
- Adrian Beltre was close to accepting a multiyear offer from the Athletics in the offseason, but he told John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle that he felt the Red Sox gave him a better chance to win. Beltre has not had any talks with the Sox about an extension, reports WEEI's Rob Bradford.
- Cliff Lee doesn't know whether proximity to his Arkansas home will impact where he signs, reports ESPN's Richard Durrett.
- MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince responds strongly to C.C. Sabathia's comments made to Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Asked about the breakup of the Indians, Sabathia said, "That wasn't our fault. They traded us. That's on them."
- It appears that the Hanshin Tigers will retain Matt Murton for 2011, according to a Sanspo report relayed by NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman.
Odds & Ends: Jays, Haren, Nolasco, Lee, Hunter
Some links before Cliff Lee makes his Rangers' debut this evening…
- Toronto has plenty of trade chips heading into the deadline, writes Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun.
- FoxSports.com's Jon Paul Morosi says that the Phillies, Dodgers, Reds, White Sox, Angels, and Yankees all had scouts in attendance for last night's Dan Haren–Ricky Nolasco matchup, though it's unclear how many (or if any) were there specifically to watch the righthanders.
- Prospect maven Jim Callis of Baseball America said (via Twitter) that he considers the various packages offered to Seattle for Lee to be "a wash."
- A's GM Billy Beane said that he doesn't anticipate "being that active at the trade deadline," according to John Shea of The San Francisco Chronicle. Ben Sheets (4.89 ERA, 6.6 K/9) hasn't built up the trade value Beane hoped he would when they signed him this winter, but there is always a market for starting pitching.
- Joel Sherman and George A. King III of The New York Post heard that club officials from other teams were "irked" by the Mariners' actions during the Lee trade discussions. They also have info on some other prospects Seattle requested from the Yankees.
- Sherman tweets that the Mariners wanted top outfield prospect Desmond Jennings from the Rays in a deal for Lee.
- Torii Hunter told Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times that he wants to be a GM one day, and he thinks that Seattle broke an unwritten rule by trading Lee within the division.
- Derrek Lee told The Chicago Tribune's Paul Sullivan that he wouldn't ask Cubs' GM Jim Hendry to trade him to a contender.
- Lance Berkman told Bernando Fallas of The Houston Chronicle that it feels different to see the Astros in sell mode.
Largest Contracts In Team History
We've already looked at the largest contracts by service time and position, so let's now dig up the largest contracts ever given out by each of the 30 teams. These are in terms of guaranteed money only, but some could end up being even larger because of incentives and option years.
- Angels: Torii Hunter, five years, $90MM
- Astros: Carlos Lee, six years, $100MM
- Athletics: Eric Chavez, six years, $66MM
- Blue Jays: Vernon Wells, seven years, $126MM
- Braves: Chipper Jones, six years, $90MM
- Brewers: Ryan Braun, eight years, $45MM
- Cardinals: Matt Holliday, seven years, $120MM
- Cubs: Alfonso Soriano, eight years, $136MM
- Diamondbacks: Randy Johnson, four years, $53.4MM
- Dodgers: Kevin Brown, seven years, $105MM
- Giants: Barry Zito, seven years, $126MM
- Indians: Travis Hafner, four years, $57MM
- Mariners: Ichiro Suzuki, five years, $90MM
- Marlins: Hanley Ramirez, six years, $70MM
- Mets: Johan Santana, six years, $137.5MM
- Nationals: Ryan Zimmerman, five years, $45MM
- Orioles: Miguel Tejada, six years, $72MM
- Padres: Jake Peavy, three years, $52MM
- Phillies: Chase Utley, seven years, $85MM
- Pirates: Jason Kendall, six years, $60MM
- Rangers: Alex Rodriguez, ten years, $252MM
- Rays: Wilson Alvarez, five years, $35MM
- Reds: Ken Griffey Jr., nine years, $116.5MM
- Red Sox: Manny Ramirez, eight years, $160MM
- Rockies: Todd Helton, nine years, $141.5MM
- Royals: Gil Meche & Mike Sweeney, both five years, $55MM
- Tigers: Miguel Cabrera, eight years, $152.3MM
- Twins: Joe Mauer, eight years, $184MM
- White Sox: Frank Thomas, seven years, $64.4MM
- Yankees: Alex Rodriguez, ten years, $275MM
Thanks to Cot's Baseball Contracts for the info.
Heyman On Manuel, Fredi Gonzalez, Hunter
Managers Ken Macha, Dusty Baker, Trey Hillman, Ron Washington and John Russell are under varying degrees of pressure, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com. Here are the details on two other managers on the hot seat:
- Mets people say it's "too early" to react and replace Jerry Manuel, so they aren't about to fire him. Some people around the Mets say former MLB manager and newly-hired Mets scout Bob Melvin is in line to manage the club if Manuel falters. Mets management seems reluctant to bring Bobby Valentine back for a second stint managing the club.
- If the Marlins fire Fredi Gonzalez before his contract expires after 2011, he could be a fit in Atlanta. The longtime Braves coach could return to replace Bobby Cox, who is in the midst of his final season managing the Braves.
- Torii Hunter won't try to extend his career by DHing. Hunter says defense got him to the majors, so he intends to play a couple more years and then spend more time with his family.
More From Torii Hunter
On Sunday, Phil Miller of the St. Paul Pioneer Press had this to say about Torii Hunter:
The longtime Twin grows so sentimental about his former home whenever he’s in Minneapolis, he told Jim Rantz, the franchise’s director of minor leagues, that he would like to finish his career with the Twins. But not until his five-year, $90 million contract with the Angels runs out, of course. "He said, 'I'll come off the bench and pinch-hit,’'" manager Ron Gardenhire said of the 33-year-old center fielder. "He said, 'Save me a spot.’'"
Gardenhire added that "we'll probably work something out" if Hunter is looking for a job after the 2012 season.
Hunter was questioned about his comments by Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. Here's what he had to say:
"They asked me, and I said, 'Why not?' That was the place I grew up with, so why not consider that? But at the same time, I'm home. I'm having fun here. That's a long way away. I don't know where my career will take me."
Odds & Ends: Hunter, Keppinger, Swisher
Links for Monday…
- Become a fan of MLB Trade Rumors on Facebook! We're up to 9,828 fans.
- Jed Lowrie will have wrist surgery, and Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe learned that he could return by the All-Star break. Julio Lugo, recovering from knee surgery, should be ready to take over soon.
- ESPN's Jorge Arangure Jr. says "negotiations between the New York Yankees and Cuban exile prospect Felix Perez have broken down because of the outfielder's problem in obtaining a visa." Perez was set for a bonus north of $3MM, but questions have been raised about his age. The Yanks may have interest in a couple of other Cuban players, Noel Arguelles and Jose Iglesias, once they're declared free agents.
- According to Phil Miller of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Torii Hunter would seemingly like to finish his career with the Twins.
- MLB.com's Alyson Footer says sending Drew Sutton to the Reds for Jeff Keppinger was "a great, great deal for the Astros." Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle explains why the move was made.
- Aaron Gleeman weighs in on the Twins' decision to swap out Philip Humber for Juan Morillo.
- David Pinto of Baseball Musings gives his opinion of the Ryan Zimmerman extension.
- South Side Sox and Sox Machine discuss the minor tiff between Ozzie Guillen and Nick Swisher.
- Tony Jackson of the L.A. Daily News says the Dodgers signed pitcher Chuck Tiffany to a minor league deal. They'd traded him to the Rays in '06 as part of the Danys Baez deal, and the Rays released him in March of this year.