Leadership is an undervalued quality these days.
Just ask the Detroit Tigers.
It’s been a tumultuous season for a club that was expected to compete for a World Series Championship this year.
There are several reasons behind the team’s downfall: a shoddy bullpen, key injuries, little depth and a poorly constructed starting rotation.
Perhaps the biggest loss was a player the organization allowed to walk away last winter.
Sure, he couldn’t have fixed the bullpen’s 4.52 earned run average or the rotation’s 4.80 ERA, both of which rank No. 27 overall in baseball, according to ESPN.com.
Yet he could’ve helped solve the lingering issues that took place off the field.
Essentially, the front office chose to re-sign Victor Martinez over Hunter. After finishing second in the MVP voting in 2014 when he hit .335 with 32 home runs and 103 RBIs, the Tigers rewarded Martinez with a four-year, $68 million deal.
Former general manager Dave Dombrowski told George Sipple of the Detroit Free Press last November that there wasn’t room for both Martinez and Hunter on the 2015 squad:
I called and said it just didn't look like it was going to fit the way the club was getting put together. Thanked him for everything. Absolutely love him. If something changes where we make some changes for one reason or another, that we're not anticipating, we would still be open. It's just probably not much of a fit right now.
Hunter opted to sign a one-year, $10.5 million deal to return to the Minnesota Twins, the organization that drafted him in the first round of the 1993 draft.
At the time of the signing, Hunter told Mike Berardino and Charley Walters of the Pioneer Press that he expected the Twins to win immediately.
"It's just the right fit," Hunter said. "This is home. It's time for me to come home—to be fruitful and also to win."
Initially, the thought of Minnesota winning in 2015 was met with laughter. The organization had lost more than 90 games in each of the past four seasons.
The club has a ton of young talent, but competing in the American League Central Division seemed a couple of years away.
After being outscored 22-1, which resulted in a three-game sweep at the hands of the Tigers to open the season, playoff aspirations didn’t seem a reality for the young club. The team bounced back and currently has a 78-74 record and sits 1.5 games out of the second wild-card spot.
Even if the Twins don’t reach the postseason, this year should be considered a tremendous success.
Manager Paul Molitor told Phil Miller of the StarTribune that Hunter’s veteran leadership is a huge reason behind Minnesota’s turnaround.
“You need guys who can lend a veil of experience, a veteran’s wisdom to your clubhouse, and Torii does all that,” Molitor said. “At the same time, he’s been able to lighten the mood when it’s necessary. … Guys respect him.”
Meanwhile, the Tigers will miss the postseason for the first time since 2010.
And they've had issues in the clubhouse.
For instance, Jose Iglesias and James McCann exchanged words in the dugout during a game in early August. It appeared the rookie catcher was calling out Iglesias for a lack of effort on a key play. The words led to Iglesias shoving McCann before teammates separated the two. Afterward, Iglesias told the Associated Press that he wasn’t sorry for his actions.
"I just go by instincts, and my instincts tell me to do that," Iglesias said. "I'm OK with it.
"I think I have a chance to make each and every play when I'm at short. There's no doubt about it; I just try to come here and do my job. I don't tell anybody how to play your position, so I just go out there and do my best."
In mid-September, Victor Martinez called out fans for booing the team and told Chris McCosky of the Detroit News this season should serve as a lesson for fans.
"This is definitely a season that will teach a lesson to a lot of people," he said. "Starting with this clubhouse, a lot of players and a lot of people in the front office. And, believe it or not, it will teach a lesson to the fans, too."
Martinez went on to talk about the home crowd booing the Tigers in the 2014 playoffs when they returned to Detroit down 2-0 to the Baltimore Orioles in the ALDS.
"I remember," he said. "You want to have your team in the playoffs, definitely. The fans want to win, everybody wants to win. But nobody wants to win more than we do. When we play at home, we want them behind us.
"Last year was tough. We came home down 2-0 and the fans were really hard. Now they won't be angry. There's no October baseball. That's why I say this season will be a lesson to a lot of people."
Finally, the organization announced it was sending relief pitcher Bruce Rondon home due to “effort issues” earlier this week.
"Bruce Rondon, because of his effort level, has been sent home," Tigers head coach Brad Ausmus told McCosky. "And other than saying that [general manager] Al Avila and myself completely agreed on it, there will be no other details or comment."
It’s clear that Rondon’s antics were irritating teammates. Fellow reliever Alex Wilson told McCosky that Rondon quit on the team.
"It's kind of an unwritten rule, you never quit on your teammates and when you quit on yourself, you kind of quit on your teammates," Wilson said. "From a clubhouse standpoint, it's probably better to let him go on home and try to figure things out a little bit."
It’s hard to remember a situation in recent years with this many incidents inside Detroit’s clubhouse.
This raises the question: Would this type of behavior occur if Hunter were still a member of the Tigers?
At least one current player doesn’t believe so. Nick Castellanos told Matt Dery of Detroit Sports 105.1 that Hunter would have taken care of Rondon's situation before anyone got wind of it:
I think it wouldn’t have escalated as it did. I feel like as soon as Torii somewhat disagreed with it, he would’ve made sure he took care of the problem immediately. That’s why you can’t put a value number on clubhouse leadership because it’s so important. Torii’s presence in the clubhouse is more valuable than his play on the field almost.
Even Ausmus recently told ESPN.com that the team missed Hunter’s leadership.
"It's hard to quantify it. I think Torii was huge last year in the clubhouse. I think we do miss it somewhat," Ausmus said.
On the field, Hunter is still a solid player. At 40 years old, his defense is a liability, but he can still play an important role in the lineup.
In two seasons with Detroit, Hunter hit .295 and averaged 17 home runs and 83.5 RBIs. His average has taken a large hit in Minnesota (.245), but he’s hit 22 home runs and 76 RBIs this year.
Will the Tigers bring the soon-to-be free agent back? It’s doubtful. Yet it’s ridiculous that Detroit’s clubhouse has become such a mess in less than a year since Hunter’s departure.
Analysis
The team has to bring in veteran leadership this offseason.
It begins with the coaching staff. The team will likely pursue an experienced manager such as Ron Gardenhire to guide this group.
With so many holes to fill, bringing back Hunter for a year makes sense. The move would shift J.D. Martinez back to right field, but it would allow the organization to focus its major spending on the rotation and bullpen rather than jumping in a bidding war for a top-flight outfielder.
Fixing the chaos in the clubhouse should be the No. 1 priority going forward.
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