After much deliberation, outfielder Torii Hunter will play in his 19th MLB season next year after signing a free-agent deal with the Twins.
According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Hunter is heading to Minnesota once again:
Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports provided the financial details:
The 39-year-old veteran spent the past two seasons with the Detroit Tigers after stints as a member of the Twins and Los Angeles Angels. Despite another strong statistical campaign in 2014, it was unclear if Hunter would play in 2015.
According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the five-time All-Star seriously considered hanging it up:
Hunter sounded anything but sure of himself after the Tigers were eliminated by the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Division Series. While he expressed interest in returning to the Tigers, his desire to sign with another team was open to interpretation, per MLB.com's Jason Beck.
"If the Tigers want me back, we will work that out hopefully," Hunter said. "Other than that, I'm still thinking about my situation."
Despite the uncertainty, James Schmehl of MLive.com insisted that Hunter would continue playing in pursuit of an elusive World Series championship:
He was ultimately correct, and perhaps it shouldn't come as a big surprise considering the fact that Hunter is still a useful player. With a batting average of .286, 17 home runs and 83 RBI, the outfielder Gold Glove winner was a consistent and productive presence near the top of Detroit's lineup in 2014.
Hunter is no longer a threat for 25 homers or 100 RBI, but he hasn't been too far off that pace over the past few seasons. The only noticeable decline in his game has been his defense.
He was once an elite defender in center field, having won nine straight Gold Gloves, but Aaron Gleeman of Hardball Talk points out that Hunter is now well below average defensively as a right fielder:
That tends to happen as players get older, since they inevitably lose some of their range, and Hunter is no exception. He is so solid at the plate, though, that the willingness to take the good with the bad is understandable.
While contending teams like the Tigers inevitably showed some interest in Hunter, they weren't the only ones. The Twins looked into bringing Hunter back to Minnesota, according to Darren Wolfson of ESPN 1500 in Minneapolis:
Hunter is viewed as a major asset in terms of leadership, so there really isn't a team in the league that wouldn't benefit from his presence in one way or another.
It essentially came down to whether Hunter wanted to step away or continue playing. He ultimately chose the latter, and it will be interesting to see if he can keep performing at a high level as he closes in on 40.
Every player hits a wall statistically at some point, but Hunter has yet to show any signs of that happening.
He still has plenty left in the tank, and one can only assume that he will empty it in order to reach his goal of becoming a champion.
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