Hunter to the Angels

DanAS1 · Post by **DanAS1** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 5:24 am

I wonder if when the Twins get their new stadium, anyone will show up to watch them.

Hunter should have been a Twin for life, like his idol Puckett. This "small market payroff" stuff is getting old.

PurpleMustReign · Post by **PurpleMustReign** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 1:40 pm

Well, you can pretty much kiss Santana goodbye.

I certainly don't blame him for doing it... 5 years, $90 mill?? Hell, we offered him half that.

Stupid Pohlad.

DanAS1 · Post by **DanAS1** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 3:26 pm

PurpleMustReign wrote:Well, you can pretty much kiss Santana goodbye.

I certainly don't blame him for doing it... 5 years, $90 mill?? Hell, we offered him half that.

Stupid Pohlad.

Normally, I blame players for leaving my teams. If Santana re-signed, I'd blame him for re-signing. The Twins aren't serious about winning. Pohlad looks at his team as just another widget factory to own. He's a disgrace to the world of sports ... and gives businessmen a bad name.

wang_chi7 · Post by **wang_chi7** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 7:13 pm

DanAS1 wrote: Normally, I blame players for leaving my teams. If Santana re-signed, I'd blame him for re-signing. The Twins aren't serious about winning. Pohlad looks at his team as just another widget factory to own. He's a disgrace to the world of sports ... and gives businessmen a bad name.

No kidding. The team has had the talent to be pretty good, but ownership won't let it get over the hump. Yeah, some of it is the smaller market, but most of it is the ownership/front office. Pohlad is a cheap #### that needs to sell to a serious owner. For the sake of Twins fans everywhere.

Wow, that's a crazy contract. They way overpaid for Hunter. He's getting up there in age and his skills haven't been home run power and a good eye; those are the skills that last in old players. Eventually he won't field the OF that well with his old wheels. Can't blame him for taking 2x the money, good for him going to an organization that cares.

I'm just afraid Pohlad will let Santana and Mauer go. They need to trade Nathan because they can get a lot for him and can put Neshek in the closer and barely miss a step. That will open up funds (assuming they trade for youth) which can be used to resign the important guys. I'd hate to see Nathan go, but he's by far the most expendable guy with trade value.

Demi · Post by **Demi** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 7:22 pm

Should have traded him when we had the chance. Should trade Nathan and Santana too...

Magnus1959 · Post by **Magnus1959** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 7:34 pm

My Orioles are not exactly a small market team and the Twins seem to compete better than we do. It's not always about money.

Magnus1959 · Post by **Magnus1959** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 7:35 pm

Demi wrote:Should have traded him when we had the chance. Should trade Nathan and Santana too...

Please don't trade Santana to the Yankees or Red Sox.

MWNANCe · Post by **MWNANCe** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 9:23 pm

As an Angels fan....Thanks!

wang_chi7 · Post by **wang_chi7** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:44 pm

Magnus1959 wrote:My Orioles are not exactly a small market team and the Twins seem to compete better than we do. It's not always about money.

No kidding, welcome to the uphill battle of trying to convince people that. As a Cubs fan I know a big budget can mean jack crap. The Twins aren't contending not because of the market, but because of an owner who only looks at the team as an investment and not a hobby that needs to have money put into it.

wang_chi7 · Post by **wang_chi7** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:49 pm

Magnus1959 wrote: Please don't trade Santana to the Yankees or Red Sox.

Please don't trade a guy like Santana. Period. He's worth about whatever he's asking. Nathan is expendable. If I were to trade one of the stars it would be him first because closers are worth a premium even though they are relatively easy to create (Twins have another one in Neshek). Next would be Morneau, power first basemen will bring trade value too that is at least slightly overrated.

They absolutely need to work as hard as possible to keep Santana and Mauer, those two are not expendable in any way and not very replaceable. You never trade the best pitcher in the game and you never trade a catcher with all the skills that Mauer has, he is an ultra-rare once in a generation type player.

CalVike · Post by **CalVike** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:59 pm

DanAS1 wrote: Normally, I blame players for leaving my teams. If Santana re-signed, I'd blame him for re-signing. The Twins aren't serious about winning. Pohlad looks at his team as just another widget factory to own. He's a disgrace to the world of sports ... and gives businessmen a bad name.

Does anyone really believe Hunter at 32 is worth the 5 yrs, $90M (Edit: $18M/yr over 5 years) the Angels gave him? Baseball's economics are so out of whack that I give the Twins a lot of credit for doing what they have done this decade and cannot blame them for staying out of this particular bidding war. I hope they sign Santana but understand completely if they let him go. They cannot pay Yankee/Red Sox/Angels/Dodgers money, it simply is not possible for a small market, midwestern team to compete with the big boys even with a new stadium. The Brewers, Pirates, Indians, Reds, and other midwestern teams have already learned this lesson.

CalVike · Post by **CalVike** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 12:01 am

wang_chi7 wrote:They absolutely need to work as hard as possible to keep Santana and Mauer, those two are not expendable in any way and not very replaceable. You never trade the best pitcher in the game and you never trade a catcher with all the skills that Mauer has, he is an ultra-rare once in a generation type player.

I wonder about Mauer. He seems a bit injury-prone and I'm not sure he's the catalyst that will lead the team to post-season glory. I hope I am wrong.

Minniman · Post by **Minniman** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 12:17 am

As I recall, Baltimore plays against the two top payrolls in MLB. That makes Baltimore a relatively small spender in that division. You better believe that New York and Boston have done well with their hefty payrolls.

The Twins lost a good second baseman and center fielder this season already because of nothing else but revenue disparity. How can anyone say that is fair play?

Major League Baseball is a joke.

DanAS1 · Post by **DanAS1** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 8:27 am

CalVike wrote: Does anyone really believe Hunter at 32 is worth the 5 yrs, $90M ($22.5M/yr over 5 years) the Angels gave him? Baseball's economics are so out of whack that I give the Twins a lot of credit for doing what they have done this decade and cannot blame them for staying out of this particular bidding war. I hope they sign Santana but understand completely if they let him go. They cannot pay Yankee/Red Sox/Angels/Dodgers money, it simply is not possible for a small market, midwestern team to compete with the big boys even with a new stadium. The Brewers, Pirates, Indians, Reds, and other midwestern teams have already learned this lesson.

If they weren't going to pay him his value -- and this price hardly shocked me -- they should have traded him while they could. The idea of simply losing great players and getting nothing in return pisses me off. And you know that they won't restock the kitchen with stud free agents from other teams. Likely, they'll try to re-sign one or two of their own big name free agents (no doubt the off-injured Mauer will top the list, because he is local) and end up half as good as they could be given their tremendous eyes for talent.

It strikes me a farm team right now for the franchises that are truly trying to win the World Series.

CalVike · Post by **CalVike** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 12:11 pm

DanAS1 wrote: If they weren't going to pay him his value -- and this price hardly shocked me -- they should have traded him while they could. The idea of simply losing great players and getting nothing in return pisses me off.

The price did shock me. IIRC, his 2006 season was not as strong as 2007 and there was some question whether they would even pick up the option then. I do however agree completely about your point about getting nothing in return, though the team was pilloried for the Luis Castillo trade to do just that. I hope they get a king's ransom for Santana because his compensation will be in AROD territory and I cannot see the frugal Pohlad's paying the price.