Nolasco having arm trouble early in the season is just what the doctor ordered for the Twins. Trevor May, his replacement, got his first win of the season, while Torii picked up his first home run for the Twins in quite a while.
Some readers seem to think I hate Torii Hunter. I don't. I fully expect him to hit 10-12 home runs for the Twins this season. I do hate the philosophy he represents, though. We shouldn't be paying someone that old, that much money to be our right outfielder. He SHOULD be hitting home runs for us at that salary. He SHOULD be contributing to the club offensively. If he didn't, he'd be a total waste because his defense has declined considerably.
In much the same way that Trevor May replaced an aging Nolasco in the lineup yesterday, we should have a much younger player in right. The home run was nice. The YOUNGER pitcher doing great was far better.
The best part? Torii's home run came off FORMER Twin Anthony Swarzack. The Twins need to keep cutting players, like Swarzack, who don't have it any more. Building for the future requires some painful, maybe expensive, pruning.
But the Twins aren't going to be fruitful again without that pruning.
I do see your point about Hunter but he does bring more than numbers and stats to the Twins. He brings experience and that is also something the Twins are lacking. Now whether you put a heavy weight on experience or not you can argue that a veteran in the locker room may be better than 20 homeruns if they are all solos! I mean how many guys are left playing the majors from the 1993 amateur draft, not many. Just think in 1993 Bo Jackson was still playing with the White Sox!
ReplyDeleteSometimes, old guys are just old. At $4 million, Torii would possibly have made us a good back-up outfielder and pinch hitter. I disagree about the Twins lacking experience. Mauer, Suzuki, and most of the pitching staff already made us one of the older teams in the league. The Twins value experience OVER youth. And that's not a good place to be when you've had 5 consecutive horrible seasons. I don't want a player on this team that's been playing since the 1st Gulf War. Baseball IS a young man's sport. I'd rather we have a young team gaining experience than old men clinging to past glories and management exploiting that for nostalgia and merchandising reasons. I want to experience another championship NOW not relive 1987 and 1991...
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