Former Angels OF Torii Hunter retires

[VariousCrap]

The Angels should fire Gubiza and hire Torii to join Victor Rojas calling games.

[VariousCrap]

He didn't. He chose Greinke over Hunter, then Greinke chose the Dodgers over the Angels, at that point Hunter had chosen the Tigers, so Arte chose to spend the Greinke money on Hamilton.

 

 

Hahahaha.....

[Docwaukee]

Torii seems like a good guy.  Always there for an interesting sound byte.  

 

His contract at the time seemed like it was a bit of an overpay but it ended up well worth it.  

 

The Angels (and Angelswin) have some free agent PTSD but Torii is a good example how not every free agent contract is the devil.  

 

Getting a player like him to man LF would be ideal.  

 

Thanks Torii.  You were fun to have here and a really good player.  

[laagamer]

Thanks for the years Torii.

[gotbeer]

F him.  Damn Racist.  He can be a pretender Baseball player now.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Always be one of my faves. Solid player while he was here, was good to the fans, great clubhouse guy.

http://m.mlb.com/oak/video/v23736135/torii-sends-popeye-s-chicken-to-a-s-fans-in-bleachers

Always thought that was cool

[Sully151]

Probably a coaching job in his future.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Probably a coaching job in his future.

broadcasting. Id put money on it. Probably a big one like baseball tonight.

[Guest]

One of my all time favorites. He really brought a spark to the Angels, and it was just fun to watch him play.

 

I'll always hate the way the Angels handled his departure. Instead they lied to him and signed Hamilton––not a great way to treat good players.

Edited October 27, 2015 by failos

[happybat4]

He would need at least four or five more good years.

Career WAR of exactly 50.0. The 18 center fielders in the Hall average 70.4.

353 HR, 1,391 RBI, 2,452 Hits, comes up short. There are 665 hitters with a better career OPS+.

That's Kenny Loftons war (close at least) and he didn't even get 5%

[Stradling]

Hahahaha.....

What? I have no idea if they would have resigned Hunter had he still been available after Greinke signed with the Dodgers, but I can tell you Hunter was one of the first guys to sign that off season, well before Greinke. I can also tell you that most people here thought his 2 year $26 million deal with the Tigers was an over pay.

[Angel_Fan_4_Life]

Torii Hunter is a class act.  True competitor, a great teammate, and always appreciated the fans.

 

The video clip of him "swimming" in the pool of champagne is classic!

 

God bless Mr. Hunter.  I hope you have a very long and happy life after baseball.

 

PS.  If you get bored, feel free to come back to the Angels and coach 3rd base

[mulwin444]

What? I have no idea if they would have resigned Hunter had he still been available after Greinke signed with the Dodgers, but I can tell you Hunter was one of the first guys to sign that off season, well before Greinke. I can also tell you that most people here thought his 2 year $26 million deal with the Tigers was an over pay.

I'll just leave this here:

 

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul/18/sports/la-sp-0719-angels-notes-20120719

 

I think people will pick and choose the best and worst of Hunter's time here to support their narrative but his overall 5 years was a mixed bag.  He was a team leader, a bridge from Vlad to Pujols/Trout, who would often say some stupid shit...he carried the team when he was hot and buried the offense when he'd go on one of his GIDP streaks or would make some egregiously stupid baserunning errors...the best that can be said is he earned his money while he was here.

 

The fact is Torii said he'd be good with a 1 year deal and he signed the first 2 year deal he came across, which is his right, but he bitched about it like Arte came to him with his pockets pulled out and a sad look on his face saying "Me have no money", when the truth is likely that the Angels felt that an investment in a 37 year old OFer was not the best way to invest their millions when they were looking to re-sign Greinke/sign other options.  The move looks bad primarily because of who they chose to invest in instead, as opposed to the logic behind it...the free agency equivalent of the disastrous Wells trade.

[mtangelsfan]

Jerry: Let's sign Torii to a two year deal...He wants to stay here....we think he's got some left in the tank....

Arte: I think we need some star power...sign Hamilton....

 

First:  fabricated.

Second:  poor vehicle for this, plenty of other threads would have been more fitting.

[DMVol]

So why was Jerry so upset he had to trade Hamilton?   That's been stated as one of the final nails in the coffin for Jerry.  If JD wanted no part of him in the first place -- why the rage over having to trade him?

 

First:  fabricated.

Second:  poor vehicle for this, plenty of other threads would have been more fitting.

Lighten up guys....it was a joke... .....I have no idea what really went down and probably nobody in this thread does either.....

[Amazing Larry]

F him.  Damn Racist.  He can be a pretender Baseball player now.

 

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

He may have said some stupid things once or twice but no one's perfect and he was a good guy, great teammate and even better leader in the clubhouse.  He was well worth the FA contract the Angels gave him and there's no denying he gave it 110% every day which is more than some players can say.  Awesome career and I'm glad he got to end it with the team he started with.    

[fan_since79]

Torii played 19 seasons and finished with a WAR of 50.0

 

Trout has played five and his WAR is already at 37.9

[Homebrewer]

It had to be Scioscia's fault that Torri bolted.

Not sure how it went down, but after he called out the team "and not just the players" for "going through the motions"

he couldn't be kept around...and he wasn't.

[Blarg]

"Fans look down from their seats onto the

baseball field, see dark-colored skin and might assume they are African-American players. But increasingly, the players instead hail from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico or Venezuela.

“People see dark faces out there, and the perception is that they’re African

American,” Los Angeles Angels center fielder Torii Hunter says.

“They’re not us. They’re impostors.

“Even people I know come up and say, ‘Hey, what color is Vladimir Guerrero? Is he a black player?’ I say, ‘Come on, he’s Dominican. He’s not black.’ “

“A's African-American players, we have a theory that baseball can go get an imitator and pass them off as us,” Hunter says. “It’s like they had to get some kind of dark faces, so they go to the Dominican or Venezuela because you can get them cheaper.

It’s like, ‘Why should I get this kid from the South Side of Chicago and have

Scott Boras represent him and pay him $5 million when you can get a Dominican guy for a bag of chips?’

“I’m telling you, it’s sad.” ~Torii Hunter

Possibly the worst interview since John Rocker on commuting in New York on the subway.

He played well here but I wasn't upset when they declined to extend his contract.

Edited October 27, 2015 by notti

[Angel Oracle]

I'm 50-50 on the keeping Hunter after 2012 subject.

It was probably time to go in a different direction.    But did it have to be so far off the beaten track (Hamilton), and cost huge dollars for very little production?

[mulwin444]

It had to be Scioscia's fault that Torri bolted.

Not sure how it went down, but after he called out the team "and not just the players" for "going through the motions"

he couldn't be kept around...and he wasn't.

Of course it had to be Sciocia's fault...haha

 

Alright, couldn't keep a straight face...this one was a reach even for you

[Homebrewer]

But increasingly, the players instead hail

from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico or Venezuela.

I hope since then, Torri has done some reading up on baseball history.

The players from the DR, PR, and Venezuela etc FAR outnumbered the black American players when baseball began to be fully integrated in the 50's and 60's.

The black Latino players faced the exact same prejudice and discrimination that American Blacks did, (even more because they didn't all speak the language) and there were many more of them because, frankly, they were many more talented Latino ballplayers.

So it really happened the other way around, from the way Torri thinks it did.

[Blarg]

I thought the narrative was Scioscia liked age veterans past their prime?

In the end, Dipoto replaced Hunter with a white guy, not even a bag of chips imposter.

[mulwin444]

"Fans look down from their seats onto the

baseball field, see dark-colored skin and might assume they are African-American players. But increasingly, the players instead hail from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico or Venezuela.

“People see dark faces out there, and the perception is that they’re African

American,” Los Angeles Angels center fielder Torii Hunter says.

“They’re not us. They’re impostors.

“Even people I know come up and say, ‘Hey, what color is Vladimir Guerrero? Is he a black player?’ I say, ‘Come on, he’s Dominican. He’s not black.’ “

“A's African-American players, we have a theory that baseball can go get an imitator and pass them off as us,” Hunter says. “It’s like they had to get some kind of dark faces, so they go to the Dominican or Venezuela because you can get them cheaper.

It’s like, ‘Why should I get this kid from the South Side of Chicago and have

Scott Boras represent him and pay him $5 million when you can get a Dominican guy for a bag of chips?’

“I’m telling you, it’s sad.” ~Torii Hunter

Possibly the worst interview since John Rocker on commuting in New York on the subway.

He played well here but I wasn't upset when they declined to extend his contract.

This was part of the "would often say some stupid shit" I was talking about...he could be entertaining and endearing and then be a total numskull.

 

He made an impact while he was here and earned his contract, he was a solid signing.  Beyond that, I have no nostalgia for his time here other than the team, overall, was a lot better