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Twins’ future, Torii day

June 18, 2006 at 1:30 pm · Filed under Castro, Cuddyer, Hunter, Kubel, Mauer, Morneau, stadium, Twins

If you read yesterday's post, you'd know that I didn't watch last night's game. Going by the boxscore, the hitters did really well and the pitchers, aside from Boof, did good too.

Jason Kubel: batting 7th, 1-4 with a homerun and 2 RBI.

Justin Morneau: batting 5th, 1-4 with a homerun and an RBI.

Terry Tiffee: batting 9th, 2-3 with a homerun and an RBI.

On the downside, Cuddyer struck out twice and left three men on base; Morneau left four.

My dream batting order for the Twins, with the people they have now, would look like this:

Luis Castillo, 2B

Jason Bartlett, SS

Joe Mauer, C

Justin Morneau, 1B

Michael Cuddyer, RF

Jason Kubel, LF

Terry Tiffee, 3B

Lew Ford, CF

Shannon Stewart, DH

You're saying "Where's Torii?". Torii's on the bench, my friend. Out of all the Twins with over 100 at-bats, not counting Juan Castro, Tony Batista, or Rondy White (simply because his year will go into the record book, somewhere, on how crappy it is), Torii has the second worst batting average on the team. He's getting paid 10.75 million dollars this year, to do what? Have the second most RBIs on the team, to a guy that's getting paid 28 times less than he is? Be third on the team in homeruns, to two guys with a combined salary of less than a fifth of Torii's? Wait, I think I got it: to be tied for second on the team with 47 strikeouts; the person leading him and the person that he's tied with are the same two that have more homeruns than him (it's common for homerun hitters to get struck out a lot).

It's just unfortunate that Torii is so far along in his career that his batting will not change. Maybe if he'd spend a couple hours a day with guys like Luis Castillo and Joe Mauer who, in my opinion, are both better hitters than Torii, he'd actually do something productive. There's a quote out there, somewhere, from Torii saying that he wants to be with the Twins when the stadium opens up in 2010. Sorry Torii, I got news for you: you won't be with the Twins in 2010, and you shouldn't be with the Twins after the All-Star break this season. If you're with us next year, I'll have a coronary.

6 Comments»

  Rebekah wrote @ June 18, 2006 at 5:15 pm

Torii’s getting paid for his defensive skills. Please back up your opinions with citations. “There’s a quote out there, somewhere,” just doesn’t cut it.

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  Brent wrote @ June 19, 2006 at 5:11 am

Wow, I didn’t realize Hunter was struggling this bad this season. Oh well, too bad for you. I’m a die-hard Cardinals fan, and as such, hate the Twins.

One funny bit I find, is that Pujols has been on the DL for two weeks and still leads the NL in HRs and RBIs!

Perhaps Hunter will have a better second half. You guys have got some competition in the AL Central this season, haven’t you (with the exception of KC)?

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  dan’s cousin wrote @ June 21, 2006 at 1:28 pm

hey dude I hate hunter’s batting as much as anyone but seriously your going to put ford in who has a lower batting average in over hunter. Ford isnt the defensive player hunter is and isnt even the hitter he is. we need to leave hunter in the lineup but in a lower spot like seven or eight. also puuting stewart in the nine whole. why? he was hitting great before he got hurt and castillo has already said he dosnt like hitting in the leadoff spot. but i do agree with you on putting stewart at DH because Kubel is a better feilder with a stronger arm.

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  frymaster wrote @ June 21, 2006 at 2:24 pm

Torii has never hit better than .290 in his career, Lew hit .299 in his best season with the Twins. Lew strikes out less and walks almost twice as much as Torii. I also know that Lew doesn’t hack at the first pitch he sees just about every at-bat. You’re right with the defense, Torii is better, but when he does jump over the wall to snag a homerun, is it a game saver? Also, it has to do with salary. He’s the highest paid player on the team but he does not perform like he should for that kind of money.
And the Stewart thing, that was just a quick something I put together..I probably really wouldn’t want the order to go like that.

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  bean1298 wrote @ June 22, 2006 at 12:49 am

Ummm, Hunter>Ford any say of the week in my opinion. Better glove and the bats are a wash with Hunter having more RBI and HR.

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  frymaster wrote @ June 22, 2006 at 12:48 pm

I don’t think you guys are grasping the salary concept. He’s getting paid 2/3 of the Florida Marlins’ ENTIRE team. His performance is not up to the level of his salary.

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