Padres Free Agent player Profile: Torii Hunter

Torii Hunter has been a top outfielder in Major League Baseball basically since he started his career in 1997 with the Minnesota Twins. He has played for the Twins for most of his career, in fact the first twenty years of his minor and major league career were with the Twins. He left the Twins after the 2007 season and picked up by the Angels for 5 years from 2008 to the 2012 season. After the Angels, he was signed by his latest team, the Detroit Tigers where he signed a two-year contract in November of 2012. Hunter at the age of 39, is now a free agent, after being told by the Tigers that they are looking to get younger.

More from Padres Rumors

• Padres interested in signing FA reliever, converting him to starter
• Padres free agency update links them to All-Star shortstop
• Perfect Padres buy-low trade target might reside in Chicago
• Kodai Senga connections could make Padres favorite for ace SP
• Latest buzz indicates Padres could splurge on surprise position

Hunter once said in an interview that he wanted to retire as a member of the Twins. Will Torii decide to hang up his cleats now that the Tigers have chosen not to resign him? Or will he decide to sign with another team and keep his career going? That remains to be seen at this point, but I know one thing. If he decides to keep his career going, there is one team that comes to mind for me that could sign him. Does anyone know which team? If you guessed the Padres, you were 100 percent right! I mean they are my favorite team after all, and they do need a proven outfielder, even if it just until Hunter Renfroe is ready.

Let’s look at Hunter’s numbers and how he could help the Padres in 2015; in 2014 with the Tigers he played 142 games scoring 71 runs with 157 hits on the year, he hit .286 overall with 17 home runs and 83 RBI. Not to mention the fact that he has 9 Gold Glove awards. If the Padres could sign him it would be a huge help to the Padres, and considering his age, he might be willing to play for less money than he is used to, which would be in the Padres favor. I think we might just see Hunter as a Friar in 2015.

#InPrellerWeTrust