I could try all day and not find a way to stir things up here any more than Patrick Reusse did with his latest column.

The Timberwolves have Kevin Garnett and are a franchise without hope. The Twins have Torii Hunter and are no better than the seventh-best team in the American League.

Kevin McHale and Terry Ryan are general managers who should face reality and make trades as soon as possible, yet both can be expected to sit on their thumbs — McHale because of stubbornness and Ryan because of timidity.

On Wednesday, Hunter hit one of the bigger home runs of the Twins’ season, if you consider that they were playing a rubber game at Shea Stadium, were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position against Oliver Perez, and had gone 89 at-bats without a homer since Justin Morneau’s walkoff shot beat Milwaukee on Sunday.

Here’s how Torii explained his 15th home run, which came on a 1-2 count: “Perez throws a fastball in to righthanders, and he does it well. I wasn’t able to do much with it my first two times up, but you have to make an adjustment. That’s what this game’s all about. He threw a fastball in, and I knew it was coming, so I was lucky.”

That doesn’t sound like luck. That sounds like an acquired skill. Hunter is batting .299 and is tied with Morneau for the team lead with 56 RBI. If you go back to Aug. 18, Hunter has 31 homers and 91 RBI in the Twins’ past 112 games.

Reusse doesn’t disagree that Hunter has become a force. Otherwise he wouldn’t have suggested Hunter is worth a four-year, $60 million contract. Our columnist argues:

You can’t sign a 32-year-old player — no matter how popular and productive — for a deal like that when Justin Morneau, 27, and Michael Cuddyer, 28, will need big-dollar, multiyear contracts in the next couple of years.

Here’s where I disagree. The Twins are 5 1/2 games behind Cleveland and Detroit. This isn’t the time for Ryan to trade Hunter. This is the time for him to implore Carl Pohlad to push the payroll into the $85 million range by next year, with continued increases through the new ballpark’s opening in 2010. Do that, and they might be able to keep Hunter, Johan Santana and possibly even Nathan, while still locking up Cuddyer and Morneau to long-term deals.

And Hunter’s contract situation should be addressed sooner rather than later. Yes, he turns 32 next month, and for most players that means the inevitable decline is near. But Hunter is still getting better offensively, and he is still saving runs with Gold Glove play in center field. How much more evidence do these people need?

(Note: I’d like your thoughts on the Twins’ best course of action with Hunter. I’ll get back to you Friday with a pregame update from Dolphins Stadium.)

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 21st, 2007 at 1:55 am and is filed under Twins thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.