Torii Hunter is still a Twitter fan. But a funny thing happened to him this winter on his way to a better life through Twitter.
He fired out a now-famous tweet, which he’s still trying to explain, the day his old team, the Angels, signed Josh Hamilton. It went kinda like this:
“I was told money was tight but I guess the Arte had money hidden under a Mattress. Business is business but don't lie.”
Half the planet took that as an indication that the Tigers’ new right fielder wasn’t exactly thrilled that the Angels (and owner Arte Moreno) said they didn’t have the bucks to sign him, but found $125 million to give Hamilton over the next five years.
But Hunter said Monday he’s over whatever frustration welled up in him that day.
“I’m over it,” he told ESPN.com. “It was just a joke that went bad. I said he found money under the mattress, but I don’t know what happened. I can’t even explain that one. I’ve always said I had a great time in the Angels’ organization, my best five years of my career. That organization has done a lot of great things for me, so I have no hard feelings. Trust me. I understand.
“I understood I was getting older for them,” Hunter went on. “I had a great season for them last year, but they didn’t want to fall in the trap of me getting older. I understood that. That’s the business side of it. I always understood how hard it is to be a GM, because some day I would like to be one. We’ll see.”
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More from Torii Hunter:
On what it’s been like to be around Prince Fielder: “He’s got a great freaking attitude, man. He loves sitting around, looking around, cracking jokes in the clubhouse. Gets out on the field, he’s having so much fun. He hits, and hair is flying everywhere. He just loves it. He’s just this big kid at the ballpark. When he was 13, 14, 15 and he was hitting in Lakeland when his dad came here in big league camp, just watching that little guy hit, it was impressive. I still remember him.”
On what it’s like to take batting practice with Fielder and Miguel Cabrera: “He and Prince, it’s sick. They’re hitting it like 450 feet in batting practice. Me, I can’t do that. It would take me like 100 swings to get loose just to hit them there.”
On how his lineup in Detroit compares to the lineup he left in Anaheim: “It’s up there. It’s definitely up there. The thing about our [lineup] with the Angels was, we just didn’t jell. We didn’t jell 'til June, 'til the end of May. But these guys have already played together. All they added was a piece like me. And I’m just a little piece of the puzzle. I’m not a guy who comes and changes everything. I just try to fit in.”
On why he’s hedging slightly on his statement earlier this month that this Tigers staff is the best he’s ever played behind: “In ’09 with the Angels, we had a great staff and we showed it on the field. Right now, we haven’t done anything yet. But … if everything goes right, guys stay healthy and do what they’re capable of, I definitely think this could be one of the best pitching staffs of my career that I played with. Right now, on paper, it’s THE best. But we’ll just have to see the results. … I say that because last year, I looked at that lineup with the Angels and said, ‘Wow, we’ve got a great lineup.’ And a month and a half went by, and we hadn’t done anything. So now, I’m kind of a believer like, just play.”