Report: Red Sox Showing Interest in Outfielder Torii Hunter

by John Beattie on Tue, Nov 6, 2012 at 10:52AM

Torii Hunter may be pushing 40, but the outfielder proved in 2012 that he can still play.

Hunter, who turns 38 in July, is drawing interest from the Red Sox, according to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com. Hunter hit .313 with an .817 OPS while making $18 million this past season — the final year of a 5-year, $90 million contract with the Halos. As Bradford points out, the 16-year veteran was not offered a qualifying offer by the Halos, which would have potentially paid him $13.3 million in 2013.

David Ortiz, who signed a two-year deal with the Sox this week, has remained close friends with Hunter, since the two played in Minnesota together.

“I talked to him the other day because he heard Texas was going to try and sign me, because his mind might have changed. He said, ‘If I was going to think about Boston it is because you are there.’ I told him not to worry,” Ortiz told WEEI.com.

During his five-year career in Anaheim, Hunter played 270 games in right field over the last two seasons after playing 350 games in the previous three seasons.

“Torii is the kind of guy if he comes here, he is coming here to play, not to watch anybody. Having a player like Torii in your lineup, especially in this division, I think it would be a good fit,” Papi said, according to WEEI.com. “Now, I want to see what’s going to happen to guys like [Ryan] Kalish, [Daniel] Nava, Cody [Ross], Ryan Sweeney. It’s going to take a minute for them to decide what they’re going to do, but Torii would be huge.”