Throw all the Tigers' shortcomings in the mixer and obviously right field was the most important position for the Tigers to upgrade, which they did Wednesday with the sensible signing of Torii Hunter to a two-year, $26 million contract, writes David Schoenfield of ESPN.com.
It won't get the hype of a Josh Hamilton or Zack Greinke signing, but it could be one of the best deals of the offseason, Schoenfield said.
"Hunter is coming off arguably the best season of his career, at age 36, hitting .300 for the first time and accumulating a career-best 5.5 Baseball-Reference WAR. That figure was fueled by two primary data points: (1) the .313 batting average, which Mark Simon tweeted included a .449 batting average on balls in play over his final 63 games -- for the season, Hunter registered a .389 BABIP, second-highest in the majors to Dexter Fowler's .390 mark; (2) 15 Defensive Runs Saved, third-best among all right fielders.
"Based on 2012 WAR numbers, Hunter is a nearly 7-win improvement over Boesch, a testament to Hunter's under-the-radar campaign and Boesch's all-around dismal play. Boesch was so bad that the Tigers eventually dumped him for an Andy Dirks-Avisail Garcia platoon late in the season, but Garcia needs more time in the minors and Dirks is currently the best option for left field."
Caveat fandom: Of course, it's not likely that Hunter will repeat his 2012 numbers, especially on offense. Hunter's walk rate was actually his lowest since 2007 and his strikeout rate the highest of his career, so I don't think we saw a new approach that suddenly turned him into a .300 hitter.
