Twins are Torii's team

OK, that’s not really breaking news. But Torii Hunter’s arrival at Twins camp Thursday was a reminder how much he was missed down the stretch last season. Now that Jacque Jones and J.C. Romero are gone, Jason Williams writes for the Pioneer Press, Hunter is even more important, if that was possible.

Hunter feels it is his responsibility to glue this team together.

"I don’t want to be the police of the clubhouse," said Hunter, who spent most of the final two months of the season recovering at home in suburban Dallas. "You don’t go talk to the police. A lot of people don’t trust the police. I want to be that counselor in the clubhouse. If you need somebody to talk to, you can come talk to me about anything."

Gardenhire missed Hunter taking charge. But that leadership trait got the best of Hunter when he returned from Texas during the last week of the season. He, in fact, contributed to some of the clubhouse dissension, when he tried to punch Justin Morneau after a game. The young first baseman had taken exception to Hunter’s intentionally harmless joke.

The story goes on to say that Morneau looks up to Hunter, so that shouldn’t be a problem. But you get the sense this is a team that will benefit from having Rondell White around. White isn’t a leader type, but he relates to and gets along with just about everyone in a clubhouse. Will that make a difference in the standings? Probably not. I think the Twins desperately need Hunter healthy and productive to merely approach the White Sox and Indians offensively, and they probably need something close to a full season from White, too.