Sid Hartman: Hunter isn't ready for a final farewell

Torii Hunter, one of the most popular players to ever put on a Twins uniform and a free agent after this season, said a lot of goodbyes Sunday, the final home game of the 2007 season.

But the Gold Glove center fielder made it very clear his first preference is to stay with the Twins and play in the new ballpark.

"That definitely is my goal, and you never know," Hunter said Sunday. "Everybody's talking about the goodbyes and different things like that. You never know, the Twins might step up and they come in and save the day. But at the same time, you've got to say your goodbyes because you never know what's going to happen.

"It's still a business, anything can happen. And it was tough, man, walking into the stadium [Sunday] ... saying goodbye to everybody that I see on my way to the clubhouse."

The Twins made a three-year, $45 million offer a couple of weeks ago, but Hunter has made it clear he is looking for at least a four-year deal.

"No, I wasn't surprised," he said about the offer. "I mean, it was a little low, but I just decided not to talk about it [at the time] because we were 4½ games out and you really don't want to talk about a contract. It's kind of selfish to talk about a contract, it's a distraction. ... I was trying to really concentrate on winning the division."

Twins will make effort

While I am convinced the Twins will make every effort to sign Hunter and will succeed, he doesn't know what the ownership is thinking. I can just see the new slogan, "Buy tickets to see Torii Hunter play in the new ballpark." His absence would make marketing tough.

"We'll just see," Hunter said. "I'm not here to talk about that contract. I want to talk about if we'll be here or not, but I have no idea what they're thinking up there. I'm not the front office. I'm my own person, I'm my own business, so we just have to see what happens."

Without a doubt Hunter is comfortable here and wants to remain a Twin. "I go home afterwards and it's like, 'Man, I do not want to go anywhere.' But you never know. Like I said, it's a business. I know it's different with Barry Bonds or whatever, we're two different personalities, two different guys. But everything comes to an end, and if they're trying to do something different, you've got to let them do it.

"I mean, this is a business and I understand that, but at the same time my heart is here in Minnesota and as a Twin. So whatever happens, man, I get to play the game of baseball no matter what, but my heart is here in Minnesota. If not, then I get to play the game, which I really love."

Not interested in Texas

Contrary to what has been reported in Texas, Hunter said he doesn't favor going to the Rangers because he lives nearby.

"That's what they say, but I don't favor Texas," he said. "My family doesn't even favor Texas, but we're just going to kind of wait and see."

The Twins close the season with a three-game series in Boston. It was suggested to Hunter that the Red Sox might try to get him interested in joining them. He has a close friendship with former Twin David Ortiz.

"I'm afraid of that wall, so don't get your hopes up," he said. "Don't get your hopes up that I'm going to get addicted to Boston, there's no chance. I'm just going to go out there and play and have some fun. I'm still with the Minnesota Twins; I'm not even thinking about that. I would love to play with David Ortiz, but David just happens to be in a crazy park. So we'll see what happens. Like I said, I'm just going to sit and watch if I'm a free agent."

He believes the Twins will still do well if he is replaced.

"The game's going to keep going on, and you're going to see some guy come up and he's going to be a stud and he's going to [help] things turn around, if that's possible," Hunter said. "Hopefully I'm here next year. I'm just saying, if I'm not, the game is going to still go on and things are going to change and you're going to see some of the young talent that you're going to fall in love with."

Tough future

When the 2007 schedule was released, I felt the Vikings had a good chance to be 4-0 going into their Oct. 7 bye.

The first four games looked winnable against the Falcons, without quarterback Michael Vick; the Lions, a team that the Vikings had defeated 10 consecutive times; and the Chiefs, a team that had struggled last year and not added much; and the Packers, selected by many to finish last in the NFC North.

But after losing to the Lions in overtime, and now the Chiefs, despite holding them to 50 yards rushing and only 42 yards in 24 carries for their great running back, Larry Johnson, they are 1-2. And the Packers are coming here Sunday with a 3-0 record after an impressive 31-24 victory over the Chargers.

The Vikings will have to find a way to score more points and make fewer mistakes, or the future won't be too bright.

They certainly won't be favored to beat the Bears at Soldier Field in the first post-bye game. Then follows four more tough games -- at Dallas, home against Philadelphia and San Diego and at Green Bay.

If they don't turn things around, they could be 2-7 before they get the Raiders here on Nov. 18.

Some good things

Gophers football coach Tim Brewster, one of the most positive people I have ever met, said he was excited after looking at the tape of Saturday's 45-31 loss to Purdue.

"We challenged our defense to do a great job lining up, performing their assignment correctly and tackling better," Brewster said. "And I'm going to tell you what, we did it 100 times better in all three areas. Obviously the turnovers really hurt us."

Brewster made it clear quarterback Adam Weber, who was intercepted once and fumbled once, is not one of the problems.

"He's calm, he's cool, he's making good decisions with the football," Brewster said. "At times, he tries to do too much. He's got outstanding arm strength and he tries to force the football into creases, he tries to force it into windows and he can't do that. He's just got to do a good job of letting the play come to him, take what the defense gives him. We've still got to get him to do a better job of dumping the ball down to the backs when the defenses sink."

The offense showed what it can do Saturday, but the big problem is the pass defense. Ohio State will no doubt come in here Saturday and throw the ball on almost every down like the previous three opponents have.

According to Gopher- Illustrated.com, defensive back Simoni Lawrence of Valley Forge (Pa.) Military Academy verbally committed to the Gophers on Sunday.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO AM-830 at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. and on his Podcast twice a week at www.startribune.com/sidcast. shartman@startribune.com