NEW YORK — Torii Hunter is returning to the Minnesota Twins, and injured Atlanta pitchers Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy were among 32 players tossed into the free-agent market Tuesday along with San Diego shortstop Everth Cabrera and New York Mets outfielder Eric Young Jr.
Hunter agreed to a $10.5 million, one-year contract with the Twins, the team announced Wednesday. He was to hold a news conference at Target Field in the afternoon.
A five-time All-Star outfielder who turns 40 in July, Hunter played for the Twins from 1997-07 before signing a $90 million, five-year contract with the Los Angeles Angels. He then signed a $26 million, two-year deal with Detroit.
Hunter hit .286 with 17 homers and 83 RBIs for the Tigers last season and will be relied upon to be the kind of hard-driving veteran a young clubhouse needs to set an example. He won seven of his nine Gold Gloves with the Twins, who have lost at least 92 games in each of the last four seasons.
In a trade, the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired outfielder Chris Heisey from Cincinnati for minor league right-hander Matt Magill. Heisey, who turns 30 on Dec. 14, hit .222 with eight homers and 22 RBIs in 119 games last season. He is eligible for arbitration.
Nineteen players eligible for arbitration were let go Tuesday, leaving about 185 eligible to file Jan. 13. Any player offered a contract is entitled to, at a minimum, roughly one-sixth of his 2015 salary as termination pay if he gets released.
Los Angeles Angels infielder Gordon Beckham, Oakland first baseman Kyle Blanks, Texas right-hander Alexi Ogando, New York Yankees left-hander David Huff, Cincinnati reliever Logan Ondrusek and St. Louis infielder Daniel Descalso also were among the players let go.
Once considered rising stars in the rotation, Medlen and Beachy did not pitch in 2014 after ligament-replacement surgeries during spring training, the second Tommy John operation for each.
