The Minnesota Twins announced Monday that they have hired former Twins Torii Hunter, LaTroy Hawkins and Michael Cuddyer as special assistants to baseball operations.

Minnesota Twins Hire Torii Hunter, LaTroy Hawkins, Michael Cuddyer

“I think the biggest thing is all three of us were professionals,” Cuddyer, 37, said on a media teleconference. “We went about our business professionally. That in itself can rub off on players. There’s more to being a great baseball player than just your numbers on the field.”

All three former players were drafted by the Twins in the 1990s, Hunter and Cuddyer in the first round, Hawkins in the seventh. All three retired following the 2015 season in order to spend more time with their families.

Cuddyer was drafted in 1997 and played 15 seasons as a right fielder in the major leagues, including 11 seasons with Minnesota from 2001-11. The two-time All-Star (2011 with Twins and 2013 with Rockies) played 1,139 career games with the Twins, hitting 141 home runs with 580 RBI.

Cuddyer’s responsibilities will include helping position player development by concentrating on transition programs and teaching an understanding of MLB expectations, environment and culture. He will also be involved in the amateur draft process and will be a continuing resource for player acquisitions, according to a press release from the Twins.

Hawkins, 44, was drafted as a right-hander by the Twins in 1991 and played 21 seasons in MLB with 11 different teams, recording at least one save against all 30 teams– one of 13 relievers to ever do so. He pitched nine seasons in Minnesota from 1995-2003, appearing in 366 games. Hawkins also ranks 10th on baseball’s all-time list in games, appearing in 10,42 over his entire career.

Hawkins will be in charge of contributing to the Twins’ “development of our organizational pitching philosophies used in the selection and development of all players,” per patch.com. He will also be helping with the amateur scouting process and and trade deadline preparation meetings.

Hunter, 41, was drafted by the Twins in 1993 and played 19 seasons in the major leagues, including 12 for Minnesota from 1997-2007 and again in 2015. He was named to five All-Star teams, earned nine Rawlings Gold Glove Awards and two Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Awards. Torii was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame in 2016 and ranks among the Twins top 10 in multiple categories, including games (1,373), hits (1,343), doubles (281), home runs (214) and RBI (792).

His duties as assistant will include emphasizing heavy focus on organizational culture and major league environment, and spending time with the major league team and baseball operations decision-making staff. Like Hawkins, he will be involved with the amateur draft process, scouting, minor leagues and trade deadline preparation.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – SEPTEMBER 26: Michael Cuddyer #5 of the Minnesota Twins hits a two-run home run against the Kansas City Royals in the fifth inning on September 26, 2011 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

Coming out of the 2016 MLB All-Star Game, the story lines have been etched in stone: David Ortiz says goodbye, again. The Kansas City Royals have really good players and a Canadian tenor is treading in hot water after proclaiming his social stance during his performance of “O’ Canada.”

Lost in the celebration’s for Sally P. (Salvador Perez) and ASG MVP Eric Hosmer was how Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado cost the National League a shot at home field advantage in October.

OPINION: Nolan Arenado Just Cost NL Home-Field Advantage In World Series

With the N.L. trailing the A.L. 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning, Arenado stepped to the plate representing the game’s tying run.

Washington Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy grinded out a long at-bat before serving one back through the box for a base hit.

With Murphy on first and one out, Arenado turned one over to Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson, who started a 5-4-3, around-the-horn double-play.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that the play was routine, and even from this video it is difficult to surmise where Arenado mis-stepped.

But after reviewing the replay of Fox’s broadcast (like a hundred times) it is impossible to deny that Arenado was dogging it up the line.

FINAL OUT(S) OF 2016 MLB ALL-STAR GAME

Arenado appears confused at first, moving at a snail’s pace out of the box. Then about two-thirds of the way down the first baseline he stops.

John Smoltz, a Hall of Fame pitcher and color-man for Fox’s broadcast of the ASG, intimated that he believed Arenado looked like he lost track of how many outs there were and when Donaldson fired to second, Smoltz speculated that the Rockies third baseman thought that was the ballgame.

It wasn’t.

And that’s why the “Respect 90” campaign, launched by Chicago Cubs Manager Joe Maddon, wages on.

During spring training, Maddon made a point to players that he wanted them to bust it down the first baseline as a means to putting good ju-ju into the atmosphere.

“It really is the message I want to get out there,” Maddon said. “I believe if we respect that 90 feet every day, a lot of good things are going to happen here.”

Not so coincidentally, it could be Maddon’s Cubs that suffer the consequences of Arenado’s error.

Chicago owns the best record in baseball and stand as a 4/1 favorite to reach the World Series.

But due to one Rockie’s half-hearted effort to climb up the first baseline, the Cubbies, and all other N.L. teams vying for a pennant, will play the majority of their games on the road should they reach the mountaintop.

Plenty of people think the rule is dumb.

“How could you decide something so important within an exhibition game?”

Easy. Remember 2002 in Milwaukee, when the game ended in a tie because neither team had any players left on the bench to continue, and it kinda just … ended?

No, maybe you know it better as the Torii Hunter game? When he robbed Barry Bonds of a home run early on and Bonds lifted Hunter into the air as he ran off the field.

TORII HUNTER ROBS BARRY BONDS OF HR IN 2002 ALL-STAR GAME

Well former Commissioner Bud Selig remembers, and by extension, so does Major League Baseball. And neither of them ever want to look that awkward on camera again.

So Arenado having a brainfart halfway out of the batter’s box carries a little more weight than just “the integrity of the game.”

I am certainly not alone in this critique.

Acclaimed baseball writer Peter King tweeted “Way to run, Nolan Arenado.”

Arenado is a fine player. Maybe even better than that considering the entire sports media world has been calling him “the most underrated” player in the game.

But if you’re a fan of an N.L. team, knowing the team with home-field has won six of the last seven World Series, you would almost rather who is overrated … and runs out ground balls.

In lieu of an extravagant exit from the game of baseball, Torii Hunter quietly hung up his baseball cleats on his own accord thus ending an impressive career marked with humility and respect. The five-time All-Star and nine-time Gold Glove winning outfielder announced his retirement from baseball yesterday.

Hunter took to his Instagram page to announce his retirement with a collage of photos that spanned his nineteen year career. This past season, he signed with the Minnesota Twins which was the team who drafted him for his tenure and he contributed heavily to their wild-card run before it came up short. He finished the season with a .240 batting average with 22 home runs and 81 RBIs, which had him finish off his career with the stat line of a .277 batting average with 353 homers and 1,391 RBIs. He has played with three teams in the Twins, the Los Angeles Angels, and the Detroit Tigers, and playing in one American League Championship series each but never winning a World Series Championship.

Talking to the Star Tribune, he wants to give back to his family. “I’ve been married to the game 23 years,” Hunter said. “I put it almost No. 1 in my life. My family kind of second. I made sacrifices for my family. And now it is time to give them more time.”

Photo: MINNEAPOLIS, MN – SEPTEMBER 20: Torii Hunter #48 of the Minnesota Twins hits a home run against Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the second inning at Target Field on September 20, 2015 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by David Sherman/Getty Images)

In another classic MLB ejection, Twins’ outfielder Torii Hunter stripped off his batting gear and tossed them on the field.

Torii Hunter Tosses Batting Gear After Ejection

During the eighth inning, the Minnesota Twins were down 7-2 to the Kansas City Royals with Torii Hunter up at bat. The 39-year-old outfielder is known for getting emotional and when umpire Mark Ripperger called a close strike three, Hunter went off and started to berate him, which led to his ejection.

Soon after, Twins’ Paul Molitor was ejected for arguing on the behalf of Hunter. And that is when the outfielder truly went off, as both an umpire and Molitor had to restrain Torii, who was yelling and pointing in Ripperger’s face.

But when the two were separated, Hunter was not finished with his tirade. In frustration, he took off his elbow and shin pads, gloves and jersey to throw them on the field. The Minnesota crowd, which was already going crazy, went absolutely nuts for this.

“We have bad days — all of us — as hitters, pitchers,” Hunter told the press after the game. “Even umpires have bad days, and he had one.”

When asked to elaborate on the incident, he stated, “I thought it was a ball. The pitch before that, I thought it was a little up. He called it a strike, that’s fine. I thought the last pitch he called a strike was revenge because I said something about the pitch before that, because it was definitely a ball.”

Now, Hunter made contact with one of the umps during the incident, which could lead to a suspension or fine. At the same time, many begin to wonder was this over frustration — Hunter was zero for three on the day — or to rally the troops: especially since this was the first sweep of the Twins at home. To be honest, it is probably a bit of both. The club has been in a dry spell, going 3-7 in their last ten games.

Lets just hope for the Twins sake that he is not suspended for too long, as Hunter is currently hitting .268 with 36 RBIs and eight home runs. As for Minnesota, they are two games behind the first place Kansas City Royals in the AL Central.

No, that is not a headline from 2004. Yesterday, the 39-year-old Torii Hunter attempted to steal home with two outs and bases loaded.

Of course he was caught. Hunter is still fairly speedy for his age, but he should in no way be stealing home. He is not Willie Mays Hayes. And as the announcer stated, if this was truly planned, then he should have taken a bigger lead. He was just a few steps off of third and tried to catch pitcher Jeremy Guthrie sleeping. Luckily for the Royals, catcher Salvador Perez was paying attention.

I’ll give him a point for committing to such a bold move, but as a result, the Kansas City Royals were able to get out of the inning with minimal damage.

Again, we do not know if this was planned or a spur of the moment thing: either way, who would have ever expected the grandfatherly Hunter to steal home? And if it would have worked, the world would have called the play genius.

But it did not, so we get to laugh at it for now.

Still, the Twins were able to hold onto the lead, winning the game and the series.

h/t: Bleacher Report