Justin Morneau Trade is a Steal

A few days ago Kipper put up a thread about the possible cost (Prospects) of a Justin Morneau, and I fully agreed with him. Others like BB and Van thought otherwise and credit to them. I think a week ago, Twins GM Terry Ryan was looking for a big return. But, as the trading deadline approached, there was probably not enough interested parties, and NH played a waiting game to get one of the best former hitters in the game for next to nothing. Yes, the Pirates will pick up $2 or $3 mil of remaining dollars of 2013 contract which was never an issue, but the Pirates only had to spend two guys who were short-term at best for the Pirates. Alex Presley at age 28 was going to be lost at the end of this season, and Duke Welker at age 27 did his best to outlast the guy drafted ahead of him in 2007, Daniel Moskos. Presley will help the Twins, and Welker has a big arm that may pay off in the future, but he had no immediate value to the Pirates.

Morneau was on his way to possibly another MVP in 2010, hitting .345, 1.055 OPS, with 25 doubles and 18 HR's in only the first half of the season. Then on July 7, he suffered a concussion, missed the rest of 2010, and concussion-associated symptoms (Vertigo?) plagued him in 2011 also. Last year, after missing most of 2 seasons, he hit .267, .773 OPS, 26 doubles, 19 HR's, 77 RBI's in 500 AB's. This year he is hitting .259, .741, but most importantly, 32 doubles and 17 HR's in 495 AB's. Playing at least half the games in Target Field, those numbers are excellent because a big year at Target is getting to 20 HR's. If you check your MLB Stats, he is the 14th rated first baseman in hitting and the No. 2 rated defensive 1B at .997 and he is also second in Range Factor at .969 - many 1B are in the .800's. Now that he has put the concussion behind him, I expect that he will flourish at PNC. He is in the last year of a $14/yr contract and will be a FA after 2013. His years of $14 mil are behind him, but $8 to $9 mil/yr for 3 years could look possible. Garrett Jones is getting $4.5 mil in 2013, and will be in Arbitration again where he will probably be able to get at least $6 mil. That decision is a no-brainer for me considering the upgrade, IMO, of a much better bat and much better glove. Having him onboard for the stretch run could be just enough to sway Justin Morneau to join the Pirates if the deal is good enough.