Justin Morneau: AL MVP?

Charles Klein


As I was watching my beloved, but struggling Seattle Mariners take on the Minnesota Twins last night, a thought occurred to me that I wanted to share with you. Justin Morneau is really, really good. And for $15 million a year, a downright bargain. The home run he hit last night was an absolute laser.

Everyone loves to gush about Albert Pujols ($14.59 million), Mark Teixeira ($20.62 million) and the Youka ($9.375 million), but aside from Pujols, who is just other worldly, Morneau, for my money, is the second best first baseman in the Major Leagues. Morneau is on pace to hit 38 homeruns and drive in 117 runs at a .373 average. While I expect his average to drop a bit, Morneau hitting at that high a clip does not surprise me in the least.

Morneau is also a tremendous fielding first baseman. I know that you Yankees fans are probably fuming about how Teixeira is much better than Morneau, when for me anyway, the only reason anyone would think that is if they believed hype over reality.

Their career numbers are not THAT different and considering Teixeira has one extra year on Morneau they can mostly be thrown out. The main difference here is one plays in New York City and the other plays in Minneapolis.

Morneau is even overshadowed on his own team by Joe Mauer. And yet I would argue that Morneau is the better all-around player. Mauer's value is higher just because of the position he plays. Either way, the Minnesota Twins are very lucky to have both of them locked up long term.