Justin Morneau: Bring Him Home

by Gose Buster on Nov 21, 2011 1:44 PM EST

With the offseason rumours beginning to ramp up, the Blue Jays seem to mentioned in the same breath as every player on the free agency and trade markets. That being said, Alex Anthopoulos has expressed a desire to acquire a designated hitter who can drive in runs in the middle of the order. Due to the sparseness of the DH market this winter, the most likely scenario involves making a trade in order to upgrade the position, meet Justin Morneau.

Some of you may know the B.C native as the 2006 A.L MVP while others might remember him for his recent concussion issues and proneness to injury. Make no mistake, Morneau is one fine ball player but he has struggled with consistency over his limited amount of plate appearances since the 2009 season. Being limited to only 636 AB's in the last two seasons, Morneau has not yet been able to regain the form that made him an MVP but over his career, Morneau is a .281 hitter with an impressive .353 OBP and he's by no means washed up. At 30 years old, Morneau still has at least 3 years of solid production in front depending on his ability to stay healthy.

Why would the Twins trade him? He's owed 14 million a year for the next two seasons, a hefty price for a question mark. It can be assumed that Minnesota would be willing to eat a portion of his salary if the return was deemed worthy. With the Twins recent signing of Ryan Doumit, they've purchased insurance for both Morneau and Joe Mauer as Doumit is capable of playing multiple positions and could fill in when necessary. Minnesota also has 1B prospect Chris Parmelee toiling in the minors after a successful cup of coffee with the Twins in september providing them with another option should Morneau be traded.

From the Blue Jays perspective Morneau makes sense not only offensively but also in the club house. He's a veteran with playoff experience who will able to mentor the young ones with his leadership ability. If the Blue Jays can get him for half his salary he could be a bargain contractually and even if they can't, he has only two years remaining on his current deal. Morneau is also Canadian and therefore easily marketable on a team that is slowly becoming more and more canuck each year. Is he injury prone? Yes. Is he expensive? Yes. But he also hit 20+ HR's and 100+ RBI's in 4 straight seasons. Perfect numbers for a middle of the order bat.

Tweet Comment 16 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

I think it goes without saying

that if we can get an elite bat without giving up a fortune, we’d all want to make the trade.

We don’t have to pick every good 1B and say lets get him!

Rent this for cheap!!

by Bowling_Guy25 on Nov 21, 2011 1:57 PM EST reply actions 1 recs

Morneau isn't that good

only 2010 was really exceptional. he’s a nice player when healthy – not amazing – and the injury concerns don’t help. if he’s cheap then great, but I can’t see this being a deal where we buy low

I tweet.

by benk on Nov 21, 2011 2:09 PM EST reply actions

He’s not a superstar, but between 2006 and 2010 he was 8th among 1B in accumulated fWAR, and 10th in wRC+. That’s pretty good, if he can return to form. That’s obviously the big question though…

by masterkembo on Nov 21, 2011 3:49 PM EST up reply actions

right, he's a good player

but he’s not amazing, and he’s probably not even an upgrade over a Lind/Edwin platoon (or, if you have faith in Lind’s BABIP bounceback, Lind alone). I also think have a theory that players whose effectiveness has been sapped due to injury rather than just aging/ineffectiveness cost more than their “fair value” would indicate

I tweet.

by benk on Nov 21, 2011 4:30 PM EST up reply actions

he’s probably not even an upgrade over a Lind/Edwin platoon (or, if you have faith in Lind’s BABIP bounceback, Lind alone)

Gutsy statement, kudos. If healthy, I think I’d have to disagree with you (and don’t forget, right now we are playing at least 2 of Lind/Thames/Snider against LHP, which is a major problem in my books), but the injury risk certainly is a factor.

I wouldn’t mind acquiring Morneau if it was relatively cheap. Worst case, it’s a 2 year commitment, and you are only taking away at bats from Lind.

Of course, in 2 years, Votto will be a FA…

(said because SOMEONE was going to say it soon…haha).

Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.

by Jevant on Nov 21, 2011 4:34 PM EST up reply actions

How long would a batter need to maintain a BABIP for you to believe it's more than luck?

by Defense Counts! on Nov 22, 2011 5:29 AM EST up reply actions

I dunno

Just look at career BABIP. Unless the player has made a significant change in approach/hitting style, his BABIP should be relatively constant from year to year. Morneau has a career .293 BABIP. Even if he played the full year in 2010, I doubt he would sustain a .385 BABIP.

No Dad, What About You?!
Rookie writer at Baseball Canadiana
Twitter? I hardly know her!

by Pikachu on Nov 22, 2011 6:26 AM EST up reply actions

especially

since his batted ball line in 2010 was really nothing special. it was actually very similar to one Adam Lind in 2011

I tweet.

by benk on Nov 22, 2011 10:19 AM EST up reply actions

so very many "ifs"

Tony Reagins is not the Toronto GM (but maybe he is the writer of this post?). Trading for Morneau is not a reasonable risk for the Jays. Toronto doesn’t need a Canadian player who can’t play. The Twins would have to eat so much salary to make Morneau attractive that they might as well keep him and see what happens, then trade him when he shows the least bit of his old form.

by terry the censor on Nov 23, 2011 4:28 PM EST reply actions

The last Canadian player we brought home from the Twins was Corey Koskie and i don’t have fond memories of his time here. He’s the prime example of why you don’t just bring a guy to the team because he’s Canadian. Teahen’s Canadian-ness doesn’t seem to help him hit at Rogers Center. I don’t want us to bring guys to the team because they are Canadian. I want guys who are good and will bring us into the playoffs. If they are Canadian then that is just icing on the cake, but being Canadian in itself isn’t a talent. I think Justin has been devastated by concussions and even if we got him for nothing in a trade, he is owed $14,000,000 in 2012 and 2013 becoming an UFA in 2014. That is a lot of money to invest short term for a player who may not recover for years because of the severity of his brain injury and i really wouldn’t want us to trade anybody of consequence or any real talent for such a high risk proposition. For $14,000,000 a season we can get 2 4/5 Adam Lind’s.

by Sean Coleman on Nov 23, 2011 9:25 PM EST reply actions