Most valuable, indeed

In the National League, St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols (arguably the best hitter of his generation) was the unanimous choice, coming off a season where he hit .327 with 135 RBI and a MLB-best 47 homeruns. It was Pujols' third NL MVP award in the last five seasons, and now only exiled slugger Barry Bonds has more. For the win, Pujols picked up a cool $200,000 bonus.
The first overall pick of the 2001 draft now finds himself approaching the cross roads of his brilliant, young career. Born and raised in Minneapolis, the left-handed hitting catcher is now one year away from free agency. That will provide an interesting dilemma for the Twins as they move into their brand new open air Target Field next April. Forever a small market team with limited payroll flexibility, the Twins must now find a way to re-sign its home grown product. Expect all of the large market and large payroll teams to throw an obscene amount of money at Mauer, but the Twins may have an advantage.
Mauer's agent is Ron Shapiro, who was also the agent for Cal Ripken Jr. and Kirby Puckett, two superstars and Hall ofFamers who played their entire careers in one uniform. It's not like Shapiro will go to the Twins and accept a hometown discount, not when his client is in line to sign a deal for 7-10 years at $18-20 million per. But having Shapiro handle the negotiations certainly means that the Twins will get every shot to retain their young star; something that wouldn't happen if Mauer was represented by the likes of Scott Boras - who is renowned for squeezing teams.
Here's hoping that Mauer will stay and play for the Twins for the rest of his career. In this era where agents chase the almighty dollar, it would be nice if the odd player remained with one team for an entire career. I mean, really, how much do you need to be happy?
The same can be said for Roy Halladay in Toronto. The difference being that his unquenchable desire to pitch in the post-season trumps the money (he will have made close to $88 million when his contract expires after 2010) and October baseball is not something that rebuilding Blue Jays can facilitate in the near future. At least while the ace right-hander is at the top of his game.

It's a shame because Halladay is one of those players who should play his entire career in one city. Unfortunately, former general manager J.P. Ricciardi's poor handling of Halladay around last season's trade deadline greased the skids for Halladay's exit (and was one of the reasons that Ricciardi was relieved of his duties on the last Saturday of the 2009 season).
With just two weeks remaining until the winter meetings teams are starting to line up to talk trade with the Jays in hopes of adding Halladay to the top of its rotation. The usual suspects will be involved (Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, Phillies) and this week it was the two Los Angeles money machines that are rumoured to be kicking tires. For the Dodgers, whose farm system is always deep, the conversation has to begin with right-hander Chad Billingsley or left-hander Clayton Kershaw. I personally prefer Kershaw who has already made 51 career major league starts and won't turn 22 until next March. He appears to have the stuff and make-up to be an ace. And the Angels also have a pair of arms available - right-hander Jered Weaver and left-hander Joe Saunders - to get the trade talks cranked up. Once again, I would be more apt to ask for the left-hander. Nothing against Weaver, but he is a So-Cal dude who may not bring his best attitude or intentions north.
While the Blue Jays aren't likely to get the parcel of players/prospects that they would have received last July, the return should be plentiful, and might grow if the Yankees and Red Sox start playing off each other.
Regardless, Alex Anthopoulos' first trade will be his most important one.
In the American League, the choices were a little more varied. A pair of Yankees - Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter - split most of the second and third place votes, but Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer was nearly the unanimous winner, garnering 27 of the 28 first place votes with Detroit slugger Miguel Cabrera named first on one ballot. The 26-year-old Mauer was the AL batting champion for the third time in the last four years, solidifying his spot as the top offensive catcher in the game. His .365 batting average was the highest by a catcher in the modern era. He also led the A.L. in on-base percentage (.444) and slugging percentage (.587), becoming the first hitter since Kansas City's George Brett in 1980 to sweep those three offensive categories. Mauer was also feted for his solid defence this season with MLB jerseys his second consecutive Gold Glove award.