Pirates acquire Justin Morneau from Minnesota

The Pittsburgh Pirates today announced that they have acquired first baseman Justin Morneau from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for outfielder Alex Presley and a player to be named or cash considerations. The announcement was made by Senior Vice President, General Manager Neal Huntington.

Morneau hit .259 (128-for-495) with 32 doubles, 17 home runs and 74 RBI in 127 games with the Twins this season. He has homered twice in his last three games and his nine home runs during the month of August are tied for the third-most in the Major Leagues.

The left-handed hitting Morneau has spent his entire 11-year big league career with the Twins after being selected by Minnesota in the third round of the 1999 First-Year Player Draft. His 221 career home runs rank third on the club's all-time list, trailing only Harmon Killebrew (475) and Kent Hrbek (293).

Morneau has produced a career average of .278 in 1278 big league games to along with his 221 home runs, 860 RBI, .347 on-base percentage and .832 OPS.