As a Twins fan this pains me because I’m sick of seeing players leave Minnesota and thrive elsewhere, but as a human I’m thrilled to see Justin Morneau doing really well for the Rockies.
Morneau’s career was derailed by a concussion in mid-2010. At the time he was hitting .345 with an OPS over 1.000, gunning for his second MVP award. And then he spent the next three seasons struggling to stay in the lineup amid dizziness and headaches and various other horrible symptoms that led to him hitting just .256 with a .726 OPS from 2011-2013.
He looked nothing like his old self at any point and following a trade to the Pirates late last season Morneau slugged just .312 with zero homers in 25 games. It was sad to watch. And now Morneau is hitting .327 with nine homers and a .940 OPS through 42 games for the Rockies, including .300 with a .538 slugging percentage away from Coors Field.
Part of me is like “dang, why couldn’t that have happened for him in Minnesota” but most of me is like “at least it’s happening somewhere.” At age 33 his career is back on track and everyone (except maybe National League West pitchers) should be very happy about that.