I’ve been wrestling with this question off-and-on for weeks.

I had a Cy Young vote, not an MVP vote, so I didn’t go through the long process of picking my top 10 AL MVP choices. But I was asked about the MVP award several times in September, on XM radio, and by various writers who were honing their own ballots.

(BBWAA members are advised not to reveal our official ballots until after the awards are announced in early November. So check back then to see my top 3 AL Cy Young picks.)

Originally, I thought Morneau sealed the Twins’ MVP award on Sept. 13, when he played first base in both ends of a doubleheader at Baltimore. It was a hot, muggy night, and Morneau had gone 4-for-5 with two doubles, a walk and two RBI in Game 1.

Manager Ron Gardenhire planned to have Morneau DH in Game 2, but Morneau insisted on playing first base again and delivered a two-run single in the first inning that helped finish the doubleheader sweep.

That night, I wrote a postgame blog about two impressive base running plays Morneau made in Game 2. I was struck by his resilience.

“I had the option to DH, but I wanted to go out there and show everybody you’ve gotta play hard,” he said. “If we don’t get into the playoffs, there will be plenty of time off, so grind it out as much as we can.

“We’ve gotta get in. If that means I play first every game, so be it. If that’s the best lineup we can put on the field, I’ll run out there until I can’t run any more.”

Well, we all know how the season ended. After Sept. 13, Morneau finished on a 10-for-59 slide. In those 15 games, he notched just three extra base hits (all doubles) and five RBI. Gardenhire said Morneau was banged up, but the big slugger refused to make excuses, and the Twins wound up losing a one-game playoff to Chicago.

Morneau                       Avg.     OBP     SLG

Through 9/13                .314       .387    .528
Season totals               .300      .374    .499

Meanwhile, as Morneau stumbled down the stretch, Mauer continued to flourish as he wrapped up his second AL batting title.

Mauer                            Avg.     OBP     SLG

Through 8/25                .318       .412    .445
Season totals               .328      .413    .451

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Mike Redmond will be back with the Twins as a reserve catcher in 2009, as the team picked up the option on his contract Thursday, in an expected move.

Redmond, 37, will make $950,000. He appeared in 38 games this year, batting .287 (37-for-129) with six doubles and 12 RBI.

If there’s really only one October, as the commercials keep telling us, then how come every time we turn on the TV, there’s another champagne celebration?

Colleague Jeff Shelman* reminded me how ridiculous it gets seeing teams celebrate their first-round playoff clinchers as if they’d won the World Series.

A story from Tuesday’s Los Angeles Times began:

BOSTON — David Ortiz stood in a corner of the Boston Red Sox clubhouse Monday, his sweat shirt soaked with beer and champagne and his face creased with a smile.

“We’re kind of getting used to this,” said Ortiz, who has been through 13 clubhouse celebrations in his six seasons in Boston.

And, this from ESPN.com:

CHICAGO — Just in case Michael Phelps needs any more marketing concepts, Tampa Bay first baseman Carlos Pena has one. Champagne goggles.

“We had seen other teams celebrate, and we knew about the eye goggles. But some of us overlooked the eye goggles and how necessary they were,” Pena said of Tampa Bay’s first-ever celebration two weeks ago when it finally clinched a postseason spot.

In 2006, the Twins sprayed champagne when they clinched a playoff berth, then sprayed champagne again six days later when they won the AL Central. Had that team won the World Series — instead of going three-and-out against Oakland — it would have had five champagne celebrations.

Covering that team, I understood the overwhelming joy that group felt after finally surpassing Detroit on the final day of the regular season. But looking back, even the players felt the second celebration was a bit much.

Two Sundays ago, Twins closer Joe Nathan was describing the potential celebration if the Tigers had defeated the White Sox in their Sept. 29 makeup game, which would have given the Twins another AL Central title.

“Hopefully we’ll go a little less crazy than ‘06 — but ‘06 was worth it,” Nathan said, smiling as he caught himself mid-sentence.

If every team partied like the 2006 Twins, each season could bring up to 21 champagne celebrations — 8 postseason berth clinchers, 6 division titles, 4 division series, 2 LCS and 1 World Series.

I can’t fault teams for celebrating a postseason berth, since 162 games are such an extraordinary grind and a smaller percentage make the playoffs than in the NFL, NBA and NHL. If teams want to pop champagne after winning the ALCS or NLCS, that’s understandable, too.

The champagne probably tastes just as sweet after a World Series clincher, whether you’ve tasted it four times over the previous month or once. But teams should realize how overdone it all seems.

I don’t need to see Jonathan Papelbon doing his ridiculous dance again. I don’t need to see another team spray its fans with champagne from atop the dugout. With the 2006 Tigers, that was interesting. Now, it’s a cliche. If players want to salute their fans, go for it, but leave the alcohol in the clubhouse.

Someday, a team will clinch something and forgo the champagne, with players reminding everyone, “We haven’t won anything yet.”

Now, that will be a moment worth celebrating.

(* Shelman will be missed when he leaves the paper later this week, but he promises to keep sending blog ideas my way.)

We spent a lot of time last winter writing about Boston’s alleged interest in Johan Santana. It’s interesting now watching some of the players the Red Sox allegedly made available in those alleged trade talks taking on vital roles in the postseason.

Remember, the Twins could have allegedly had Jon Lester or Jacoby Ellsbury — but not both — with Justin Masterson and Jed Lowrie in either deal as alleged throw-ins.

Looking back, I think it was convenient for the Twins and Red Sox to keep those rumors afloat, since most everyone expected Hank Steinbrenner’s Yankees to eventually make the superior offer.

Right now, Lester for Santana looks like a pretty good trade straight up. As Buster Olney notes today, Lester has a 1.71 ERA in his past seven starts and is 11-1 with a 2.49 ERA this year at Fenway Park, heading into his Game 4 start tonight.

Ellsbury is a nice player, too, though I think the Twins did fine to get Carlos Gomez. Ellsbury has considerably more polish and plate discipline, but Gomez is two years younger and should hit for more power with time.

After being told by scouts that Lowrie wasn’t good enough defensively to be an everyday shortstop in the big leagues, I’ve watched with great respect as he’s overcome that label, filling in admirably for injured shortstop Julio Lugo. A switch-hitter, Lowrie also managed 46 RBI in half a season.

Finally, there’s Masterson, who has emerged as Boston’s primary setup man in front of closer Jonathan Papelbon. Masterson, 23, is 6-foot-6 and throws a hard sinker. After using him for a handful of starts, the Red Sox sent him back to the minors to groom him as a setup guy.

That sure looks like a smart move now. You wonder if the Twins would have been better off doing this with Nick Blackburn this year after Pat Neshek got injured. Like Masterson, Blackburn has the stuff to handle the eighth inning, though the way Blackburn pitched as a starter in Game 163 leaves the Twins with no regrets.

Anyway, this Red Sox/Angels series has been terrific, and I was thrilled to see the Angels extend it to Game 4. We’ll see if Lester, Ellsbury, Lowrie and Masterson can finish the job tonight.

The Twins have identified White Sox shortstop Orlando Cabrera as someone they might pursue on the free agent market this offseason.

We’ve written this a couple times, and readers don’t seem all that enthused. Cabrera is a polarizing figure, to say the least.

The White Sox will play Game 2 of the Division Series at Tampa Bay today, starting at 5 p.m., so everyone has a chance to study him closely, while examining whether he’d be a good fit for the Twins.

In the meantime, I dusted off my old “Trade Targets” form to help sort through the particulars. This will be the first in an occasional series of Offseason Targets for the Twins.

Name: Orlando Cabrera, White Sox SS

Basics: He turns 34 on Nov. 2. Bats R, Throws R. 5-11, 165 lbs. Born in Cartegena, Colombia. Originally signed by the Montreal Expos in 1993. The White Sox acquired him from the Angels for pitcher Jon Garland last November.

Stats: Batted .281/.334/.371 with 8 home runs and 57 RBI this year. He scored 93 runs. He played in 161 games. His career OPS+, which adjusts for park and league averages, is 86. (Nick Punto had an OPS+ of 96 this year, but his career average is 74.)

Salary: $9 million. He was in the final year of the four-year, $32 million deal he signed with the Angels after helping the Red Sox win the World Series in 2004.

Good Twin because: He’s a two-time Gold Glove Award winner at shortstop (2001 with Montreal and 2007 with the Angels). He plays almost every game with the kind of intensity the Twins love. He’s not a power hitter, but he is a .274 career hitter who is tough to strike out (ranks 10th among active players with 6.7 at-bats per strikeout).

Available?: Sure sounded that way last week at the Metrodome, when this story appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times. The White Sox plan to move Alexei Ramirez to shortstop and let Cabrera walk.

Probable cost: I’m having a tough time predicting how much he’ll get on the free agent market. Guessing he could probably get a three-year, $30 million deal, though teams will have reservations because he’s turning 34 and middle infielders tend to get old in a hurry — see Edgar Renteria.

Potential Batgirl nickname (*You know, if she still ran the greatest blog ever): I think he’s already nicknamed “The O.C.” (As always, I’ll take your suggestions below.)

Odds this signing happens: 5-to-1.

(Note: It’s so early in the offseason, we’re just scratching the surface now, as we chronicle the Twins’ process of shaping the 2009 roster. We try not to scatter shoot with these updates, so while some of you might dream of Manny Ramirez in a Twins uniform, you won’t read about it here unless somebody from MLB actually tells us the Twins might be in pursuit. In Cabrera’s case, that’s what we’re hearing from multiple sources.)