Joe Mauer sat behind a table on a podium in a conference room at the Metrodome when Justin Morneau shouted out the last question of the day.

"Are you finally going to buy dinner now?" Morneau said to his teammate from the audience, one MVP to another.

Mauer became only the second catcher in 33 years to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award, finishing first in a near-unanimous vote Monday. The Twins star received 27 of 28 first-place votes and 387 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Yankees teammates Mark Teixeira (225 points) and Derek Jeter (193) followed. Detroit's Miguel Cabrera drew the other first-place vote and was fourth with 171 points, one point ahead of the Angels' Kendry Morales.

Mauer became the second Twins player to win in four years, following Morneau in 2006. Morneau gave Mauer a bottle of champagne.

"Hopefully we can pop that open here a little later," Mauer said.

Born in St. Paul, the 26-year-old can leave the Twins and become a free agent after the 2010 season, when he is to make $12.5 million. Minnesota is expected to try to sign him to a new deal.

Mauer set a major league record for highest batting average (.365) by a catcher and won his third batting title, becoming the first repeat batting champion since Nomar Garciaparra in 1999-00. He was voted to his third All-Star team and won his second straight AL Gold Glove.

Ivan Rodriguez in

Teixeira led the AL with 122 RBI and tied for first with 39 homers. Jeter was second to Morneau in the 2006 voting and finished third behind Juan Gonzalez and Garciaparra in 1998.

The NL MVP is to be announced today, and Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals is favored to repeat.

Angels: The Los Angeles Times reports that the team has resumed its pursuit of Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay.

A trade for Halladay this winter is expected to cost the Angels a young starter — Jered Weaver, Joe Saunders or Ervin Santana.

White Sox: Omar Vizquel, 42, agreed to one-year contract worth nearly $1.4 million to add depth, experience and perhaps advice to a young infield. Last season, the White Sox committed 113 errors. "I feel pretty comfortable that I can do the job in the field, that I can still run and hit and do everything that a major league player is asked to do," the 11-time Gold Glove winner said.

The former Giant, who will turn 43 in April, will play for fellow Venezuelan Ozzie Guillen, an ex-shortstop who will be 46 in January.

Mariners: Ken Griffey Jr. stands to earn up to $3.9 million next season. According to contract figures obtained by the Associated Press, Griffey's deal signed this month to return to his original team for one more season as a 40-year-old calls for a $2.35 million base salary for 2010.

Baseball's active home run leader would earn $3.9 million if he again has at least 400 plate appearances, Seattle has an increased home attendance of 2.5 million fans and Griffey again does not go on the disabled list while remaining on the roster for the entire season.