The Pittsburgh Pirates have their sights set on the National League Central title and aren't leaving anything to chance.

A few days after acquiring Marlon Byrd and John Buck in a waiver trade with the New York Mets, they added Justin Morneau in a deal with the Minnesota Twins.

Pittsburgh will sent outfielder Alex Presley and a player to be named later to Minnesota for Morneau, who will be a free agent this winter and had played his entire 11-year Major League career with the Twins. The Pirates will assume the remainder of the $2.3 million remaining on his contract.

The Pirates have 28 games remaining on their schedule (including Saturday night), meaning they will pay Morneau roughly $85,000 per game through the end of the season.

Morneau built a lot of good will and admiration in Minnesota, but the Twins couldn't resist the ability to shed all of his remaining salary while also receiving something in return. It remains possible that the Twins could bring the veteran slugger back as a free agent later this year, making his departure a mere vacation from recent losing.

Presley, 28, won't be confused with any sort of prospect and didn't figure into Pittsburgh's plans. The outfielder hit .264/.274/.389 in just 73 plate appearances with the Pirates this season. Those numbers don't represent any sort of significant improvement over the .237/.279/.405 slash line he posted in 2012. He is under control for 2014 at the league minimum.

Grade for Twins: B+

Terry Ryan held onto Morneau through the July 31 non-waiver deadline and was rewarded. Interested teams were reluctant to pay the remainder of Morneau's salary, but his play this month caused the Pirates to change their stance. He hit .250/.293/.543 with nine home runs and 21 RBIs in 123 plate appearances in August after hitting just .175/.266/.330 in July.

After Pittsburgh acquired Byrd and Buck, the St. Louis Cardinals responded by adding John Axford to their bullpen. Neal Huntington struck back at John Mozeliak by acquiring Morneau on the final day for players to become eligible for postseason rosters.

Morneau's left-handed bat should be great at PNC Park and he gives Clint Hurdle platoon options at first base and in the outfield. He will likely take at-bats away from Garrett Jones, who is hitting .240/.297/.423 this season. Jones was forced into a more important role when Starling Marte (hand) went down and had already become a less important cog when Byrd landed in Pittsburgh.

Playoff experience can often be overrated, but Morneau does bring some October seasoning to a relatively inexperienced offense. In 29 plate appearances (seven games over two years), Morneau has hit .310/.310/.621 with a pair of home runs and four RBIs in the postseason.

Grade for Pirates: B-

Morneau has shown over the last month that he can still be a highly productive slugger at the Major League level, but there is no guarantee he will be the player he was in August (and not July) with the Pirates. He brings mostly name recognition to a roster with only a few household names -- some baseball casual fans might not even be able to identify NL MVP candidate Andrew McCutchen in a lineup.

Huntington is betting on Morneau's presence on the field and in the clubhouse. The Pirates entered Saturday just four victories shy of their first winning season since 1992, but won't be happy with simply a one-game playoff appearance. They are seeking a deep run and are using as many low-risk moves as possible to get there.