Has Morales reached keeper status?

If you saw this coming, raise your hand.

Very few even drafted Angels 1B Kendry Morales, and those that did, like in our 10-team Observer league, dropped him after a slow start.

He was picked up, dropped, picked up. I've traded him away and back twice.

But after Friday night's 5-for-5, 2 HR, 6-RBI, I think it's as clear as it is that the Cubs are out of the playoff chase that Morales is a 2010 keeper.

I'll explain on the other side of this video (Kendry's 2nd HR on Friday):




Entering 2009, Morales had 12 HR in 377 at-bats. So far, he's belted 30 HR in 454 ABs.

Surprising? Hardly.

Anyone who's followed Morales' power-filled minor league career knew that he brought 30-HR and 130-RBI power (over 162 games). Those numbers don't always convey, but often times they need no translator.

What's separating Morales from a lot of other power guys is he's hitting .311 this year. With 94 RBI already, we're looking at a likely 36-HR, 115-RBI season with plus-.300 average.

That's nearly Miguel Cabrera-esque.

Morales is a career .337 minor league hitter, so a dropoff to the .270 range in future years seems as unlikely as Scott Kazmir regaining his 2007/2008 form and playing up to the $21 million the Angels will owe him after picking him up for prospects. (Kazmir does start his first game with the Angels on Wednesday and could be a little better with a change of scenery).

Back to the keeper question. Sure, 1B is a deep position. I still wouldn't rank Morales ahead of the big 7 (Pujols, Reynolds, Fielder, Howard, Cabrera, Teixeira, Morneau), but I think he's every bit as valuable as Youkilis, Gonzalez, Dunn, Pena, Lee or Martinez.

Morales is still young (just turned 26 in June) and could be a 40/120/.310 guy for years to come in what should be a potent Angels lineup for the foreseeable future.

Rarely does one night in baseball elevate a guy into the keeper ranks, but in this case, i'll take a front-row seat on the Morales bandwagon.