Kendry Morales’ Walk-Off Celebration Costs Him The Rest Of The Season

Despite his potent bat, Mike Napoli has long struggled to find consistent playing time with the Angels. Now, although out of position, it seems he’s going to get a chance to prove himself at first base.

Tony Reagins and the Angels have not ruled out the possibility of making a trade, but they’ll give Napoli an extended opportunity before they start to look outside the organization.

Kendry Morales was originally slated to have surgery on his broken leg the day after it happened, but doctors had to wait for the swelling to go down. It took nearly two weeks. They were finally able to perform the operation on Thursday, and confirming what many suspected, Morales won’t be coming back in 2010:

Since the injury, Morales’ spot at first base has gone to a mix of Mike Napoli, Michael Ryan, and Robb Quinlan. If nobody steps up soon, the Angels will presumably search for a better replacement.

Look, I’ll try not to be mean to Kendry Morales here. But we’ve seen walk-off home runs, and we’ve seen Kirk Gibson’s famous limp-off home run. Is this the first-ever limp-off grand slam?

Anyway, here’s video of Morales’ grand slam, celebration, and subsequent hurty-face.

The Angels have met their worst-case scenario. Says Bill Plunkett:

It’s unknown how the Angels intend to deal with Morales’ absence, but no team can absorb the loss of a player of that magnitude without taking a hit.