If the Royals keep winning series, I may have upgrade my tone from "utter catastrophe" to "natural diaster".

Ken Harvey has taken a lot of grief from statnicks everywhere, and I know that last he was incredibly unproductive, largely because he hit with no power.

But so far this year, he's been the most pleasant surprise on the Royals in a season full of despair. His OPS is .915, which is 14th in the AL and second among 1st baseman (only Jason Giambi is better). He still doesn't hit with enough gap power (only seven doubles), but his HR totals are definitely up. His low RBI total is largely a consequence of the poor offense around him. He's not particularly good at first base, but that can be said about a lot of first basemen. And remember, this is just his second full season in the major leagues even though he is 26 years old.

I don't expect him to hit .350 all season, but if he can stay around .300 and push .375 OBP with 20-25 home runs, that would be a pretty fantastic sophomore season.

The question is this - the Royals have already given Berroa his money, even though he has regressed mightily this year. If Harvey goes on to a solid year, should they do the same?