The £2m fee and his great form over the last year or so, indicates that.
I recall so many Baldock haters / those constantly labelling him a waste of money and space on NSC, lumping him with other new entrants such as COG. He proved them all wrong.
In so many of those Albion games you mention he was either a sub or had to muck in in Poyet's negative 5 man midfield in the Amex era. With the prize striker role going to a procession of not very good strikers on our books or loaned in.
Barnes was our best forward in that period.
Before that...