BP Daily Podcast

My genius plan for solving the Mike Stanton problem.

Bat Stanton lead-off. His OBP is .347, second highest on the team (and more than twice his AVG.)

I don't care how wary of Stanton the opposing manager is, he doesn't want to start the game with a man on first and no outs. Not with Polanco's .370 OBP on deck.

Follow those two with Dobbs, Ruggiano, and Brantley and you've got a decent chance of getting on the board first and making the opposition pay an immediate price for its refusal to pitch to the big man. Right now they pay no price at all, ever.

Part two of my genius plan --- hit the pitcher 8th and Pierre 9th. (Theoretically increasing the likelihood of batters on base for Stanton in later innings.)

Part three --- bench Pierre and start Coghlan instead. He becomes your de facto lead-off guy in later innings and his line drive/doubles-type power increases the likelihood that the batter(s) on base for Stanton are in scoring position.

Please forward my genius plan to Mike Redmond. And maybe sign it "your pal, Joe Madden".