If the Fan Was in Charge for a Day

Tony LaRussa is a very good manager. Granted, he's a bit of an arrogant SOB and not very likeable, but you can't argue with his record. LaRussa was never a great baseball player. Terry Francona and Bobby Cox were marginal players and yet are great managers. The majors have coaches all over the place that weren't very good players. Bobby Meachem was a coach for a long time. Glenn Hoffman was a coach for a long time as was Eddie Brinkman. Just being awash with baseball for a lifetime can provide insight. And now with the explosion of data available to support the instincts, it's possible to know enough to be dangerous.

The Fan has been watching games since Ralph Houk managed both the Yankees and the Mets. Thats a lot of baseball over the years and pored over a lot of box scores and statistics. While there is no mistaking this experience for having the right stuff to be a manager or a general manager, perhaps the Fan is dangerous enough in his knowledge to make a few suggestions.

With that in mind, and in full knowledge that no manager or general manager is going to give two hoots to what the Fan thinks, here is what the Fan would do for each team if he was in charge for a day.

St. Louis Cardinals: Put Schumaker in the leadoff spot and keep him there. Find a good hitter with a decent OPS to hit behind Pujols. The poor guy is walked twice a game. Limit Tony LaRussa to two pitching changes a game. He used six pitchers tonight in a 3-2, nine inning win. Maddening!

Milwaukee Brewers: Move Hardy down in the lineup to seventh or something. Let Rivera catch more often since Kendell is not hitting. Give Gamel another couple of weeks and if he still doesn't hit, send him back down.

Toronto Blue Jays: Release B. J. Ryan. It's a cold business. Flip-flop Lind and Wells in the batting order.

Baltimore Orioles: Give up on Felix Pie. Put Riemold out in left full time. Bring up that young catcher! Slot Mora in the second slot in the batting order and move Jones to third, Markakis to fourth and Huff to fifth. Keep developing young pitchers.

Detroit Tigers: Keep doing what you are doing. You already made the move the Fan was thinking about by dropping Granderson in the batting order and moving Josh Anderson to lead off.

Kansas City Royals: Find a decent shortstop! Flip-flop DeJesus and Callaspo in the batting order.

Pittsburgh Pirates: Not sold on the LaRoche brothers. But keep progressing. The pitching has been impressive. Find out why McLouth is struggling.

Chicago Cubs: For gosh sakes, get Soriano out of the lead off spot. He's killing you. Put Theriot up there or something. The Ryan Freel thing isn't working out. Release him.

Los Angeles Dodgers: Carry on. You're doing great. Wouldn't change anything.

Colorado Rockies: Geez, where to start? Trade Helton to a contender for prospects. Move Tulo down in the batting order (like seventh?). Find some pitching somewhere.

Seattle Mariners: That batting order is a mess. Beltre should be traded for whatever you can get for him. In fact, tear down the entire infield other than Branyon. Anything would be better than what they have now.

Oakland A's: Billy Beane really trashed his legacy with this team. Trade Holliday for what you can get and then just tear the rest of it apart and start over. Terrible team.

Florida Marlins: Let's start with the obvious: Can Bonifacio. His lack of OBP from the leadoff spot is trashing the rest of the lineup. The entire team is batting .245. Any prospects you can call up?? Release Lindstrom.

Philadelphia Phillies: Ask Jamie Moyer to retire. Figure out what to do with Rollins. He isn't hitting at all.

Tampa Bay Rays: Switch Upton and Zobrist and let Zobrist lead off for a while. At least until Upton finds his groove again. The pitching is obviously not what we thought it was. Sonnanstine has been a disaster. The relief corp has been a disaster. How do you fix that? Find a bad team with good relievers and make a trade or something.

Cleveland Indians: Not much can be done with a pitching staff in total disarray. Bat Sizemore third. Start building for next year.

Washington Nationals: Draft pitching. Draft pitching. Draft pitching. Don't trade Johnson. You need all the excitement you can get. Replace Belliard. He's done.

New York Mets: Hold on until you get your people back. You're doing just fine. The Fan admits in full that he was wrong about Sheffield. He's doing really well.

Cincinnati Reds: You're 26-20! That's impressive. Move Bruce into the fouth slot behind Votto and keep him there. He's starting to get there.

Houston Astros: Find a bullpen. Somewhere. Move Bourn out of the leadoff spot. His OBP will never be high enough. Try Tejada or Keppinger there.

New York Yankees: Bring Austin Jackson up and put him in right field until Melky comes back. Swisher shouldn't play every day. Release Veras.

Texas Rangers: Put Jones in center and make Josh Hamilton the DH until he heals completely.

Boston Red Sox: Trade Dice-K for a shortstop. Jack Wilson would fit nicely. Youkilis should be batting third and Bay in the cleanup spot. It doesn't make sense to bat J. D. Drew in the third spot.

Minnesota Twins: Bat Harris second, Mauer third and Morneau fourth followed by Kubel. Find a second baseman.

San Diego Padres: Give up on Brian Giles. He looks done. Him batting leadoff is just killing the batting order. Try Tony Gwynn Jr. there for a while.

Arizona Diamondbacks: Gosh. You can't fire the entire pitching staff can you?

Chicago White Sox: Make a plan to get younger. Trade all the old guys you can to contenders who need temporary bats.

Los Angeles Angels: Hang in there. You should battle Texas for the division all season.

Atlanta Braves: Trade Medlen for a good bat. Their hitting is atrocious. Give up on the idea that Francoeur is a good player. He's not.

San Francisco Giants: Like the Braves, there is not much hitting. They simply cannot contend with that lineup. Randy Johnson won #299. Very cool.