(Image courtesy Waiting For Next Year)

Thanks to my good friend savagetruth who commented on last post, he had the idea that Andy Marte and Russell Branyan should platoon at first base. And he is absolutely correct about the 40 HR possiblity. That was a genious comment, and I would like to say thanks for the idea, and thanks for letting me post on it. It makes perfect sense.

 

Russell Branyan hit 31 homers last year while Andy Marte only had 6. But if you take the time when Marte was hot and the time when Branyan was hot you have two oiled machines. You put them together and then you have one super oiled machine. With all that oil you can produce a good 40 homers or so. Yes fans this is a wonderful idea don’t you agree?

 

I can’t believe I haven’t thought of this. This idea is so simple yet so hidden. With Marte’s struggle at times, Branyan could take the weight off of his shoulders. While during the time Branyan is getting pitched well, Marte can come in and take the chip off of his shoulder. I also think that Marte can come in against lefties. The other idea could be for Marte to only play when lefties are on the mound.

 

Marte is not a very good hitter against righties but against lefties he’s halfway decent. Since 2007, he’s increased in homers and he is looking better and better the more I see him. The reason that Marte hasn’t produced those HUGE numbers in just one year is because of the fact that he only plays about 50 games a year. If you take the 6 homers he hit in those 47 games he played in you can use that to calculate about eh 21 homers in a full season.

 

(Image courtesy AP)

So if you platoon Marte and Branyan your going to get some production out of it. I think it makes perfect sense, and as a Tribe follower for years this finally came to me and said “great idea”. I totally understand where savagetruth is coming from and I agree that platooning these two is the best thing to do. They are both “power hitters” and do rack of their fair share of strikeouts. But that’s not the point. Together as I have stated, they can produce about 40 home runs and 90 RBI’s.

 

As if the fact that you used one of them you might get 30 homers from Branyan with 70 RBI’s and 5 homers and 20 RBI’s with Marte. Going just with one can lead to slumps, and alot of bad games over all leading with no productiveness and maybe a bad year for either Marte or Branyan. But with the combo I can see new beginnings in Cleveland. Just like they platooned when they weren’t successful in the 60’s it panned out eventually.

 

This platooning could be infectious among the other players who knows? If Branyan starts going, it could be a domino effect. You never know. Maybe if Branyan gets into dancing lessons, than Marte will get into dancing lessons, and maybe Choo will get into dancing lessons. Who knows. I do think that Choo would be a pretty good dancer though… just a thought.

 

(Image courtesy Castroturf)

I do see strikeouts happening with these guys. But I do see home runs being hit night after night. I don’t even know what pandemoneum will be present when Marte and Branyan are hot. If the Indians (Manny Acta) goes through with this, and I hope he/they will… then I think that the Indians will have a VERY productive first base. It’s almost like your getting an All Star to play first base for them.

 

I do think that this will pan out perfect. Russell Branyan played in 116 games last year while Marte played in 47. Together that will be 163 (one more than games played). So if you give or take away another game or two in either one of them’s stats, then you have a perfect season. That is why this platooning will work for them. It has to be like this in order for run production to take place.

 

I do believe that this team can flourish from a good platooning. This could effect the team in multiple ways. The team can feed off of a good first base performance and follow up in a good way. For example maybe Russell Branyan and Marte go on a hot streak. The whole team could feed off of that and maybe go into a month hitting great as a team. This situation could effect everything for the Indians. This is why I really like this idea.

 

I do thank savagetruth for the idea of platooning as he is a very smart individual. I do highly believe that the Indians should platoon in order to get more productivity out of the first base position. Manny Acta needs to meet this head on and needs to platoon. He can’t see through this. Andy and Russell might make a happy couple… for the Cleveland Indians. Until next time….

 

Go Tribe!