Bob Pompiani

For Mangum.

Would you let me finish the point?

Oh, now he's getting sassy.

Yeah.

What?

Okay, make your point.

You said you'd bench the guy after two weeks, and I said you can't do that because of his prodigious talent, and you need this kind of talent in your lineup, and you have to give him some runway to try to reach it, and this is why right here.

That's my point.

I'd give him two weeks, and now he's doing it.

What I'm saying is this guy's got to be in the lineup 150 times this year, and even if he's making bonehead plays in the field, you can't pull a guy with this kind of power out who one day could be your best player.

That was your point the other day.

Yes.

That was your point.

Maybe it's something little where he's just not a leadoff hitter because he started hitting home runs and hitting the ball consistently whenever he was moved in the lineup, I believe, right?

Eighth and six?

Well, what I would say is O'Neal Cruz, when he's hot like this, you need to capitalize and he needs to be in the middle of the lineup.

When he's locked in, I mean, we've even seen this like last year.

There was a stretch in the early going where he was flirting with being an all-star and he wound up making the home run derby, but he was flirting with being an all-star.

He will give you a week or two where you're winning ballgames because of this guy.

And when he's hitting like this, he should be in the middle of the lineup because you've got to fully capitalize.