Hm. I'm wondering whether Baron is really needed here. In these games, you got to 8+$ most turns even without Baron's help. If the Baron would have been a Silver, there is maybe one turn where you could afford a Province which you couldn't have afforded without Baron per game.
Is the Baron crucial for the +buy, especially during the first turns?
Have you tested this in Colony games, maybe with two Barons? A Silver instead of Baron wouldn't be enough in this situation.
What I mean is: Stables/Crossroads do the job alone pretty good. Could you throw in other cards like Militia (attacking every turn), Margrave (even more cards, attack and +buy), and so on?
