Do you use the 28t chainring? You could just go 1x9 (or 1x8 or however many are on your cassette) and free yourself of front derailer concerns. I was seriously considering going 1x9 on my commute (if I could have justified keeping a commuter bike separate from the one I need to pull the kids' trailer to daycare), and it would have been the 39t middle ring I would have kept. I am an advocate of erring on the spinning rather than mashing side.
Coincidentally, the person who bought the bike I would have gone 1x9 on did take off the big ring, but kept the 26t granny.