and a couple of questions jumped to mind. 1) Is there any significant difference in AVG/OBP/SLG when there's a good base stealer on first, due to the pitcher being distracted and throwing over, etc.? If there is, you'd want a high-OPS guy hitting right after him in order to take advantage. 2) Seems quite obvious to me that you want your best hitters in the top four slots since they get the most PAs over the season. You want Billy Butler at bat as often as possible, and Chris Getz as little as possible. With the last five spots I'd play lefty-righty (or vice versa) in order to make the other team burn its lefty pitchers and gain the platoon advantage. If you have a really terrible hitter, forget about his handedness and hit him ninth. Does that make sense?