O noes~!

Mac has already commented on this masterpiece of vomit-inducing literature, but I must comment as well.

Kotsay has spent a majority of his career hitting in either of the top two spots of the batting order, and this year should be no different.

Last year with a fairly bad A's offense, Kotsay started 21 games in the first two spots, 32 in the final three spots. I guess they knew not to just put Kotsay up there and hope for the best. Maybe Kotsay was hitting that high because he was producing. Maybe he should produce before he hits that high again. Or...ya know, whatever.

My early guess is that he'll man one of those two spots with Yunel Escobar and that Kelly Johnson will bat seventh or eighth.

I have a feeling I can beat Marky Mark in baseball strategy. I don't know why...

Some believe Escobar would be a solid run producer in the middle of the lineup. You can't argue that.

Who are these people? IsoP in the majors of .125, IsoP in the minors of .118. There, I just argued it.

But at the same time, you can't dispute the value he brought while hitting .351 with a .400 on-base percentage in 34 games as the leadoff hitter last year.

The Braves don't have the speed demon that teams like to put at the top of their lineup. But with Escobar and Kotsay, who owns a .337 career on-base percentage, they have two guys who can provide regular run-producing opportunities for Chipper Jones and Mark Teixeira.

In the time that Kotsay has posted that .337 OBP, the leagues that he had played in posted a .333 OBP. So, essentially, you could put Mr. Dynamic and Joe Average ahead of Jones and Teix and they will have regular run-producing opportunities. Maybe by hitting a lot of solo homeruns...

Johnson produced a .372 on-base percentage in 76 games as the leadoff hitter last year and might have at least shared that role with Escobar if Kotsay hadn't arrived. But my guess is that the Braves will put him in the eighth spot with the hope that he'll get on base consistently and give pitchers numerous sacrifice opportunities.

Oh jeez, I can already see the Bobby Coxian slant in this. Hmm...we could score more runs by having people on for Jones and Teix OR we can hope that a pitcher sacrifices KJ to second with one or two outs to maximize scoring chances for Mr. Dynamic and Kotsay. Hmm, what should we do?

By the way, you put the guys in the top of the lineup who are the best at getting on because that means they will get more chances.

As long as his back remains healthy, I think Kotsay will bat second and Escobar will once again be given the chance to be the consistent catalyst that he was down the stretch last year.

And the Braves will be a middle-of-the-pack offensive team.