the whole purpose of the leadoff and number two hitters are to put people on base — or in dusty baker’s terminology “clog up the basepaths” — in front of albert and the cleanup hitter. to give some perspective on the role runners in scoring position plays on the pitches albert sees, his OPS with runners in scoring position last year was 1.201. Sick.

greene’s greatest deficit is his lack of judgment at the plate and his poor on base percentage. lifetime: .304. Last year: .260. if that’s not the worst obp of any player that gotten 300 PA’s for the last five years and isn’t a backup catcher, it’s very close. greene is unlikely to move out of the six and seven slots. if he’s really slugging, he might make the five slot while glaus is out.

for my money, i think duncan should hit second when he’s playing — he has one of the best eyes (and worst swings) of anyone on the team. see the article laying out the % of pitches swung at out of the zone — dunc has a terrific eye. even last year when he struggled he still put together a .346 OBP. if he’s healthy, he’s the best #2 on our team.

i like ankiel or ludwick in the four and five slots. rasmus could be a solid #2 when he starts.

they rarely tell you much about a player. Between the varying level of competition and small sample sizes, it is impossible to get a read on how a players is actually going to do during the course of a season. A good example of that is Adam Kennedy, who batted .350 in ST last year.

On to Greene. Yes, he has hit the ball well in spring training, but as I said that isn’t very indicative of his true talent level. Greene is a player who generally struggles to a .300 on base percentage. OBP is the most important aspect of offense. Even with his power, he is one of the worst hitters on the team because of that low OBP.