I applaud the pitcher hitting 8th idea, but it really only works when you bat your best hitter 2nd. The best hitter, Freeman, bats second to get him ~17 more PAs over the course of the season, and ~17 PAs for Mallex are sacrificed by moving him down to #9 to give Freeman more RBI chances after the 1st inning. Without batting Freeman 2nd they are taking ~17 PAs from Mallex and giving them to the pitcher in order to give Gordon Beckham more RBI opportunities after the first inning. Why in the world would you make that choice? Doesn't seem like a logical plan at all.
In the end it doesn't matter with this roster, but they are STILL using spots in the lineup incorrectly, and it points to a fundamental misunderstanding of optimizing run scoring opportunities.
Oh, and they are still putting one of the best defensive OFers in the game in LF. I think it's pretty clear now that Fredi wasn't the problem when it came to lineup construction.
