Pitchers hitting 9th made sense when pitchers would go complete games or relievers would come in and hit for themselves since they were going to pitch three innings. Neither happens now.
The point is that power does matter and Kendall has zero left. He hasn't had an OPS above 720 since 2004 because he can no longer drive the ball. Add in his extreme GB tendencies and he's not a good hitter. 10-20 points of OBP don't outweigh 80 points of slugging.
My vent? That people have no idea what the word consistent means. It doesn't mean good, it means level. Little variance. Braun was consistent in fielding 3B last year, its why he got moved.
Trading Hardy and moving Hall to shortstop would work better assuming Gamel can play 3B which is still an open questions. Escobar isn't anywhere close to ready. Hardy anywhere but SS is a liability because he isn't a good hitter. Assuming a converted catcher can play 1B adequately is also a big question.
Actually no, you'd be likely doing it for teh whole next season. Attendance tends to lag a year. If you end up with a 70 win team because you trade Sheets (and Cameron and Mota and Souse)in July you'll have a bad April through June next season at least.
You don't do it in order to give your pitcher leeway. You don't want to force him to throw strikes. That said can't believe that Mota was left in for Young.