Given last year's start, it seems odd to question Ned's "setting up" of the team. Yea, he's tinkering around with some ideas, but it IS spring training, and spring training is the time to tinker. Yea, having a cleanup hitter that can also swipe bags is odd, but if he can do it, what's the problem? It's not like "being protected" (if you believe that sort of thing) by Hart is a bad thing. I'm certainly not against fighting the baseball norm, so long is there is good reason to do it. We won't be batting the pitcher 8th every game, but rather when the situation calls for it, according to the information they have (probably dependent on SP/lineup/pitcher ability to hit). Also, I don't tend to put much stock in spring training stats. If they were an accurate representation of the truth, Gabe Gross would be Babe Ruth II, minus the pitching ability. Every team is tinkering, so the stats aren't very reflective of the upcoming season.