Via The Book Blog, Dale Sveum has a tough time making out his lineup as he tries to make players comfortable:

[I]n his first year as Cubs manager, Sveum admits he’s losing sleep over where to put his own hitters in the batting order. Using statistical analysis helps give Sveum a picture of who hits best in what spots, but he also has to play amateur psychologist to learn where his players feel most comfortable in the lineup.

“A lot of guys, you can say ‘OK, You’re going to hit here,’ and they’re like, ‘Oh, God, no, don’t do that,’ ” Sveum said. “(The Brewers’) Corey Hart was a little bit like that. Put him in the one or two hole, and he did unbelievable things. But if you put him in the fifth hole, he didn’t really want any part of that.

“Guys are like that. And you try to find out, through conversation, ‘Where do you seem to be most comfortable to where you can be most productive?’ Unfortunately, we live in a little bit of a world like that. Guys have that idea that no matter where they hit, there’s some significance behind it, instead of understanding that you’re going to get pitched the same no matter if you hit leadoff or fifth.”

Given that the order doesn’t matter that much, maybe the manager should sit down with his eight or nine position players and come up with consensus lineup. Ask who wants to bat lead off. If there is more than one player, let them make a case for why they would be better in the slot. Let the other players give their opinions. The manager should give his opinion, too, if someone he thinks should lead off does not volunteer. He may not end up with an optimum lineup, but I would bet it’s not bad. Sveum might even convince a position player to bat ninth behind the pitcher!

There is a nice discussion of player egos at The Book Blog post.