Not at all thinking traditionally. Betts batting leadoff would be fine if we had lineups from past years that were strong 1 through 9, but that is not the case this year. If he bats 3rd, he will lose very few ABs, so we will still be maximizing his PAs. However, the guy's batting in front of him get on base at a very low rate so that diminishes his opportunities to do run producing damage. I think if you bat him behind Pedroia and XB his opportunities to produce runs will increase tremendously. It has nothing to do with traditional thinking, but probabilities and math.