Then move him up to the second slot later?

Of course, your lineup assumes Sweeney is healthy and hitting the ball well and somehow makes the team and Dan Johnson is traded or something.

I'd rather see something like this:

Buck
Barton
Cust
Sweeney
Chavez
Ellis
Crosby
Denorfia
Suzuki

with Cust in the outfield? or is that Ryan Sweeney and you are really optimistic about him ; - )

Buck
Barton
Chavez
Cust
Ellis
Denorfia
Suzuki
R. Sweeney/E. Brown platoon
Crosby

Hell, since its my habit, I might as well make it a regular thing, a roster analysis going through Spring Training till opening day, since thats when it will actually be useful and not annoying (But even if it was still annoying, god damnit I'll still do it!).

I can see the A's hitting Barton 6th, but I can also see them hitting him higher. I think your lineup, assuming Sweeney makes the MLB club, is a good one.

See, the only real reason to bat Daric Barton 6th and Ellis 2nd, as Barton is by far and away a much better hitter than Ellis and his skillset is ideal for the #2 slot, is because the A's don't want to have 6 left handers in a row, so to speak.

If I had Sweeney on the roster, the lineup I would throw out there;

L 1B Daric Barton
R 2B Mark Ellis
L LF Travis Buck
L RF Jack Cust
R DH Mark Sweeney
L 3B Eric Chavez
R CF Chris Denorfia
R C1 Kurt Suzuki
R SS Bobby Crosby

I have Crosby at Short because while I think Donnie Murphy can match him, Murphy has a lot more flexability with positions and has a great platoon split. So mid game if we need someone to fill in at SS, 2B or 3B, we still have Murphy. If we have a Lefty come up, we have Murphy and his massive split. And so on.

I put Ellis in the #2 hole to break up the string of lefties. Though it could also be done, assuming Sweeney is healthy and to form (unlikely, though I believe) to throw out a lineup of;

L LF Travis Buck
L 1B Daric Barton
R DH Mark Sweeney
L RF Jack Cust
L 3B Eric Chavez
R 2B Mark Ellis
R CF Chris Denorfia
R C1 Kurt Suzuki
R SS Bobby Crosby

The only problem of which is that you now have 4 Righties in a row, with 4 out of the top 5 batters being lefties with just 1 righty in the middle.

Mike Sweeney in the lineup.

1. Provided DJ is not traded or injured, Sweeney will not make the team.
2. If he does make the team, he will not be in the starting lineup.

I see Barton high in the order. As a good RBI guy, I see Buck in the middle (only because the A's don't have several better options). But I still can't figure out a lineup because the A's really have no lead-off hitter and every lineup I try has 4 lefties in a row. For whatever that's worth.

Sweeney does not belong in this starting lineup but that doesn't really mean much. He figures to play a lot by spelling Barton or Cust or one of the OFers with Cust playing one of the corners for a day. Sweeney's not coming in here to play 150 games; he's old and coming off some injuries so maybe a 3 times a week player is a better description of him at this point with him able to pinch hit in the other games.

As for the Sweeney vs. DJ debate... I feel it's pretty apparent that the A's are pretty low on DJ for a couple of reasons. 1). They've already handed the job to Barton and 2). They didn't sign Sweeney for no reason at all. The Sweeney signing wasn't a "let's see if he can maybe surprise us and win a job" but really it's a "if he's healthy he's in." DJ will not be on this team come opening day unless injuries open the door.

why not bat barton lead off? he doesnt strike me as being overly slow, and if he puts up a 400+ OBP, whats the problem?