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At the same time, I'd be perfectly happy using a defensively poor, offensively strong SS/C/CF. The goal is that the player produces value, whether it's by providing more offence than his glove costs his team, or saving more runs with his glove than his bat costs, accounting for position. My SS was on pace for -4.8 UZR, so I wouldn't call him strong defensively. But his bat was so good, he was worth 8 WAR for me. I'll live with slightly below average defence from my SS when it comes with a 167 wRC+. Some people have a preference for defence up the middle, but focusing on that requirement has you missing out on elite players who are below average defensively but carry monster bats for the position.
Ideally, sure, C/SS/CF are great defenders, but if they have fantastic bats and are better than -10 UZR, you're not in a bad position. And to be honest, I like to be strong everywhere, but I'll make an exception at any position if the offence is worthwhile.
Batting order:
1/2/4 are your best hitters. One has the best OBP of the three, 2 is better slugging than 1 but less than 4, four has most power of the three. From there your best hitters are arguably 5/3/6/7/8/9. I'd put the better HR hitter third of the last group.
Some people will argue batting order doesn't matter, and maybe over the full season it might not have a significant impact. But your #2 hitter comes up in some of the highest leverage spots in the game, so I wouldn't want to waste that with a weaker bat.
Pinch hitting - generally do it for weaker hitters, or when you lose the platoon advantage (LHP comes up vs LHH, bring in RH hitter).
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