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Agree with Matt, that .730 OPS alone doesn't tell the "whole" story. I'd prefer a .730 guy tilted toward OBP myself. But, it's not like the world fell in love with Willie B when he was posting his .380ish OBP last season.
Balboni was posting a 4.7 RC/27 with Seattle in 1988.
Willie B was posting a 4.8 RC/27 with Seattle in 2008.
This was their OVERALL total.
With Branyan, we're discussing how good/bad he is when disadvantaged.
His career picture says that he is mid-4s RC/27 producer in his WORST situations. This isn't a recommendation to start him over someone who can produce 5.0 against lefties. It's an acknowledgement that Branyan's production in this situation isn't a slam dunk call, (though this depends on the other options available).
My own belief is that part-time play has a suppressing effect on production. Branyan doesn't have 400 PAs against lefties in 10 years -- so I look at the .730 against lefties quizzically. I don't know what the reality is. Maybe more time against lefties could improve that to .760. Maybe, because of the small sample size, he's actually been lucky, and he's less than a .700 hitter against lefties.
I'm trying to acknowledge the doubt of assuming perfect knowledge of what a hitter is, when he's barely managed to get playing time for 10 years -- but has mostly averaged 6.0 and up RC/27 in the PT he's gotten. Ibanez RC/27 the past three years was: 6.4/6.0/6.1. Branyan posted a .75 for Milwaukee last season.
I'm wondering, if you let him produce his 4.5 against lefties, does it help keep him sharp against righties? I dunno. I don't think anyone CAN know -- until you give him a shot. Maybe trying to work on his game against lefties will hurt him against righties. (In 2002, his most active season against lefties - 62 PAs -- he posted an .841 OPS against lefties, while only managing a .764 against righties).
In point of fact, he posted a higher OPS against lefties than righties in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2006.
What does that tell us about 2009? Not much -- other than his actual production does NOT indicate a slam-dunk-hopeless-against-lefties reality.
Ultimately, he's an UGLY, but effective, hitter. And based on my knowledge of the game, it is actually the fact that he's an ugly hitter, (.230/.330/.480) that has kept him on the bench. Managers don't like hitters who whiff a lot. Managers don't like low BAs, (**REGARDLESS OF OBP**). And the fans have grown up with the same bias. Striking out "feels" like more of a failure than grounding out to second. But, Seattle assembled an entire team of guys incredibly proficient in grounding out to second.
In truth, the sabr guys seem to like the TTO guys on paper a LOT more than they like them when forced to watch.