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Good point. Let's examine three things, one strictly personal and the other two more objective.
I feel sick to run a great 3.000 cc engine at a very low speed. I know that modern engines are designed to run either way, but my feeling remains. This is a very personal concern I am aware of.
The other two points concern duration of the engine and consumption.
During the season I run more than 100 hours at less than 1.000/1.200 revs. That means that my precious engine will show in a few years a lot of hours and it will loose value, without considering an increased maintenance.
Last point is about consumption (my calculation is in liters, 1 gallon is about 3,78 liters): let's say that between 600 and 1.000/1.200 revs the engine takes in average about 6 liters per hour, or 600 liters per season.
Since petrol here in Italy is expensive (>1,7 Euro per liter) I am going to spend 1,7 Euro x 100 hours x 6 liters/hour = more or less 1.000 Euros = 1.200 USA Dollars.
The little 9.9 shows a ridicoulus consumptiom, so taking into account point 2 and 3 I think I will (partially) offset the cost of the new engine in a very few years. And...about point 1, I'll be happy (and this has a great value!)
Finally you could ask why I bought a big engine when I spend most of my time trolling tuna or other fishes. The answer is that my boat came with a Mercury 115 already installed and came at a very good price from the dealer.
Problem is that the 115 blew after 29 hours. Mercury did not accept to replace the whole engine, as I expected, so they replaced the block. But once repaired the engine was not the same as before, so I switched to 150 seeking better torque (btw Mercury replaced the 115 line in short).
So....you can agree or not agree, but discussion is often helpful.