I'm puzzled how a short stem can be a handling problem (as alluded to by the OP) if Albatross bars handle fine. They seem to - people love them.

Seems to me the albatross is functionally identical to a short stem, in that the same mechanical effect would be had with a bar shaped like an I and zero-length stem. It's kind of irrelevant that there is stem and bar out forward, when all that counts mechanically is the hand position relative to the pivot.

I have an albatross coming and I'm itching to get it - since my position on a straight bar is too low and forward right now... I'll see what the handling difference is.