deward

No question? If you say so; I have a lot of questions myself. Which pitchers? Kremer? Wells? Cano? And how were they helped out in a way that didn't help out opposing pitchers just as much? Is this the argument that without the security blanket of a giant left field that they all would have mentally melted and never recovered the first time they gave up a cheap home run? The pitching didn't just improve, the bad pitchers from before 2022 were mostly replaced. The only significant holdovers from the 2021 staff are Means (already good), Kremer (a rookie), Wells (a Rule V rookie who pitched pretty well in the pen), Akin (bombing out of the rotation), and Tate (first full year, was so-so). Tate didn't pitch last year, Means barely did, and Akin was terrible, so it's really just Kremer and Wells for last year's team. Wells looks like the same guy to me as he did in 2021, so I guess the argument would be that Kremer doesn't improve from his rookie year without the wall? Everyone else is new since then, so I would argue that the turnover in personnel is the real difference maker, and the wall being moved back at the same time is very much a coincidence.

I don't see it, at all. The pitching staff has been nearly completely rebuilt since 2021. Bradish and Rodriguez (the 2nd half version) would have been good pitchers anywhere last year. They might have given up a few extra home runs, but so would the opposing staffs. It just made the numbers on their baseball cards look a little better. Good pitchers with good coaching don't need a gimmicky park to be successful.

I disagree, a good team is a good team. Changing the park dimensions doesn't make a team better or worse, it's a superficial change.

The roster getting more talented had nothing to do with it? Would the record have been worse last year without it?

I'm old enough to remember when Elias was hailed as a genius for moving the LF wall back to the Bromo-Seltzer Tower and stacking the org with LHH. I do worry about being too lefty-heavy; although I think that is likely to be a much more glaring issue during a short playoff series than during the regular season. I guess you have to hope the Kjerstad and Holiday prove to be platoon-neutral, and that Gunnar continues to make strides against LHP. It's also worth noting that Basallo murdered lefties last year.

And the weather looks terrible for the game I have tickets to (Thursday). Figures.

He looks to me to be having a similar issue to last year, where he's barreling plenty of baseballs, but the ones he pulls are getting pounded into the ground and the ones he gets in the air are going to the big part of the park. I was actually happy to see him hit one to the wall in left yesterday; even though it got caught, it was at least a well struck fly ball that he pulled. I imagine that he'll figure it out.

It didn't "need" to go back, Elias just preferred it.

You could say the exact same thing about pitchers under the old configuration. The idea that the wall was going to have a dramatic impact on free agency one way or another was always far-fetched.

I think the "iron sharpens iron" cliche is pretty much meaningless. Most pro athletes got to the big leagues by being very competitive. I don't think very many of them are holding back from some higher level of performance that they will magically access once they feel pressure from below. Irvin will be the one to go, because he's the least talented of the group.

"Babying pitchers isn't working, so we've decided to try something new. From now on, I'm going to ride everyone like I'm a 90s college baseball coach. No idea how long any of you will hold up, we're just throwing stuff against the wall to see what sticks at this point."

No chance that went 23 feet further than the one Mayo hit last night.

Visual evidence...definitely looked longer.

It wouldn't be my preferred plan, but that's what the behavior up to this point seems to suggest. I'd have traded Hays and Urias this offseason. I'm good with Mullins until a replacement is ready, although I'd be open to a stronger platoon partner if he doesn't get back on track vs LHP. I think Santander means a lot to this team, and I'd be open to the concept of a 3-4 year extension (especially if they can identify the next Cole Ragans and trade Kjerstad for him).

For Holliday and Mayo, sure, but I'm not as convinced about the others. I think a big factor is also that Elias is inherently very conservative about these decisions. He's made it pretty clear that he doesn't like having more than one rookie trying to get his feet under him in the big league lineup at once. I think he also likes the relatively safe, predictable outcomes that the vets give him in a year where he expects to contend. I can't recall an instance of Elias dumping or benching a productive vet to make room for anyone (unless you count Frazier as productive). Based on what we've seen, I expect him to let Santander/Hays/Mullins all play out their contracts, then replace them with the prospects one at a time.

Feels cruel and unusual to me.

Perhaps, but they've also been posting some impressive EVs.

I hurled while sleeping once....it was not awesome.

Cowser won't contend for any gold gloves in CF, but a team could definitely live with him out there every day.

The mix of all types of wins is what makes watching fun over the course of a season. The drama of an intense nail-biter is great, and walk-offs are euphoric, but a good romp (especially over a good opponent) is always a good time. The dramatic walk-offs tend to be what we remember, but I want a balance of all types over 162 games.

I imagine he'd say he always takes the best player available. A quick glance at the 2019 draft doesn't show me a combo better than Adley and Gunnar. Picking Adley and then getting a rough equivalent of Witt a round later had to be the best case scenario.

Westburg hit that one pretty well.