Left field at OPACY going through a big change

[deward]

On 1/15/2022 at 12:49 AM, ExileAngelos said:

Come on dude.  364 power alley was a joke.  That was obvious the day the park opened.  Routine deep fly balls to that area will now be caught or off that 13 foot wall.  I absolutely love it.

Nothing about how the park has played over the past 30 years has ever bothered me. The only joke has been the recent pitching staffs. 

[Moose Milligan]

3 hours ago, forphase1 said:

I'm not sure about it being illogical, but I'm not sure how much of an impact it makes.  IF you were a top flight pitching free agent, you likely have numerous teams you could sign with, the Orioles among them.  Unless Baltimore was willing to overspend, which certainly hasn't been case lately outside of Chris Davis and maybe Trumbo, why go to a team where your numbers will be inflated due to the ballpark?  Sure, those in the 'know' are smart enough to adjust for park variables when evaluating talent, but I'm confident 99 out of 100 pitchers would rather the back of their baseball card to read a 3.50 ERA instead of a 3.90 ERA, or it to show they only gave up 15 home runs instead of 25.  It may not matter a great deal, but when a pitcher is evaluating two similar contracts, those sort of things could be the deciding factor.  And I certainly don't have any idea how much we'd have to overpay to overcome those objections.  If a pitcher were were interested was deciding between Baltimore or another team, both offering say 3/45M, how much above that would we have to go to entice that player?  I'm not sure the answer, and of course it may vary from player to player.  At the end of the day I think it only matters in the margins, so to speak, but those margins can sometimes make a big difference.  Clearly its a great enough issue that we were willing to make a change, and I'm sure it's not exactly cheap, even if the money isn't coming directly from the Orioles.

If all things on contracts are similar, I'm assuming they'd go with who the better overall team is with the best chance of winning.  

While all the things about pitching in OPACY are true, I think the biggest factor, by far, is that this team has largely been ****ty for many years.  

[Moose Milligan]

Also, let's be honest here.

The city matters.  And I'm not saying that Baltimore is a terrible place because it's obviously attracted some high quality free agents over the years.

But it can't hang with a place like San Diego.  

Does anyone think a free agent pitcher is going to worry about a wall configuration instead of the actual city?

[Can_of_corn]

6 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Also, let's be honest here.

The city matters.  And I'm not saying that Baltimore is a terrible place because it's obviously attracted some high quality free agents over the years.

But it can't hang with a place like San Diego.  

Does anyone think a free agent pitcher is going to worry about a wall configuration instead of the actual city?

For some guys the reputation the O's have with player physicals is probably more of a deal breaker than the outfield wall.

Yea, teams aren't supposed to say anything but it can't be good for a player to fail a physical.

[Hallas]

3 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

Also, let's be honest here.

The city matters.  And I'm not saying that Baltimore is a terrible place because it's obviously attracted some high quality free agents over the years.

But it can't hang with a place like San Diego.  

Does anyone think a free agent pitcher is going to worry about a wall configuration instead of the actual city?

I really disagree with you here.  You spend 2 months in Florida or Arizona.  You live in your team's city for 6 months from spring to fall, during which the weather in most places ranges from decent to great.  You spend half of those 6 months traveling to nearly  every major city in the country. And you get a day off only once every 2 weeks, and half of those off days are really travel days.

 

Plus, you can have your offseason home wherever the hell you want.  I don't think that for a lot of players that is the same city as the team they play for.

 

Maybe it matters for the smallest metro areas, or with northern midwest teams like the Brewers or twins that have really awful weather at the beginning and end of the seasons, but I don't think Baltimore qualifies here, because we're ranked 20th in metro area size and we largely share a metro area with DC.  And we're not in the northern Midwest.

 

I think that maybe, *maybe* the largest markets present more endorsement money.  But San Diego doesn't really qualify here.  Maybe LA, or NY.

 

I think it's more about management and whether the team can pay.

[forphase1]

34 minutes ago, Hallas said:

I really disagree with you here.  You spend 2 months in Florida or Arizona.  You live in your team's city for 6 months from spring to fall, during which the weather in most places ranges from decent to great.  You spend half of those 6 months traveling to nearly  every major city in the country. And you get a day off only once every 2 weeks, and half of those off days are really travel days.

 

Plus, you can have your offseason home wherever the hell you want.  I don't think that for a lot of players that is the same city as the team they play for.

 

Maybe it matters for the smallest metro areas, or with northern midwest teams like the Brewers or twins that have really awful weather at the beginning and end of the seasons, but I don't think Baltimore qualifies here, because we're ranked 20th in metro area size and we largely share a metro area with DC.  And we're not in the northern Midwest.

 

I think that maybe, *maybe* the largest markets present more endorsement money.  But San Diego doesn't really qualify here.  Maybe LA, or NY.

 

I think it's more about management and whether the team can pay.

Weather is only part of the consideration when you weigh cities against each other.  Right or not and fair or not, Baltimore has established a reputation recently for not being a very safe or friendly city.  The player himself may not care a great deal as you said they are often busy and traveling and the like.  But for many players their families also get a residence close to the home city during the season, and that could certainly factor into places that a free agent would want to sign.  

[Moose Milligan]

7 hours ago, Hallas said:

I really disagree with you here.  You spend 2 months in Florida or Arizona.  You live in your team's city for 6 months from spring to fall, during which the weather in most places ranges from decent to great.  You spend half of those 6 months traveling to nearly  every major city in the country. And you get a day off only once every 2 weeks, and half of those off days are really travel days.

 

Plus, you can have your offseason home wherever the hell you want.  I don't think that for a lot of players that is the same city as the team they play for.

 

Maybe it matters for the smallest metro areas, or with northern midwest teams like the Brewers or twins that have really awful weather at the beginning and end of the seasons, but I don't think Baltimore qualifies here, because we're ranked 20th in metro area size and we largely share a metro area with DC.  And we're not in the northern Midwest.

 

I think that maybe, *maybe* the largest markets present more endorsement money.  But San Diego doesn't really qualify here.  Maybe LA, or NY.

 

I think it's more about management and whether the team can pay.

Well, i disagree with you.

6 months isn't exactly a small stretch of time.  Sure, you have to travel, but your city is your base.

Endorsement money?  It's not the 60s anymore.  It doesn't matter where you play.  Fernando Tatis was on the cover of MLB The Show last year.  

I'm just going to say it, Baltimore's not a great city.  I know a lot of Baltimoreans have an inferiority complex about the city due to being wedged between DC and Philly and NYC.  All of those cities have much more to offer than Baltimore.  

You can have your offseason home anywhere you want, but wouldn't you want to make it simpler, especially if you have kids?  Why go through the stress and the inconvenience of playing in a city like Baltimore when your offseason home is in a better area?  Makes no sense.

Feel free to disagree all you want but if anyone wants to be objective about Baltimore being a great place to live compared to other cities, I think they'd admit that it ranks low compared to other cities.  

But Fells Point!!!!!111

[Sports Guy]

7 hours ago, forphase1 said:

Weather is only part of the consideration when you weigh cities against each other.  Right or not and fair or not, Baltimore has established a reputation recently for not being a very safe or friendly city.  The player himself may not care a great deal as you said they are often busy and traveling and the like.  But for many players their families also get a residence close to the home city during the season, and that could certainly factor into places that a free agent would want to sign.  

Every major city is unsafe and crappy. There are also great parts to every major city including Baltimore.

But if you are given your choice of where to live and money is no object(as it is with most of these guys), I don’t see how anyone can choose Baltimore, or Maryland for that matter, as the place they want to live.

 

[LTO's]

17 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Feel free to disagree all you want but if anyone wants to be objective about Baltimore being a great place to live compared to other cities, I think they'd admit that it ranks low compared to other cities.  

I won't disagree with you necessarily but I don't think it matters really all that much when it comes to signing FA.  There are areas in Maryland (and the city) that are extremely wealthy. The players live in those areas just like they would live in those areas in Detroit, Chicago etc. etc. You don't see players like Javy Baez taking significantly less money to go play for the Marlins or Diamondbacks or wherever people think are such great places to live.  

I will say, living in the city (coincidentally near a few players), I find it pretty hysterical the way some people on here talk about the area. You can tell immediately who doesn't go to games or to South Baltimore in general by the way they talk about it. 

[Moose Milligan]

14 minutes ago, LTO's said:

I won't disagree with you necessarily but I don't think it matters really all that much when it comes to signing FA.  There are areas in Maryland (and the city) that are extremely wealthy. The players live in those areas just like they would live in those areas in Detroit, Chicago etc. etc. You don't see players like Javy Baez taking significantly less money to go play for the Marlins or Diamondbacks or wherever people think are such great places to live.  

I will say, living in the city (coincidentally near a few players), I find it pretty hysterical the way some people on here talk about the area. You can tell immediately who doesn't go to games or to South Baltimore in general by the way they talk about it. 

I agree, there's wealthy places to live in any area.  

But if it's even money, where do you think a player would go?  And no one said anything about taking less to go play in a nice place.  If it's still even money, I don't see a player picking Baltimore...and the outfield fences have nothing to do with that.

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I agree, there's wealthy places to live in any area.  

But if it's even money, where do you think a player would go?  And no one said anything about taking less to go play in a nice place.  If it's still even money, I don't see a player picking Baltimore...and the outfield fences have nothing to do with that.

I guess it depends on what the other options are.  

[Moose Milligan]

4 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I guess it depends on what the other options are.  

 

Just about anywhere, really.  

[LTO's]

6 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

But if it's even money, where do you think a player would go? 

Right now, elsewhere. If the Orioles build themselves into a contender in the AL East this will be a very attractive place to play. The Ravens were not an attractive destination until they were. Had a lot more to do with consistently making the playoffs and getting guys paid a lot of money than living in Owings Mills and the surrounding areas. 

[wildcard]

58 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Well, i disagree with you.

6 months isn't exactly a small stretch of time.  Sure, you have to travel, but your city is your base.

Endorsement money?  It's not the 60s anymore.  It doesn't matter where you play.  Fernando Tatis was on the cover of MLB The Show last year.  

I'm just going to say it, Baltimore's not a great city.  I know a lot of Baltimoreans have an inferiority complex about the city due to being wedged between DC and Philly and NYC.  All of those cities have much more to offer than Baltimore.  

You can have your offseason home anywhere you want, but wouldn't you want to make it simpler, especially if you have kids?  Why go through the stress and the inconvenience of playing in a city like Baltimore when your offseason home is in a better area?  Makes no sense.

Feel free to disagree all you want but if anyone wants to be objective about Baltimore being a great place to live compared to other cities, I think they'd admit that it ranks low compared to other cities.  

But Fells Point!!!!!111

Don't most players with kids live in the counties?

[forphase1]

57 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Every major city is unsafe and crappy. There are also great parts to every major city including Baltimore.

But if you are given your choice of where to live and money is no object(as it is with most of these guys), I don’t see how anyone can choose Baltimore, or Maryland for that matter, as the place they want to live.

 

Sure, every major city is unsafe and crappy.  But some appear or are perceived as being more unsafe and more crappy.    Unfortunately Baltimore is currently one of those.