Left field at OPACY going through a big change

[NCRaven]

30' deeper and 12' fences should mean more doubles along with the fewer home runs.  Maybe even more triples.

[connja]

24 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Idk how shortsighted this move is but we obviously have put a heavy emphasis on drafting hitting, so the pitching has to come from somewhere. This could help attract FA pitching. 

Plus most of our top hitting prospects are lefties who won't be impacted.  

[connja]

Gonna need speed in the OF - less likely we trade Cedric.

[Frobby]

The change certainly will put a premium on having a rangy left fielder.   Good for Hays, who can cover a good bit of ground.   

[BohKnowsBmore]

21 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

It’s a good time to do it. We get a season’s worth of data to present to FA SP just as our window starts to creep open. 

Honestly, if there's a single reason for this to point to, I think it has more to do with symbolically ushering in a new era of Orioles baseball (and making the park more balanced overall) rather than something as immediately-focused as catering to makeup of the team or attracting FA pitchers.

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, BohKnowsBmore said:

Honestly, if there's a single reason for this to point to, I think it has more to do with symbolically ushering in a new era of Orioles baseball (and making the park more balanced overall) rather than something as immediately-focused as catering to makeup of the team or attracting FA pitchers.

I think it has to do with lowering seating capacity and spending the MSA money on park improvements.

 

An interesting article that came out on Monday.

https://www.fieldofschemes.com/2022/01/10/18377/orioles-seek-taxpayer-money-for-camden-yards-upgrades-to-allow-mingling/

[BohKnowsBmore]

2 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I think it has to do with lowering seating capacity and spending the MSA money on park improvements.

 

An interesting article that came out on Monday.

https://www.fieldofschemes.com/2022/01/10/18377/orioles-seek-taxpayer-money-for-camden-yards-upgrades-to-allow-mingling/

This site clearly has a specific POV (i.e. "field of schemes"), and I understand that many people who study these things consider public financing to be a bad deal (although I would argue that it's hard to capture certain benefits in analysis), but OPACY has to be on the pretty far right-hand side of the distribution for how publicly-financed stadiums worked out, right?

Put another way, does the Maryland Stadium Authority / state government regret paying for OPACY one bit? Considering that it was the centerpiece of the harbor revitalization, a crown jewel stadium, etc.?

Quote

And after the state of Maryland got snookered into paying the entire $110 million construction cost back when building the stadium in 1992, state officials are determined not to let that happen again ha ha ha ha no, of course they’re looking at piling even more public money onto the Angelos family in exchange for a lease extension.

 

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, BohKnowsBmore said:

This site clearly has a specific POV (i.e. "field of schemes"), and I understand that many people who study these things consider public financing to be a bad deal (although I would argue that it's hard to capture certain benefits in analysis), but OPACY has to be on the pretty far right-hand side of the distribution for how publicly-financed stadiums worked out, right?

Put another way, does the Maryland Stadium Authority / state government regret paying for OPACY one bit? Considering that it was the centerpiece of the harbor revitalization, a crown jewel stadium, etc.?

 

I completely agree that they have a specific POV and they do not shy away from that.  I was not presenting it as anything other than what it is.

As for your question, I'm not going to reply because I'd be encroaching upon the boards no politics rules.

[interloper]

Elias and his team understand that in order to compete in the AL East, they have to try everything they can. They have to re-open neglected avenues of talent, they have to invest in new methods and technologies in development,  they have to hire a bunch of very capable and smart people, they have to draft high for awhile and draft well, etc.

So why shouldn't they look at the physical place where they play half their games and use their analytics to change that as well? It's not going to have a huge effect, but it's going to provide a fairer venue for the games and help protect (somewhat) against right-handed hitters - the majority of hitters. It certainly doesn't hurt your pitchers either, and the detrimental effect on your batters will be (one assumes) less than the positive effect on your pitchers. But more than that it starts to change the perception of Camden Yards, which is critical. It's a constant topic, and one that O's GMs have openly acknowledged. Pitchers don't want to sign here! Especially guys who are looking for make-good years. This won't fix that overnight, but it's important to show people that they're making it more pitcher friendly. 

Every little bit helps, and it's encouraging that this brain trust understands that. They don't care about tradition for the sake of it. The data shows Camden Yards is an absolute outlier. It's ok to be hitter-friendly, but not this hitter-friendly, not when the odds are this stacked already. It's a correction that has long been needed. 

[NCRaven]

These changes seem like a sign that a long-term lease agreement is likely to be reached.

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, interloper said:

Elias and his team understand that in order to compete in the AL East, they have to try everything they can. They have to re-open neglected avenues of talent, they have to invest in new methods and technologies in development,  they have to hire a bunch of very capable and smart people, they have to draft high for awhile and draft well, etc.

So why shouldn't they look at the physical place where they play half their games and use their analytics to change that as well? It's not going to have a huge effect, but it's going to provide a fairer venue for the games and help protect (somewhat) against right-handed hitters - the majority of hitters. It certainly doesn't hurt your pitchers either, and the detrimental effect on your batters will be (one assumes) less than the positive effect on your pitchers. But more than that it starts to change the perception of Camden Yards, which is critical. It's a constant topic, and one that O's GMs have openly acknowledged. Pitchers don't want to sign here! Especially guys who are looking for make-good years. This won't fix that overnight, but it's important to show people that they're making it more pitcher friendly. 

Every little bit helps, and it's encouraging that this brain trust understands that. They don't care about tradition for the sake of it. The data shows Camden Yards is an absolute outlier - it's ok to be hitter-friendly, but not this hitter-friendly, not when the odds are this stacked already. It's a correction that has long been needed. Just like the correction with analytics and international. 

You think it does?

https://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/parkfactor

I don't think it's far enough out of the norm, by the data, to be considered "an absolute outlier".

[Ripken]

Good.  Always seemed so short to the LF power alley.  That little 364 certainly helped Cal back in the day.

[interloper]

11 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

You think it does?

https://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/parkfactor

I don't think it's far enough out of the norm, by the data, to be considered "an absolute outlier".

That's what the O's said their analytics found. That it's an outlier. 

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

I doubt this move is as shortsighted as moving the fences to accommodate the current makeup of the team.   I see it as a long term move to balance the pitching and the hitting.  They aren’t going to change this every five years based on what the team happens to look like.

Personally, 30 feet seems pretty drastic to me.   I would have preferred 15 or 20.   
 

50.  I want 50+.  It's way overdue to make modern ballparks match modern players.  We've been racing F1 cars in Safeway parking lots for 30 years.  Now we've moved up to a mall parking lot.

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, interloper said:

That's what the O's said their analytics found. That it's an outlier. 

Word definitions are fluid and they have incentive to say what they said.

Going by the data we have, do you think it's "an absolute outlier" or simply hitting friendly?

I lean toward the later.  To me an absolute outlier is what Coors field was back in the day.

 

For the record I'm fine with the change, I just think it has to do with things beyond simply making it harder to hit a home run.