Mike Mussina’s comments on the new wall in LF

[Sports Guy]

10 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

Elias with one of the most out of the box moves any GM has ever made, and it's based on math. 

He's not a normal GM. It's time to give him his due. Even his waiting on promotions now is because he's thinking beyond the now. It's definitely arguable, but I respect his long term approach. 10 good years are coming if he sticks around.

Well, Elias didn’t know the offense was also going to be down on top of the wall and it has hurt his own offense.

His reasoning for doing it was to make the park more neutral for homers but he thought there would still be a lot of runs scored.

He was actually wrong about that. Park factor for runs scored is 25th. For doubles it’s 28th. For triples it’s 21st.  13th for hits overall.

I think the offense has been even harder to come by than Elias thought.

What will be interesting is if the big reason (at least what he seemed to emphasize the most) he did this, attracting pitching, will come to fruition this offseason.

[LookinUp]

I find it very difficult to believe that Elias changed the wall so the O's can spend on free agent pitching. In fact, I'd wager that was one of the least important outcomes to Elias.

I think it's much more likely that he did it so our own pitchers can be successful and in an effort to create a legitimate homefield advantage by building a team that fits our park and doesn't get hurt in other parks.

[Sports Guy]

28 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

I find it very difficult to believe that Elias changed the wall so the O's can spend on free agent pitching. In fact, I'd wager that was one of the least important outcomes to Elias.

I think it's much more likely that he did it so our own pitchers can be successful and in an effort to create a legitimate homefield advantage by building a team that fits our park and doesn't get hurt in other parks.

It’s all of it.  Unless you think Elias was lying and does lie when he talks about it, the idea of being able to attract pitching is important here.  Sure, it’s also to help his pitching but at the same time you help your pitching, you also hurt your hitting.  There is a trade off there.

[deward]

9 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

It’s all of it.  Unless you think Elias was lying and does lie when he talks about it, the idea of being able to attract pitching is important here.  Sure, it’s also to help his pitching but at the same time you help your pitching, you also hurt your hitting.  There is a trade off there.

I think that, if Elias truly believes that changing the park dimensions is going to be an important factor in convincing significant free agent pitchers to sign here, then he has fooled himself. A competitive team offering competitive market rates will sign pitchers, regardless of where the wall is. Peter Angelos has been the primary deterrent to signing big-name pitchers over the past 30 years, not the park (and the fact that the team has been bad more often than not). 

[Sports Guy]

1 hour ago, deward said:

I think that, if Elias truly believes that changing the park dimensions is going to be an important factor in convincing significant free agent pitchers to sign here, then he has fooled himself. A competitive team offering competitive market rates will sign pitchers, regardless of where the wall is. Peter Angelos has been the primary deterrent to signing big-name pitchers over the past 30 years, not the park (and the fact that the team has been bad more often than not). 

He’s not a fool at all for thinking that.  While I agree with your point about being good and offering the right money, if all things are equal, players  would have gone to an easier division and easier park to pitch in.  Remember, they sign one contract but will always be thinking about the next one.  

[drdelaware]

The Orioles should be putting an absolute premium on left handed hitters in the lineup from now on.  Play to your home park a little.

I don't post much but I've stated that I love the new wall.  All these jacked up hitters for years hitting flyballs that had no business being HR's.  I'd rather see more balls in play.  Want a HR?  Earn it.

[deward]

2 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

He’s not a fool at all for thinking that.  While I agree with your point about being good and offering the right money, if all things are equal, players  would have gone to an easier division and easier park to pitch in.  Remember, they sign one contract but will always be thinking about the next one.  

I don't know that I agree. Everyone likes to say that pitchers want to avoid the AL East, but NY/TOR/BOS haven't seemed to struggle to convince them to sign. And those aren't very pitcher friendly parks (new Yankee Stadium in particular is every bit the bandbox old Camden Yards was). Being consistently in the running for the World Series and having deep pockets usually trumps everything else. Elias isn't getting anyone to agree to a sweetheart deal because the wall got moved, he's going to have to pony up just like everyone else does.

[deward]

The big disadvantages that have caused issues in the past, that hopefully Elias won't have to deal with, are a) the stigma of being viewed as non-competitive with the big boys in the division, and b) meddling from on high. The first one is hopefully well on the way to being solved, we'll see about the second.