Elias makes two things clear; 1st base and Irvin

[emmett16]

8 hours ago, Frobby said:

I’m impressed that @wildcardwill admit it when the evidence goes against a couple of his theories.  Now I’m wondering if Elias calling Ortiz a “defensive wizard” and GRod predicting Ortiz will win a couple of Gold Gloves is enough to convince him that Ortiz is probably a better defensive SS than Gunnar.   

Personally, I don’t share Elias’ craving for a LH bat at 1B, unless it’s a really good LH bat.   In his career, O’Hearn has a .716 OPS vs.  RHP.   There are plenty of RH hitters who can do better than that, so who cares if he’s left-handed?
 

The short porch in right field I imagine.  The lefty can luck into some OPS in RF, the righty not so much in LF.    If we are dumpster diving they have to live in the margins, I suppose. 

[HakunaSakata]

37 minutes ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

Playing in a stadium with tiny dimensions totally prevents a team from signing top free agents pitchers.  Look at the Yankees.

I can't give rep, but for what it's worth you literally made me LOL. Nicely done. 

[owknows]

7 hours ago, HakunaSakata said:

Perhaps they could have just tried to develop BOTH pitchers and hitters as opposed to ruining the aesthetics and charm of the best ballpark in baseball? I mean, look at the Reds. The play in a bandbox and they have a TON of great young arms in their system. And it's not like Elias didn't know the dimensions of the ballpark when he took the job. 

Gotta agree that they put some ugly into Camden Yards with the wall change. Even if they wanted to pull it back a bit... could have been done much better.

That said... the change has probably had a net positive effect. Most of the staff didn't really show much of a change... but a close look at road/home splits year over year shows a few benefited quite a bit. I suspect that some of the guys that maybe pitched a little gunshy because of previous HR problems were more comfortable just throwing strikes.

All of that said.. and to your point, the makeup of a club ebbs and flows... and what is beneficial today might be harmful tomorrow. You're probably better off not sculpting the park to a team that will be different every couple years.

Edited February 4, 2023 by owknows

[Can_of_corn]

5 minutes ago, owknows said:

Gotta agree that they put some ugly into Camden Yards with the wall change. Even if they wanted to pull it back a bit... could have been done much better.

That said... the change has probably had a net positive effect. Most of the staff didn't really show much of a change... but a close look at road/home splits year over year shows a few benefited quite a bit. I suspect that some of the guys that maybe pitched a little gunshy because of previous HR problems were more comfortable just throwing strikes.

All of that said.. and to your point, the makeup of a club ebbs and flows... and what is beneficial today might be harmful tomorrow. You're probably better off not sculpting the park to a team that will be different every couple years.

I think that as much as it helps the pitching it will hinder the offense and the net result will be a wash.

 

[owknows]

27 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I think that as much as it helps the pitching it will hinder the offense and the net result will be a wash.

 

Ultimately you'd have to think that this observation will prove true.

But I think you could make a case that it helped last year.

A weak case... but a case.

[Can_of_corn]

7 minutes ago, owknows said:

Ultimately you'd have to think that this observation will prove true.

But I think you could make a case that it helped last year.

A weak case... but a case.

Didn't the O's hitters lose more HR than visiting teams did last year?

Now of course that is only one stat but yea, it certainly is a mixed bag despite how the team might want to spin it.

[rm5678]

13 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Didn't the O's hitters lose more HR than visiting teams did last year?

Now of course that is only one stat but yea, it certainly is a mixed bag despite how the team might want to spin it.

Mancini and Mountcastle were not fans of the new LF wall last year. Neither was Aaron Judge, but that's another story.

[HakunaSakata]

The one thing that's interesting about the strategy of altering the ballpark to better accommodate mediocre pitchers is that it doesn't take into account the fact that they still have to pitch half of their games on the road. And the whole idea of our motivation for the modification also being to better attract good free agent pitchers doesn't seem to hold much water either since we don't seem to be willing to pay the going rate for any credible pitchers anyway.  And as someone else pointed out, there's also the negative effect of offense suppression on the team. 10 years from now I have a feeling we're going to look back on the ballpark change as a failed gimmicky short cut that didn't work. I guess time will tell though...

[wildcard]

14 minutes ago, HakunaSakata said:

The one thing that's interesting about the strategy of altering the ballpark to better accommodate mediocre pitchers is that it doesn't take into account the fact that they still have to pitch half of their games on the road. And the whole idea of our motivation for the modification also being to better attract good free agent pitchers doesn't seem to hold much water either since we don't seem to be willing to pay the going rate for any credible pitchers anyway.  And as someone else pointed out, there's also the negative effect of offense suppression on the team. 10 years from now I have a feeling we're going to look back on the ballpark change as a failed gimmicky short cut that didn't work. I guess time will tell though...

Elias said that they are planning a renovation of Camden Yard which may change the configuration of the park again.  

[PHRESH]

15 hours ago, wildcard said:

 

2) Cole Irvin is in the rotation.    Its being handed to him.  He does not have to earn it.    I take it that its settled, Irvin will be in rotation on March 30 for the beginning of the season.  His two seasons in the majors and the 180 IP are what seems to matter.

His 5.26 ERA outside the Oakland Coliseum does not.   I remain skeptical he can hold the starting spot over Wells and Voth into May.   But I protest too much.  Time to sit back and watch what happens with Irvin.

Voth wasn't special before Baltimore. I'm excited to see if Irvin can also make some improvements all while piling up IP. 

[HakunaSakata]

4 minutes ago, PHRESH said:

Voth wasn't special before Baltimore. I'm excited to see if Irvin can also make some improvements all while piling up IP. 

Irvin is 29 years old...at this point I think he pretty much is what he is. 

[emmett16]

14 minutes ago, PHRESH said:

Voth wasn't special before Baltimore. I'm excited to see if Irvin can also make some improvements all while piling up IP. 

I’m mostly excited to watch a quick worker.  My favorite type of pitcher.  And as my dad always said about golf “if your gonna be awful, be awful quickly”.  Loosely applies to pitchers as well.  Working slow and throwing balls is beyond brutal to watch.  

[HakunaSakata]

11 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

I’m mostly excited to watch a quick worker.  My favorite type of pitcher.  And as my dad always said about golf “if you're gonna be awful, be awful quickly”.  Loosely applies to pitchers as well.  Working slow and throwing balls is beyond brutal to watch.  

Words to live by.

[Aristotelian]

59 minutes ago, HakunaSakata said:

The one thing that's interesting about the strategy of altering the ballpark to better accommodate mediocre pitchers is that it doesn't take into account the fact that they still have to pitch half of their games on the road. And the whole idea of our motivation for the modification also being to better attract good free agent pitchers doesn't seem to hold much water either since we don't seem to be willing to pay the going rate for any credible pitchers anyway.  And as someone else pointed out, there's also the negative effect of offense suppression on the team. 10 years from now I have a feeling we're going to look back on the ballpark change as a failed gimmicky short cut that didn't work. I guess time will tell though...

I'm pretty sure Elias is aware they play on the road. 

[HakunaSakata]

6 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

I'm pretty sure Elias is aware they play on the road. 

Is he also aware that Kyle Gibson and Cole Irvin are probably going to turn back into pumpkins for 81 games this season? There's no scenario where this team contends with sh*tty pitching, no matter how far back they move the fences.