Elias makes two things clear; 1st base and Irvin

[waroriole]

1 hour ago, sportsfan8703 said:

These are both great points. In a way, their terrible Septembers allowed us to acquire them more cheaply. I think with a strong bullpen, and a winning mindset, will limit their workloads. 
 

Let’s face it, our bullpen allowed our SP last year to outperform anyone’s wildest predictions. We saw this same recipe with the DD teams. We have good bullpen and good SP depth. 
 

Workload management. Just like the NBA. Just like having two RBs in the NFL. 

Yeah maybe the plan is to limit Gibson’s innings late in the year if Means has returned. Even more so if we’re in contention and acquire a SP at the deadline. I think most teams are understanding the need for 7-8 SP over the course of a season, but we may start see them be more strategic with workload management. 

[wildcard]

5 minutes ago, waroriole said:

Yeah maybe the plan is to limit Gibson’s innings late in the year if Means has returned. Even more so if we’re in contention and acquire a SP at the deadline. I think most teams are understanding the need for 7-8 SP over the course of a season, but we may start see them be more strategic with workload management. 

The plan may be to trade Gibson at the deadline if Means and Hall are ready.

[deward]

On 2/4/2023 at 12:04 PM, ThisIsBirdland said:

Wow, lots of passion for stadium aesthetics! I'm usually pretty sensitive to those things and I really hardly even noticed it personally. Saying it "ruined" the aesthetics and charm strikes me as a bit over the top, but to each their own.

And sure, the front office could pass up on opportunities they think may give them a competitive advantage boost, but I'd prefer that they didn't if it actually yields results. Besides, it's not like teams don't move walls frequently.

There's no competitive advantage from moving a wall. Not unless they can move it between half-innings.

[deward]

On 2/4/2023 at 11:35 AM, DirtyBird said:

I will delete it myself if you can explain using a team who has to trade their ace and rebuild because they stink so bad is a reason to maintain stadium dimensions that handcuffs our organization.

Stadium dimensions weren't handcuffing the organization. They certainly weren't handcuffing it when the O's won the most games in the AL from 2012-2017. Lack of pitching talent/bad coaching was handcuffing the org.

[SpOkane]

2 hours ago, deward said:

There's no competitive advantage from moving a wall. Not unless they can move it between half-innings.

They could put this fencing in for every bottom half of the inning at the old dimensions and add a few hundred folding chairs. Maybe sell then as "Home Half Seats"

Enduro Mesh 150' Portable Temporary Outfield Fence Package - A15-969 | Anthem Sports (anthem-sports.com)

 

[ThisIsBirdland]

4 hours ago, deward said:

There's no competitive advantage from moving a wall. Not unless they can move it between half-innings.

So a lineup with 6+ regular LHBs won't have a higher competitive advantage in a park with a high/deep RF wall versus a lineup with 6+ RH batters? I'm not saying it's a massive game changer but over the course of a season I think it could have an effect.

[deward]

1 minute ago, ThisIsBirdland said:

So a lineup with 6+ regular LHBs won't have a higher competitive advantage in a park with a high/deep RF wall versus a lineup with 6+ RH batters? I'm not saying it's a massive game changer but over the course of a season I think it could have an effect.

Depends, are you putting together a lineup of LH pull hitters that will struggle against LHP? Is your opponent also LH heavy? How often will you find six good LHH, and do you cut yourself off from good RHH talent by being too myopic about it? Putting multiple factors in play usually results in an overall wash.

[Can_of_corn]

16 minutes ago, ThisIsBirdland said:

So a lineup with 6+ regular LHBs won't have a higher competitive advantage in a park with a high/deep RF wall versus a lineup with 6+ RH batters? I'm not saying it's a massive game changer but over the course of a season I think it could have an effect.

Depends on how good the LHB are.

I'll take a RHB over Odor's LHB.

[waroriole]

6 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Depends on how good the LHB are.

I'll take a RHB over Odor's LHB.

Something like Frazier and OHearn, right?

[ThisIsBirdland]

8 minutes ago, deward said:

Depends, are you putting together a lineup of LH pull hitters that will struggle against LHP? Is your opponent also LH heavy? How often will you find six good LHH, and do you cut yourself off from good RHH talent by being too myopic about it? Putting multiple factors in play usually results in an overall wash.

Yup all fair. Let's assume 70% of pitchers they face will be RHP. Majority of quality batters throughout the league are RH as well (+/-75%?)

As I said in the earlier posts, I just assume the fixation with consistently placing high draft capital into LHBs was possibly tied to the RF wall dimension changes. I think the Os are hoping that if their draft strategy works out, their lineup for 2025-2030 is built around Adley, Gunnar, Holliday, Cowser, Kjerstad, and Mullins, with Beavers and Stowers in the system too.

[Can_of_corn]

6 minutes ago, waroriole said:

Something like Frazier and OHearn, right?

Frazier has a career tOPS+ of 105 versus RHP.

O'Hearn is a bit better, but he's a 1B so the bar is higher and he's brutal against lefties.

Odor was at 103 for his career and 82 in 2022.

 

[HakunaSakata]

4 hours ago, deward said:

Stadium dimensions weren't handcuffing the organization. They certainly weren't handcuffing it when the O's won the most games in the AL from 2012-2017. Lack of pitching talent/bad coaching was handcuffing the org.

100%. And thinking a few extra feet in leftfield is going to fix their pitching talent problem seems pretty ridiculous. The only long term cheat code for bad pitching is to develop and/or sign better pitching. What Elias did in leftfield was like a balding man doing a comb over and trying to call it new hair growth. 

[deward]

1 hour ago, ThisIsBirdland said:

Yup all fair. Let's assume 70% of pitchers they face will be RHP. Majority of quality batters throughout the league are RH as well (+/-75%?)

As I said in the earlier posts, I just assume the fixation with consistently placing high draft capital into LHBs was possibly tied to the RF wall dimension changes. I think the Os are hoping that if their draft strategy works out, their lineup for 2025-2030 is built around Adley, Gunnar, Holliday, Cowser, Kjerstad, and Mullins, with Beavers and Stowers in the system too.

I suspect that you're correct about the draft strategy, I just struggle to understand how it makes long-term sense. Ok, let's assume a perfect world over the next five years, with all of those guys healthy and playing well....for the sake of argument, we'll assume that creates some notable advantage in home games beyond just the talent level. What happens when those guys leave? Are you really banking your entire strategy around finding another six guys, who just happen to be left-handed? 

[ThisIsBirdland]

41 minutes ago, deward said:

I suspect that you're correct about the draft strategy, I just struggle to understand how it makes long-term sense. Ok, let's assume a perfect world over the next five years, with all of those guys healthy and playing well....for the sake of argument, we'll assume that creates some notable advantage in home games beyond just the talent level. What happens when those guys leave? Are you really banking your entire strategy around finding another six guys, who just happen to be left-handed? 

I imagine they're viewing 2025-2030 as a long enough window to build towards for now.

The park was just too RH friendly before the change. With bringing in so many LHBs, might as well try to give a small boost to their value and give free agent pitchers a better chance to put up solid numbers. Others have commented on how it let our pitchers throw a bit more aggressively last year. If this ultimately results in a few more wins a year, I think it's worth it.

[deward]

12 hours ago, ThisIsBirdland said:

I imagine they're viewing 2025-2030 as a long enough window to build towards for now.

The park was just too RH friendly before the change. With bringing in so many LHBs, might as well try to give a small boost to their value and give free agent pitchers a better chance to put up solid numbers. Others have commented on how it let our pitchers throw a bit more aggressively last year. If this ultimately results in a few more wins a year, I think it's worth it.

I still come back to the question - was it too right-hand friendly in 2012-2017? In 2014 when they were arguably the best team in baseball? In 1997? Seems to me that it was only too right-hand friendly when they were trying to run out pitching staffs full of sub-par talent. I don't see a few more wins a year happening just because of the park.