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04/23/2003 Archived Entry: "Today's MLB News: The Great America Smallpark"
Today's MLB News by Eric Gartman
Today's MLB News: The Great America Smallpark: The Reds new stadium, The Great America Ballpark, has opened to mediocre reviews. Although its a step over the cookie-cutter Riverfront Stadium, apparantly its not in the same league as the other recent parks that have opened. One of the criticized features includes the small dimensions, and subsequent large number of home runs, leading some to call it the Great America Smallpark. But the absurdly small dimensions are no accident; Fans like the power game. Ever since Camden Yards opened in 1992 with fairly small dimensions, most of the new parks have featured homer-friendly fences to attract more fans. This includes parks in places like Baltimore, Cleveland, Arlington, Milwaukee, Houston, and Pittsburgh. But teams like the Reds are actually going to play a high price for playing in such cozy confines: Too much offense burns out your pitching staff.
The best example to illustrate this point is one of the few teams that went in the opposite direction. The Seattle Mariners moved from the homer-happy Kingdome in 1999 to spacious Safeco Field, with immediate results. Lou Pinella said for years that the intimate dimensions of the Kingdome burned out his pitchers. Moving into Safeco finally gave the pitching staff a chance to pitch without being blown out of the game. With a better rested pitching staff, the Mariners have had great results, being the top winner in baseball over the past three years. The large dimensions of Safeco also have other advantages. With most teams built only on power, the Mariners have built their outfield on speed. This allows them to chase down more balls in Safeco's large alleys, while other teams struggle. Furthermore, unlike in other parks, power isn't the sole determinant of offense in Seattle. The Mariners speedy outfielders have the added benefit of stealing bases. Ichiro led the league with 56 in 2001, while Mark McLemore was fourth with 39, and Mike Cameron had 34. The speedy Randy Winn may also steal quite a few for them in 2003. The Mariners have had power to along with this speed, but most teams these days don't. But in a park where runs are tough to come by, its a big advantage. Another team that moved into a large park, the SF Giants, have had even better results, with the best home record since 2000. Pac Bell Park is another pitchers park, but the Giants have not built their team around speed. Still, its hard to argue with results. The final team that has moved into a larger park, the Detroit Tigers have been terrible, but they were terrible before they moved as well. Furthermore, the Tigers have not been built to play in a large park, with an offense of old, immobile, former sluggers. If the Tigers add some speed in the outfield, they may improve. In the meantime, teams like the Reds and Brewers will struggle as their pitchers ERA balloons and their arms get sore by the fifth inning.
Replies: 2 comments
The Astros have been pretty good, but they were a good team before they moved into Enron as well. The real question is how much better would they be in a reasonably sized park? Oswalt and Miller can probably win anywhere, but for the average guys it is really tough. I also think that the troubles they had in their first year at Enron 2000 might have been due to the park size.
Posted by Eric Gartman @ 04/25/2003 11:47 PM EST
Interesting analysis. What about the Houston Astros? They've been pretty good despite playing in Ten-run field.
Posted by Jeff @ 04/23/2003 05:08 PM EST
