The Snow Chief
08-22-2007, 10:33 PM
Based on the fact that the Reds play in a park with smaller dimensions, what do you think that means with respect to whether the team should emphasize pitching or power? I know the general rule is baseball is to emphasize pitching, what I am really getting at is whether that school of thought more or less true when playing in a smaller park.
When the park opened I thought it would be important to have a ton of sluggers here and outscore everyone (the leatherpants approach). I don't think I was looking at the issue the right way. I think it is the opposite. A slugger will be able to hit the ball out of any mlb park if they get a mistake pitch. Hitting deep shots is not necessary at GABP. GABP brings opens the door for players who are not known as sluggers to put up good numbers because they will get alot of "cheap" home runs that may be power alley outs or off the wall doubles in other parks. I think we are seeing this played out this year as our middle infield (SS and 2B) is on pace to hit over 50 homeruns.
I have come to the conclusion that GABP will require the Reds to focus more on pitching than if they played in an average park, because a slugger is going to hit a mistake out of any park but GABP opens the door up for many more players with less power to hit a mistake out. Therefore, I am not saying ignore the offense, but if I am running the team, I would be spending a greater percentage of money on pitching than league average.
Do you guys agree?
When the park opened I thought it would be important to have a ton of sluggers here and outscore everyone (the leatherpants approach). I don't think I was looking at the issue the right way. I think it is the opposite. A slugger will be able to hit the ball out of any mlb park if they get a mistake pitch. Hitting deep shots is not necessary at GABP. GABP brings opens the door for players who are not known as sluggers to put up good numbers because they will get alot of "cheap" home runs that may be power alley outs or off the wall doubles in other parks. I think we are seeing this played out this year as our middle infield (SS and 2B) is on pace to hit over 50 homeruns.
I have come to the conclusion that GABP will require the Reds to focus more on pitching than if they played in an average park, because a slugger is going to hit a mistake out of any park but GABP opens the door up for many more players with less power to hit a mistake out. Therefore, I am not saying ignore the offense, but if I am running the team, I would be spending a greater percentage of money on pitching than league average.
Do you guys agree?