Orioles Talks With “Top” Free Agent Pitchers; Camden Yards left field dimensions to be changed

Orioles general manager Mike Elias participated in a video call with reporters (including Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com, and Jake Rill of MLB.com) today, sharing a few guarded details about the club’s pursuit of an outfield. seasonal and major developments. of the size of Camden Yards stadium. Elias revealed that the ballpark will have a new left field wall that will be much shorter and closer to home plate than the wall that has been there for the past three seasons.

The old wall will remain in place, extending from the 373-foot mark in the left field slot and extending into the Orioles’ bullpen. However, the vacant lot will now sit between the wall and the new left field wall, which Elias said will be closer to home plate with “up to 20 meters; in others, it will be 11 feet and nine.” The deepest distance from home plate to left-center field of the old wall was 398 feet, but that distance will now be a more manageable 376 feet. The old wall was also 13 feet high, and the height of the new wall will range from 6’11” at its shortest to nine feet high.

“Our hope is that, by pulling the scale a little bit…that we will be able to get closer to what our original goal was: a neutral playground that facilitates balanced play in a park that was overly home-friendly before our changes in 2022. Now it is extremely skewed if we look at what we did then,” said Elias.

Raising the wall in 2022 coincided with a major improvement in the Orioles’ play, as the team has since reeled off three straight winning seasons (and two playoff appearances) thanks to significant improvements in pitching performance. Baltimore’s 3.94 team ERA ranks tenth in baseball over the past three seasons, and the pitching staff has allowed the ninth fewest homers (523) of any club during that span.

According to Statcast’s Park Factor metric, righty hitters had more trouble hitting homers at Camden Yards than at any other ballpark, except for Cleveland’s Progressive Field and Pittsburgh’s PNC Park. Unfortunately, this has extended to the Orioles hitters and opposing hitters. As Rill crunched the numbers, the Orioles have given up more home runs (72) than their opponents (65) at Camden Yards since Opening Day 2022.

“I think it will be easier for right-handed hitters to produce power numbers in this park, no question about it. We wanted, and want, a neutral, pitcher-friendly park,” said Elias. “But, the disparity between the two sides of the park was not intentional, and it created a big difference and affected the players’ thinking and results in a way that we did not expect when we took the initiative..”

Three years of data has now convinced Elias that the previous correction “overcorrection” The first problem with Camden Yards being more home-friendly. Elias made a point of noting that the size wasn’t changed to make it easier for the O’s to attract hitters (especially right-handed bats), as the GM said the 2022 changes weren’t intended to “forever” fix from scratch.

“In many ways this would make the park less attractive to the grinder, which is one of the reasons I made this change in the first place.,” said Elias.

The timing is interesting, as the rotation is a key need for the Orioles this winter. Corbin Burns is a free agent and the top arm available on the open market (according to MLBTR’s Top 50 Free Agents list and many other experts), leaving Baltimore with four top players. Grayson Rodriguez, Zach Eflin, Dean Kremeragain Albert Suarez at the beginning of the fifth. Kade Povich again Trevor Rogers they are among the candidates for the fifth job that will start right now as well Kyle Bradish or Tyler Wells when or if they recover from UCL surgery at the same time in 2025, but there’s no doubt that this pitching staff could use some reinforcements.

In this regard, Elias said the Orioles are thinking “the whole spectrum” to install the upgrade. “If you run a team properly….you definitely want to keep the whole player acquisition menu open. That includes the best free agent deals in years. We have been involved in those discussions.”

The O’s were widely expected to have higher spending under new owner David Rubenstein than in previous years when the Angelos family controlled the team. Elias gave”debt [to] a change of ownership to put us in a state of being” at least enter every market grade, although he reiterated that more salary flexibility doesn’t mean the Orioles will just “spend money indiscriminately this offseason come hell or high water.”

Baltimore is already attached to it Fried Max in free agent activity, and interest in the White Sox southpaw Garrett Crochet ahead of trade. It’s conceivable that the Orioles will consider reuniting with Burnes, even if that might be a more expensive way to add to the rotation. Since Burnes’ departure would set the Orioles back in pick compensation, the team could choose to have Burnes walk for that money, thereby making the O’s more comfortable offering a pick if they sign a free agent-declining free agent of their own. .