Orioles general manager Mike Elias took part in a video call with reporters (including the Baltimore Sun\u2019s Matt Weyrich, MASNsports.com\u2019s Roch Kubatko, and MLB.com\u2019s Jake Rill) today, sharing a few guarded details about the club\u2019s offseason pursuits and a major development for Camden Yards\u2019 outfield dimensions.<\/p>\n
Elias revealed that the ballpark will have a new left field wall that will be significantly shorter and closer to home plate than the wall that has been in place for the last three seasons.<\/p>\n
The old wall will remain in place, stretching from the 373-foot mark in the left field crevice and extending to the Orioles\u2019 bullpen.<\/p>\n
However, an unoccupied open area will now sit between the wall and the new left field wall, which Elias said will be closer to home plate by \u201cas much as 20 feet; in others, it\u2019ll be more like 11 feet and as little as nine.\u201d The deepest distance from home plate to the left-center area of the old wall was 398 feet, but that distance will now be a more manageable 376 feet.<\/p>\n
The old wall was also 13 feet high, whereas the new wall\u2019s height will range from 6\u201911\u201d at its shortest to nine feet tall at its highest.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur hope is, by pulling the dimensions in a little bit\u2026that we will be able to get closer to what our initial goal was: a neutral playing environment that assists a balanced style of play at a park that was overly homer-friendly prior to our changes in 2022. It is now a little overly skewed given what we did back then,\u201d Elias said.<\/em><\/p>\n Heightening the wall back in 2022 happened to coincide with a big improvement in the Orioles\u2019 play, as the team has since reeled off three straight winning seasons (and two playoff appearances) due to a marked upgrade in pitching performance.<\/p>\n Baltimore\u2019s 3.94 team ERA ranks tenth in baseball over the last three seasons, and the pitching staff has allowed the ninth-fewest homers (523) of any club in that same span.<\/p>\n According to Statcast\u2019s Park Factor metric, righty batters had more trouble hitting homers at Camden Yards than at almost any other ballpark, save for Cleveland\u2019s Progressive Field and Pittsburgh\u2019s PNC Park. Unfortunately, this extended to the Orioles\u2019 own batters as well as opposing hitters.<\/p>\n As Rill breaks down the numbers, the Orioles lost more home runs (72) than opponents (65) did at Camden Yards since Opening Day 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019ll be easier for right-handed hitters to produce power numbers at this park, there\u2019s no question about it. We wanted, and we want, a park that is neutral, tilting toward pitcher friendliness,\u201d Elias said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut, the disparities between the two sides of the park were not the intent, and it had created some dramatic differences and it affected player personnel thought and outcomes in a way that we weren\u2019t anticipating when we made the move.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Three years of data has now convinced Elias that the past renovations \u201covercorrected\u201d the initial problem of Camden Yards being too homer-friendly.<\/p>\n Elias made a point of noting that the dimensions weren\u2019t being changed to make it easier for the O\u2019s to attract free agent hitters (particularly right-handed bats), as the GM said that the 2022 alterations weren\u2019t intended as a \u201cpermanent\u201d fix in the first place.<\/p>\n \u201cIn many ways this may make the park less attractive for pitchers, which is one of the reasons that I initially made this change,\u201d Elias said.<\/p>\n The timing is interesting, as the rotation is certainly a key need for the Orioles this winter.<\/p>\n Corbin Burnes is a free agent and the top arm available on the open market (in the view of MLBTR\u2019s Top 50 Free Agents list and many other pundits), leaving Baltimore with a projected top four of Grayson Rodriguez, Zach Eflin, Dean Kremer, and Albert Suarez in the starting five.<\/p>\n Cade Povich and Trevor Rogers are among the candidates vying for the fifth starters\u2019 job at the moment and Kyle Bradish or Tyler Wells could emerge when or if they recover from UCL surgeries at some point in 2025, but there\u2019s no doubt that this pitching staff could use some reinforcement.<\/p>\n To this end, Elias said the Orioles are considering \u201cthe whole spectrum\u201d of pitching upgrades. \u201cIf you\u2019re running the team optimally\u2026.you\u2019re certainly wanting to keep the whole menu of player acquisition open.<\/p>\n That involves high-end free agent deals over many years. We\u2019ve been engaged in those conversations already.\u201d<\/p>\n It has been widely expected that the O\u2019s have a higher spending capacity under new owner David Rubenstein than in past years when the Angelos family was controlling the team.<\/p>\n Elias gave \u201ccredit [to] the ownership change for putting us in the position to\u201d at least check in at every level of the market, though he again stressed that more payroll flexibility doesn\u2019t mean the Orioles are going to suddenly \u201cspend money indiscriminately this offseason come hell or high water.\u201d<\/p>\n Baltimore has already been linked to Max Fried in early free agent pursuits, as well as interest in White Sox southpaw Garrett Crochet on the trade front. It can be assumed that the Orioles will consider a reunion with Burnes, even if that would likely be the priciest possible way to add to the rotation.<\/p>\n Since Burnes\u2019 departure would recoup the Orioles a compensatory draft pick, the team could opt to let Burnes walk to gain that draft capital, thus perhaps making the O\u2019s more comfortable about surrendering picks if they signed a qualifying offer-rejecting free agent of their own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Orioles general manager Mike Elias took part in a video call with reporters (including the Baltimore Sun\u2019s Matt Weyrich, MASNsports.com\u2019s Roch Kubatko, and MLB.com\u2019s Jake Rill) today,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9273,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n