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If you have a hitter who is in a dogfight with a potential Triple Crown winner and enjoys his offensive stats, how in the world do you convince him to come to Safeco? "Oh, it's not SOOOOO bad if you're a lefty"?
Money talks, but so does comfort, and stats can be a large part of comfort. The ball will still die in April and May due to weather effects, but this sort of change is to encourage crowds to come out in June, when we're 2 games out of first, and watch some hitters make noise.
It will encourage hitters to give us another look in FA, and will make the hitters we DO have into far better performers. It also makes sure that our two big RH bats, Montero and Zunino, can be useful at the plate, and that Smoak's switch-hitting will prosper (assuming the guy he is in September is the guy he'll be next June).
Felix won't care about the fences. Not if he doesn't have to keep winning 1-0 complete games in order to scratch out wins. He'd take a nice 5-3 victory. Flyball pitchers become far less attractive to the club, and it may mean Vargas's time with us is up - his road #s will likely come home to roost now.
Detroit moved the fences in at their new park almost immediately. The Marlins will no doubt do the same. Shortstops aren't hitting 40 HRs any more - the 90s parks have to be "adjusted" to compensate for leaving the steroid era. I'm glad the Ms are finally doing it. It's plenty fine to have a "fair" park, which this hasn't been in a while - and I'd love to build the team the Tigers have got, if you please, and get the same results.
Sign Hamilton, re-sign Iwakuma, trade Vargas, and let's go make some noise. More funk blasts and fewer warning track outs will make for a really interesting 2013.
~G