by Mean Dean » Mon Jan 01, 2007 1:45 pm
[quote:2a5dc49cb0="Aray0113"]"Ballpark results (American and National Leagues) are based on a three year study. However, results for teams with revised ball park dimensions and extreme weather conditions are only based on present data."
Okay ... which one is it?
The three-year study ... or the present data?[/quote:2a5dc49cb0](gratuitous emoticons stripped)
Which one is it for which team? I don't really know. But the principle is clear: it's three years, unless there is some reason SOM finds compelling -- a change in the park, or "extreme weather conditions" -- to think that what happened in '04 and '05 isn't relevant to evaluating the park as it was in '06.
Of the stadiums you've listed, my guess would be that the two that changed very drastically and suddenly (MM and Petco) are using just this year, and the two that changed gradually (Coors and Shea) are using 3-year effects. That's just an educated guess.[quote:2a5dc49cb0]Question: could this have more to do with actual team composition than a three-year (or recent) park study; in other words -- because Delgado and Beltran and Floyd hit more HR on the road than at Shea, that's the reasoning behind the low HR rating for LHB?[/quote:2a5dc49cb0]Well, yes, that's how it works, but I wouldn't call that "having to do more with actual team composition than studying the park;" it's part of what studying the park [i:2a5dc49cb0]is[/i:2a5dc49cb0]. If every lefty hitter on the team does better on the road, then that implies the park is bad for lefty hitters. I mean, it's possible that the Mets just happened to collect a bunch of lefty hitters who have all somehow figured out a way to have a good time in Flushing, and thus are doing worse at home for reasons unrelated to the stadium... but it's not very likely. When the same hitters do better on the road than they do at home, that is part of the definition of the home park being tough for hitters. (Along with comparing how the lefty hitters who face Mets' pitchers do at Shea, compared to when the Mets are on the road -- that's the other element of it.)