*Hello?* *Hello?*

We’ve been gone awhile. A lot of reasons for it. We’ll skip the part where I explain why.

MGL asks if there’s any evidence that building a team based on pitching and defense gives an advantage to a home team in a big ballpark. There’s a good discussion too.

I think what he’s most concerned about is the question of why people (read: Jerry Manuel) think what they think. Lots of “explanations” about life seems like it makes sense when you first hear it, yet reality often has different ideas. The leader of a multi-million dollar organization should have more than a hunch about why a plan should work. I’m not saying Manuel isn’t working off more than just a hunch here, if he does have some evidence he probably isn’t likely to share with the world. But lots of times before these beliefs aren’t any more than pure hunches.

Back to ballparks, there also goes this recent line of thought that PETCO isn’t actually that big of a field, and the atmosphere is what depresses runs. Again, this is why the why is so important. Looking at a problem and throwing the first answer at it that pops in your head isn’t going to get you very far.

Question to think about: if you’ve ever thought the Padres should build a team around pitching and or defense, how did you come to that conclusion?