An astute poster on the Sign On San Diego Padres forums has posted photos from an event in which fans play on the Petco Park field. Sections of the right field alley are marked off with rope on the ground, presumably to aid a decision on a new outfield fence. I took the liberty of drawing an overhead view of the possible changes based on my interpretation of the photos. Anything for your viewing pleasure from your old pal Melvin.

The yellow line is the original fence. The blue, green, and sand lines represent a possible change. The most interesting proposed fence line looks to be the sand colored mark. It would create a new nook from the left of the Cox sign, jutting straight in towards home plate, then changing direction and moving across to cut out the rear porch recess.

To me, the green proposed choice looks the best. It cuts off the most field in the deepest part of the park, without going crazy in wierdness. I’m not a fan of those intentional nooks that have become popular in new ballparks. The “quirkyness” in them just seems so contrived. To me you can’t plan and execute that kind of charm, it has to come about for an actual reason.

Either way, it’s good to improve the absurd pitcher’s advantage of the ballpark. As Ray showed us, Petco isn’t just a normal run of the mill pitcher’s park, it’s one helluva pitcher’s park. It’s time things get a little more fair.

Room for a new Padres bullpen?

Introduction: Padres 101
Part 1: Rebuilding Through the Draft

A proper discussion on the misconceptions surrounding the San Diego Padres has to begin with their hitting. At the end of the 2008 season, the Padres ranked dead last in the league in runs. Since moving into Petco, the team has been consistently at the bottom of the league in this category.

From this information alone, it would be safe to assume any number of things, from the players on the team are poor to the management has no idea of how to put together a team to compete in this ballpark. What needs to be considered is that the Padres are not the only team that plays in Petco.

What are park factors?

Simply, park factors indicate the difference between runs scored in a team’s home and road games. As the same hitters and the same pitchers are doing the playing, the difference in runs scored is dependent on the park the game is played in.

Park factors do tend to vary some from year to year. That’s why I have compiled the combined park factors for every stadium from 2004 through 2007, save the two Nationals and Cardinals parks. I used a basic version of the park factor equation: (home runs for + home runs against) / (road runs for + road runs against). And the numbers are:

(And, as you should’ve assumed, Petco Park this year was again last in the league at 0.796. First in the league for 2008 was Rangers Ballpark, at 1.142.)

What does this mean? In layman’s terms, Petco is the hardest stadium in baseball to hit in. Not just by a little, but a lot.

The Padres don’t just play in a pitcher’s park, they play in an extreme pitcher’s park.

This is the lens under which the Padres low run totals should be viewed. Nineteen percent less runs scored in Petco than in the average park. The next toughest stadium, Safeco Field, is more than half that distance away at 8% less. The only gap greater than the 11% between Petco and Safeco is the 15% between Coors Field and Chase Field. You may know Coors Field as the place that kept baseballs in a humidor to try to even the odds between sides.

From 04-07, the two most productive Padres were Adrian Gonzalez and Brian Giles. In their most productive seasons, their home and away OPS splits were:

And then this season:

(More of the same from Gonzalez, although Giles’ numbers aren’t so bad. Another good reason to resign him, but that’s a discussion for another day.)

When the stadium built, it was said to be Bonds-proof. Barry’s response:

“It’s not Bonds-proof. It’s baseball-proof.”

While it’s not quite baseball-proof, it’s close. The home stadium puts hitters at a ridiculous disadvantage, and there’s no easy solution.

The fences are too far and the air’s too thick and it’s just too drat hard. On the plus side, the fences were brought  in before the 06 season, albeit barely (thanks wrveres), and the front office likes to drop little teases that they could be moved in farther (thank you, Jody Gerut). On the less plus side, Sean Connery from The Avengers hasn’t been called to do something about the thick marine air.

Until (read: if) something is done to neutralize Petco Park, the 25 Padres taking the field are going to have to make due with what they’ve got. And so will all of us sitting in the stands.

[1280 x 1024] [1024 x 768]

I mean, as much as I love endless complaining, the reality is life is what you make of it.  I’ve learned that when I focus my energy on something positive, or at least something else, I’m a happier person.

Yes, drinking counts.  By all means, focus on booze.

Anyway, this is a Melvin Nieves Original Photo © 200Abillion. It’s HDR, so the real photographers out there will probably thumb their noses.  I’m used to it, the real baseball bloggers do the same thing.

I hope you like the photo.

Opportunity cost is of course is the value of time doing one thing (say watching a baseball game) that is forgone in order to do something else (say stand in line at concession stands, or point out dudes in jeans shorts [or both!]).

Now suppose the dollar value of a college educated blogger’s time is worth roughly $30 an hour.  I submit for your review an opportunity cost computation of the Padres dollar days promotion from Friday, July 11th, 2008.

• $0 - They ran out of soda, but provided free Raspberry Iced tea.  Though I wouldn’t bank on that, I’m a sweet talker.
• $3 - Three hot dogs, limit four items per blogger.
• $15 - Opportunity cost of waiting in line for 30 minutes.

Total expenses: $18

The final three home games for the promotion are Monday the 28th though Wednesday.  Concessions lines move much slower than usual.  Don’t believe everything you read.

More Recenter Edit: After pulling the article I received confirmation that the contents of the speech were not to be published.  Sorry to all involved.  This sucks.

EDIT: Crap, I’m really nervous.  It sounds like something was said before we arrived about not reporting the contents of Paul’s speech.

On one hand, I don’t particularly understand this since the event was announced to the public and anyone who wanted could buy a ticket.  On the other hand, this isn’t a press conference.  Paul would enjoy way less freedom to speak freely and honestly if he knew the entire interwebtubes were disseminating his every word.

I for one appreciate when a public figure has the desire and opportunity to speak openly.  Because of this, the report may disappear soon.

Of course it has to happen for our one opportunity to pretend to be a real media outlet.

Baseball Prospectus hosted a fun little evening at PETCO on Friday, beach towel night.  It featured a talk with San Diego Padres special assistant for baseball operations Paul DePodesta.  Paul is famous as a central character in Michael Lewis’ renowned book “Moneyball”, in my opinion the Most Influencial Sports Book of all Time™.  Paul is also the former GM of the Dodgers, run out of town by the myopic LA media, who (surprise!) aren’t as smart as they think they are.

The Sacrifice Bunt flagged him down after the event (may or may not involving a scared, girlish scream of “ahhh Paul!!” as he walked away) for a quick chat and photo.  During the chat and speech, Paul came across as down to earth, pleasant, and spoke with the care and accuracy one would expect from a Harvard graduate.

Ray commented that Paul’s demeanor seemed opposite of Sandy Alderson’s guarded, defensive, and some might say arrogant attitude during appearances with Billy and Daren on the radio.  I responded that if knuckleheads did no research and attacked me under the guise of balanced “journalism”, I’d probably act the same way Alderson does.

Snip

If we weren’t already doing it this way, is this the way we would start?

Following Trevor Hoffman’s departure from last night’s 3-1 loss to the Twins, boos rained down from the bleachers. Boos, it would seem, intended for the future Hall of Famer after surrendering back-to-back home runs, including the game winner. This didn’t sit well with the Padres clubhouse.

“I didn’t like it,” said manager Bud Black. “This city should be very proud of a player like that for everything he’s done on the field and in the community. I don’t like it. I don’t think it’s fair.”

—–

“It’s disheartening, knowing what Trevor has meant not only to the organization but the city, and his level of accomplishment is unmatched in our game,” (Tony) Clark said.

—–

Jake Peavy, who started the game, said he heard the boos in the clubhouse. “I could not believe that,” he said. “That is as disheartening as it gets. I don’t understand it. When you look at all of his achievements, what he has meant, it’s ridiculous.”

—–

Said teammate Shawn Estes: “How soon they forget.”

—–

(Heath) Bell didn’t hear the boos that came after Hoffman gave up two home runs in an inning for the eighth time in his career. “If the fans were booing him, shame on them,” he said.

Hoffman hears boos in Twin killing

While we here at The Sacrifice Bunt don’t condone booing, we don’t condemn it either. There is a time and place to boo, although we couldn’t say if that time was following Hoffman’s poor performance. While there are shades of grey when discussing the merits of booing, the merit of the Padres post game conversation seems a bit more black and white.

The Padres lost last night 3-1. They again squandered a great performance by Peavy. In the bottom of the eighth, they had runners on first and second with no out and neither runner made it to third. In the seventh, they had runners on first and third with no out and two ground balls ended the inning with only one run scoring. Jody Gerut was caught stealing on what appeared to be a botched hit-and-run attempt when Edgar Gonzalez flailed futilely at what would’ve been ball four. In back-to-back at-bats, Gerut and Craig Stansberry were unable to get down sacrifice bunts. Oh, and the team’s increasingly unreliable closer came in and jumped his ERA up half a run.

It was an ugly game.

The fact that the Padres find it shocking that the fans could boo their performance seems naive or arrogant, or maybe a little bit of both. The team has fallen back into last place, setting themselves up for a potential rematch of the worsts this weekend when the pitiful Mariners come to town. The offense and pitching are below average. They let Milton Bradley slip through their fingers in the off-season and now he’s leading the A.L. They signed Jim Edmonds to man centerfield, then dumped him after a month and now he’s caught fire with the Cubs.

Now, it should be said that this season is an aberration. The current Padres management has put together the best run in the team’s almost 40 years and we haven’t even begun to reap the benefits of the new farm system. But that doesn’t affect the team that is currently taking the field right now. And the responses of the players from last night suggests they are more concerned with something other than their performance.

Again, we want to be fair. We’re sure that the players are as concerned about their performance as we are. But when the topic on the tips of their tongues is the reaction they got from the crowd, red flags go up. Maybe the fans aren’t what the players should be concerned about. The boos from the stands are a reaction to what is taking place on the field.

More disconcerting is the reaction of manger Buddy Black. For starters, he’s called out the entire city, which seems disrespectful given everything this city has done for the team. At what point does protecting become coddling? A good manager should stand behind his players, but at what point do these players take responsibility? If they continually fail to put down a bunt, a skill practiced by children, does he simply give them a pat on the back? And this doesn’t even get into the idea that Black is asking players ill-equipped to handle a task attempt to perform it anyway.

It’s not like this kind of whining is anything new. Be sure that if the Padres decide to trade a player sometime between now and July 31st that the Union-Tribune will be filled with quotes from players, decrying the actions of the management. We’ll leave you with some past highlights.

“Incomprehensible,” was Trevor Hoffman’s reaction. “Four other teams in the National League West are awfully excited. I probably need to take a day before I say something about this because I’m going to say something stupid.”

—–

“You have to trust your front office when you are in the middle of a playoff run,” Jake Peavy said. “But, man, to trade away your setup man . . . what kind of a message are we sending here?”

Padres trade Linebrink

Ever wondered how much time you waste being advertised to during a normal baseball game?  During a Channel 4SD broadcast between the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals on May 20th, 2008 I decided to find out.

The game of baseball has changed a lot over the years.  Technological advancements, most recently those of the Internet age, have changed the rules of interaction between the entertainer and the entertainee.

The fears of broadcasters that were envisioned when home videotaping was declared legal, are finally coming to pass.  People are watching fewer commercials and baseball is no exception.  Yeah no shit Melvin, enough with the overly dramatic intro.  Get to the point.

Wait, did I say that or just think it?

The point, jerk, is that Channel 4 San Diego, the Cox Communications owned cable channel that broadcasts the Padres, has to find a way to turn a profit in this difficult landscape.  Their response, has been to increase sponsored broadcast time during Padres games in addition to standard commercial breaks.

The San Diego Padres, in conjunction with the City of San Diego own and operate Petco Park.  To boost revenues, the small market team sells advertising signage in a multitude of sizes and locations throughout the ballpark.  This of course, though the sign density has varied in ballparks throughout history, is not news.  What is news, is that new signs are still popping up, they even hinder fan views of the game. (Hat tip Gaslamp Ball)

How much does that add up?

Lots of new information about the nature of baseball was discovered over the last decade or so.  We learned most of it by taking a new approach, using evidence and data to support theories.  My intent is to apply this principal to another aspect of the baseball fan experience.  Instead of simply estimating,  I want to know exactly how much time we spend being marketed to while watching a San Diego Padres broadcast.

My plan is to accurately measure both normal commercials and in-game advertising.  To do this, I used two watches and measured each category separately.  I hope you’re envisioning this beautiful image of me sitting in front of both a TV and computer, taking notes, and intensely operating not one but two stop watches.  If only my high school crush could see me now.  Lucky for my pride it was only a Tuesday night.

The first stop watch was the easy one.  It kept track of time during every commercial break, of both the national and local variety.

The second watch was the doozie.  It ran during every second that a viewer saw or heard any type of paid marketing message, not including normal commercials.  This also did not include in house MLB or Padres messages.  Though those types of messages were included if they were corporate sponsored messages, which was usually the case.

The study includes any shilling from Mud for his various spokesdeals, though it deserves mention that play-by-play was called by Steve Quis on this particular broadcast.  The guys in this game kept the paid lauding to a minimum.

In addition, any time a stadium sign ad was clearly readable, time was kept.  This constituted behind the plate ads seen from the center-field camera angle, and ads in the dugout.  I watched on an older 19” standard def television, from about 8 feet away.  It’s safe to say that this setup, a bastion of bleeding edge television technology, didn’t offer any unfair viewing advantage.

The results

Here’s a list of the various sponsored baseball happenings, brought to you by this or named after that through Cox Channel 4.  I’ll leave out the names of the corporate sponsors, though any semi-regular watcher could probably rattle them off quicker than names of family members.  Most of them appeared more than once throughout the broadcast.

• SAP telecast
• defensive alignments for both teams
• lineups for both teams
• “mlb comparisson” stat board
• trivia question
• bottom of the screen out of town scoreboard
• all middle of the inning pitching changes, plus select new inning pitching changes
• “major league leaders” stat board
• the box score
• beyond the box score
• postgame show
• pregame show
• pitch tracker
• various incarnations of replays

Moving on to the meat, the total game time was 144 minutes. Of that, the regular commercials lasted 28 minutes and 30 seconds.  The total in game advertisement time including all shilling and visible stadium ads came to 33 minutes and 55 seconds.  This means that both categories of product hawking during the broadcast took up a grand total of 62 minutes and 25 seconds, roughly 44% of total game time (there is a small amount of round off error in the chart).

What does Melly Mel think?

If it isn’t clear from my tone, I’m not all that into advertising.  That said, it doesn’t take a Joe Morgan intern to glance at the sidebar on the right and notice that even the great Sac Bunt sells advertising space.  The big deal to me is that while broadcasters are working to compensate for viewers watching fewer commercials by selling airtime during games, they still show as many commercials as ever.

It’s a long slow process, I know.  But I think the graph above demonstrates that shit’s getting a bit excessive.  It needs fixin.  As more in game advertising increases, lets spend less time dilly daddling around with the same old crap in between innings.

Whatever changes happen, they have to start with the fans.  If the powers at be think we’re ok with it, they’ll pile it on til the cows come home.  This goal of this article is to draw attention to what is happening, and encourage people to speak their mind about it.  For all I know, people might be ok with the clutter.  But considering the reaction to the above mentioned Spider Man movie debacle, I don’t think this is the case.  That’s why we should talk about it.

The beginning of a new baseball season brings a lot of questions. None of them as pertinent as “What music will the players come out to this year?”

A song can define a player. It’s hard to think of Trevor without “Hell’s Bells” announcing his arrival. And I can’t shake the memory of some excited fan screaming out “Let’s go, Superman!” during a Mark Kotsay at-bat, no doubt inspired by Kotsay’s choice of “Kryptonite” by 3 Doors Down.

(if you’re reading this, excited fan, leave a comment)

With the Padres having played their first game at Petco earlier this evening, we got our first listen to the choices some of the 08 team has made.

Josh Bard, (some country song)

I’m not the biggest country fan in the world so I couldn’t identify this song by ear. Or even be able to speak on it. I probably shouldn’t have said anything.

Brian Giles, “Scar Tissue” - Red Hot Chili Peppers

An interesting call by Giles. Most entrance songs tend to be flavors of the month (as we’ll see in a second) but Giles chose a song that’s nine years old. I like to think it’s a tribute to his fixed up knee. If that’s the case, Giles gets bonus points for being so damned clever.

Giles has previously been announced to “Lose Yourself” by Eminem.

Adrian Gonzalez, (some song) - Pitbull

You know, because he’s Mexican. Gonzalez previously came out to Daddy Yankee, much like RRRamon Hernandez before him and every other Latino player to make the major leagues. There are worse songs to go with, but this one seems rather cliché.

Gonzalez has previously come out to “Gasolina” by Daddy Yankee.

Scott Hairston, “Flashing Lights” - Kanye West

Like I said, flavor of the month. I’m as big a Kanye fan as anyone but “Flashing Lights” does nothing for me, especially considering that the other three songs from “Graduation” would have worked better. The season hasn’t started yet, so hopefully the Living Legend switches to “Can’t Tell Me Nothin’” for Monday.

Justin Huber, “Superstar” - Lupe Fiasco

Same deal as Hairston’s pick. I suppose Huber could be saying he’s a superstar, but the song uses the word in a pejorative sense. I’m not sure how well that works out. Considering that this song was my first introduction to Huber, who was picked up earlier this week, I can’t say that we got off on the right foot.

We’ll be updating this throughout the year, we encourage you to fill us in on what we’ve missed in the comments section.