Colorado Rockies Sign Roy Oswalt

The Rockies announced today that they signed veteran RHP Roy Oswalt to a minor league contract.  No reports yet on the contract terms, but since it’s a minor league deal, it certainly sounds like a row-risk-potentially-high-reward move by the Rockies.

Apparently, Oswalt has effectively decided that at this point in his career, he doesn’t want to spend six or seven months a year traveling.  He signed with the Rangers late last year, and he’s doing the same thing with the Rockies this year.  In my mind, Oswalt has earned the right to take his Aprils off, if that’s what he wants to do.

Oswalt got hit hard pitching for the Rangers last year, and he’ll likely get hit hard pitching in Coors Field this year, since Coors Field is the only park tougher for pitchers than the Rangers’ home yard.  Even so, Oswalt looks like a good fit for an extreme hitters’ park because he throws strikes and doesn’t give up a whole lot of home runs.

At the Ballpark in Arlington and Coors Field, batters are going to get their hits and home runs.  Limiting the number of free passes the pitcher allows is critical to keeping big innings to a minimum.

Oswalt went 4-3 for the Rangers last year in spite of a 5.80 ERA.  Oswalt doesn’t need to improve much to be an effective starter in Denver since Coors Field is a place where a starter can have an ERA over 5.00 and still have a winning record.

For example, Kevin Ritz went 17-11 with an ERA of 5.28 in 1996, Pedro Astacio went 17-11 with an ERA of 5.04 in 1999, Shawn Estes went 15-8 with 5.84 ERA in 2004, Jeff Francis went 14-12 with an ERA of 5.68 in 2005, and Mike Hampton went 14-13 with a 5.41 ERA in 2001.  I very much doubt that these are the only Rockies’ starters to have achieved this dubious distinction — these are just the ones I found without much effort.

One thing that Oswalt will not do as a Rockie is win 20 games in a season.  No Rockies pitcher has yet done so, with Ubaldo Jiminez‘s 19 wins (and 2.88 ERA) in 2010 the closest to date.  Is it any wonder that it is almost impossible for the Rockies to sign top free agent pitchers?

Dodgers Hurting

It was announced today that Los Angeles Dodger starter Chad Billingsley will have Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow causing him to miss the rest of the 2013 season.  It sure didn’t take long (less than a month) for the Dodgers’ immense surplus of starting pitchers at the end of Spring Training to turn into a deficit.

As you well know, Zack Greinke is out for at least six more weeks after breaking his collarbone fighting with Carlos Quentin, and Dodgers dumped Aaron Harang and $4.25 million towards his remaining contract to the Rockies for catcher Ramon Hernandez, who turns 37 next month and appears to have very little left in the tank.

Meanwhile, Chris Capuano is also on the DL with a strained calf, although that at least sounds like an injury Capuano will come back from quickly.

As a result of all this rash of injuries, the Dodger rotation suddenly looks suspect, with Ted Lilly set to rejoin the rotation after pitching in only three minor league starts (and poor ones at that) since late May of 2012.  Rounding out the rotation is Stephen Fife, a 26 year old rookie who doesn’t look like he’ll have a significant major league career unless he gets really lucky.

It just goes to show you how quickly things can change in baseball.  A couple of key injuries and a major strength suddenly becomes, if not a major weakness (the Dodgers still have Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Josh Beckett), at least a major cause for concern.

I bet the Dodgers now wish they’d held on to Aaron Harang just a little bit longer, when all they got in return was an over-the-hill back-up catcher and a little bit of salary relief.

The Best and Worst Hitters’ Parks in MLB 2013

Last summer I discovered that espn.com provides stats for what it calls “park factor”, which for purposes of this post means the ratio between the number of runs scored at a ballpark in any given season divided by the number of runs scored by said ballpark’s occupant (and its opponents) in away games that same season.  I wrote a post last June which evaluates each park’s park factor for the five years ending with the 2011 season.

As we approach the 2013 season (and the 2012 stats have long been in), it seems like a good time to update my earlier post incorporating the 2012 season.  Without further ado, here are the average park factors for all major league ballparks over the last six season (or less for the five ball parks that have opened more recently).

1.  Coors Field (Rockies) 1.301

2.  The Ballpark at Arlington (Rangers) 1.148

3.  Chase Field (Diamondbacks) 1.134

4.  Fenway Park (Red Sox) 1.131

5.  U.S. Cellular Field (White Sox) 1.111

6.  Wrigley Field (Cubs) 1.086

7.  Camden Yards (Orioles) 1.080

8.  New Yankee Stadium (2009-2012) 1.066 [Old Yankee Stadium, 2004-2008, 1.002]

9.  Great American Ball Park (Reds) 1.057.

10.  Comerica Park (Tigers) 1.044.

11.  Kauffman Stadium (Royals) 1.018

12.  Rogers Center (Blue Jays) 1.010

12.  Miller Park (Brewers) 1.010

14.  Citizens Bank Ballpark (Phillies) 1.008

15.  Marlins Park (2012) 1.005  [Sun Life Stadium, 2007-2011, 1.038]

16.  Nationals Park (2008-2012) 0.998 [RFK Stadium, 2005-2007, 0.892]

17.  Minute Maid Park (Astros) 0.986

18.  Target Field (Twins, 2010-2012) 0.983 [Mall of America Field (the Metrodome), 2005-2009, 0.966]

19.  Turner Field (Braves) 0.978

20.  Progressive Field (Indians) 0.960

21.  Angels Stadium 0.939

22.  PNC Park (Pirates) 0.936

22.  Busch Stadium (Cardinals) 0.936

24.  Oakland Coliseum (A’s) 0.919

25.  AT&T Park (Giants) 0.917

26.  Dodger Stadium 0.915

27.  Citi Field (Mets, 2009-2012) 0.904 [Shea Stadium, 2004-2008, 0.886]

28.  Tropicana Field (Rays) 0.889

29.  Safeco Field (Mariners) 0.864

30.  Petco Park (Padres) 0.808

The rankings didn’t change much from last year.  Among last year’s ten best hitters’ parks, U.S. Cellular Park, where the White Sox play, was apparently a great place to hit in 2012, moving it up two slots.  New Yankee Stadium was apparently not a great place to hit, moving it down two slots. Coors Field improved on its status as far and away the best hitters’ park in MLB.

The Marlins’ new park, which looked like a great place to hit in late June of last year, turned out to be only a little better than average for the full season — we’ll have to see how it plays over the next few seasons.

The Royals’ Kauffman Stadium moved up two slots, and the Phillies’ Citizens’ Bank Park fell two slots.  The Astros’ Minute Maid Park also fell two slots.  The Twins’ Target Field was a hitters’ park for the first time in its three year history, jumping it up four slots.  The Pirates and Giants and their respective opponents scored a lot more runs on the road in 2012, causing both PNC Park and AT&T Park to drop three slots.

With another year in the books, the Mets’ Citi Field is developing into as much of a pitchers’ park as the old Shea Stadium.  San Diego’s Petco Park remains the worst place to ply one’s trade as a major league hitter, but Seattle’s Safeco Field narrowed the gap considerably.

More Signings of Interest to Me

The San Francisco Giants signed 2Bman Marco Scutaro to a three-year deal for $20 million.  While a three year deal for a player of Scutaro’s age (37) is generally a mistake, the total money seems fairly reasonable, given the boost Scutaro gave the Giants the last three months (including the post-season) in 2012.

The Giants like to reward the players who have performed for them, which I think has benefits for the organization as a whole, even if it means some signings are busts.  Also, even if Scutaro tanks sooner rather than later, at only $6 million per season (he also received a $2 million signing bonus), he doesn’t prevent the Giants from exploring other options for second base after 2013.

Former Giant Nate Schierholtz signed with the Chicago Cubs for $2.25 million, which actually seems like a lot to me.  For player of his age (29 in February 2013) and hitting ability (.727 career OPS), a major league contract in the $1 million to $1.5 million range seems more appropriate.  Corner outfielders who hit as well as Schierholtz are not particularly hard to find.

Aside from the contract amount, playing for the Cubs will be great for Schierholtz.  Playing half his games in the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field will give Schierholtz the opportunity to put up the best offensive numbers of his career.  Let’s hope Nate gets to start in right field on days when the wind is blowing out.  If so, he might really make some money next off-season.

Ryan Spilborghs, formerly of the Rockies, and Brandon Dickson, formerly of the Cardinals, are heading to Japan’s NPB in 2013.  Although I haven’t yet seen any reports on what these players will be receiving for their trips across the ocean, I think the Dickson signing makes a lot more sense than the Spilborghs signing.

While Dickson hasn’t down much at the major league level (5.14 ERA in 14 career innings pitched), he’s been a fine starter for the last three seasons at AAA Memphis.  Specifically, he’s had ERAs of 3.23, 3.95 and 3.63 with good ratios, which is impressive when you consider what a hitters’ league the Pacific Coast League (“PCL”) is.  Also, Dickson will be only 28 in 2013, so he’s still in his prime. In short, Dickson looks like the kind of pitcher who can be successful in Japan.

Spilborghs, on the other hand, is already 33 years old, and he hasn’t hit particularly well since 2010.  His major league OPS in 2011 was an awful .588 in over 200 plate appearances, approximately half of them at Coors Field — Spilborghs’ road OPS in 2011 was a dreadful .380.

Last year, Spilborghs had an OPS of .774 in more than 500 AAA plate appearances, most of those in the hitter friendly PCL.  His age and performance the last two seasons do not suggest that Spilborghs will take Japan by storm in 2013.

Another concern is that Spilborghs, as an established MLB player, is likely to be relatively expensive for the NPB team signing him (the Seibu Lions).  However, Spilborghs has never really been much of a hitter, a fact disguised by playing all of his major league career as a Colorado Rockie — Spilborghs has a career home OPS of .862, but a career road OPS of .679.

4-A Players Japanese Teams Should Consider

Here are a few hitters who, it seems to me, would be an ideal fit for a Japanese NPB team:

1.  Freddie Lewis.  The former Giant and Blue Jay looks like a player who would be perfectly suited to Japanese baseball.  He will be 32 in 2013, which is getting up there for a professional baseball player, but he still runs well, stealing 25 bases in 33 attempts and hitting seven triples in 2012 for the Buffalo Bisons of the International League.  Players who run well age better than players who don’t.

Lewis had only 20 major league at-bats in 2012, and his future MLB prospects look slim.  However, his .862 OPS was the fifth best in the AAA International League this past season, so he’s still got some professional baseball left in him.

Lewis has substantial major league experience and has shown command of the major league strike zone (career MLB on-base percentage of .344), and enough MLB power that he could be a slugger in Japan.

2.  Dan Johnson.  His .880 OPS was third best in the International League in 2012, and he deserves another shot in NPB, although Japanese teams will probably be reluctant to give him the money it would take to get him to leave the U.S.

Dan Johnson hit a feeble .215 for the Yokohama Bay Stars in 2009, but he posted a .791 OPS due to his power and ability to draw walks.  The problem was that the Bay Stars paid Johnson nearly a million dollars for that performance, which is a lot for one of NPB’s second division teams, and he wasn’t invited back in 2010.

The problem with Johnson returning to Japan is that he is probably the best paid minor league player in North America.  He’s a major league veteran who is perennially one of the best hitters in AAA and gets at least a major league cup of coffee every year.  In other words, an NPB team would have to pony up to get him to leave the U.S.

3. Jeff Clement.  Clement will be 29 in 2013, has substantial major league experience (over 400 MLB plate appearances) (MLB experience is a prerequisite for a Japanese team to take a 4-A player seriously).  His .825 OPS was 9th best in the International League (“IL”), and he can play catcher in a pinch, which adds to his value.

4.  Matt LaPorta.  Matt LaPorta will be 28 in 2013, and it seems apparent that he will not have a successful major league career.  He is a 1B/LF with a career .694 OPS in more than 1,000  MLB plate appearances.  He has a career .916 minor league OPS (.891 at the AAA level).  His .825 OPS was the 10th best in the IL in 2012.

LaPorta’s career numbers virtually scream that he should give Japan a try.

5.  Andrew Brown.  The Rockies just outrighted Brown to AAA Colorado Springs, and he should consider taking off to Japan.  Brown will be 28 in 2013, and his .961 OPS was 5th best in the AAA Pacific Coast League (“PCL”) in 2012.

Brown got over 100 plate appearances for the Rockies in 2012 and hit reasonably well (.730 OPS).  However, he’s a corner outfielder, and his age will definitely work against him in terms of an MLB career.  He’s hit well at the AA and AAA level the last four seasons, and he’s definitely worth a shot by an NPB team.

6.  Brendan Harris.  The 32 year old jack-of-all-trades had a .914 OPS for Colorado Springs in 2012, 9th best in the PCL.

Harris didn’t hit a lick in the International League in 2011, but he has a career .701 OPS in more than 1,700 MLB plate appearances, and his ability to play every infield position could make him extremely valuable to a Japanese team.

7.  Cole Gillespie.  A  28 year old corner outfielder (turns 29 next June) with more than 100 major league plate appearances and extremely high on-base percentages at AAA Reno (between .390 and .405) the last three seasons.

8. Josh Fields.  Soon to be 30 years old, Fields failed miserably for the Yomiuri Giants in 2011 (.553 OPS in 40 games), but deserves another shot, possibly with a second division NPB team, in 2013.  He hit .322 with an .880 OPS for the Albuquerque Isotopes in 2012.

San Francisco Giants Acquire Marco Scutaro from the Rockies

The Giants have made their first major trade before the July 31st trade deadline, acquiring shortstop Marco Scutaro from the Colorado Rockies for AAA middle infielder Charlie Culberson.  While the Giants need help at shortstop and third base, this move looks a lot like last year’s deadline trade for shortstop Orlando Cabrera.

Like Cabrera last year, Scutaro is now 36 and looks like a player nearing the end of the line.  Some of his poor offensive performance this year may have to do with playing in the National League for the first time since 2003.  However, a .684 OPS, even for a shortstop, is poor when you play your home games at Coors Field.  More specifically, Scutaro has a home OPS of .793 and a road OPS of only .570 this season, which was about Cabrera’s OPS (.573) for the 2011 season.

Scutaro could, of course, get hot and really help the Giants.  It’s just that at this moment in time, he looks too much like Orlando Cabrera one year ago.

I’m not a big fan of Charlie Culberson, but the trade is a good move for the Rockies, given that Scutaro isn’t likely to do much for them in the future and Culberson is still young enough at age 23 to develop into a valuable major league player.

My biggest criticism of Culberson is that I don’t believe he has major league level command of the strike zone.  In nearly 2,600 career minor league plate appearances, he’s averaged 34 walks and 119 strike outs for every 600 plate appearances, which is terrible.

After that much playing experience, it’s highly questionable that he’s ever going to develop the plate discipline he’d need to be successful major league hitter, even for a middle infielder.  His tools are strong (he was a former sandwich pick, 51st player selected in the 2007 Draft), but unless he can learn to lay off pitches out of the strike zone, he’ll never be a major league hitter.

They Like Their Players Seasoned in Toronto

A couple of interesting pieces of news out of Toronto today.

Back up shortstop Omar Vizquel says he’s 51% leaning toward retirement at the end of this season.  Omar is 45 this year, and he’s currently hitting .224 with a .486 OPS.

My guess is that there’s about a 99% chance that MLB’s general managers will decide that Omar’s “retired” next off-season, no matter what Omar decides he wants to do.  Hey Omar, if you still want to play baseball, there’s always the Venezuelan Winter League.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jays have also reportedly signed 49 year old Jamie Moyer to a minor league deal.

Moyer started the year in Denver, which is the toughest place in the major leagues to be a pitcher.  Not surprisingly, he got hit pretty hard, although his 5.70 ERA as a Rockie was actually better than five of the nine pitchers to make at least four starts for the Rockies so far this year.  Juan Nicasio has a 5.28 ERA in 11 starts, making him the staff ace, unless you want to consider rookie Drew Pomeranz, who has a 4.70 ERA after five starts.

Anyway, after the Rockies released Moyer, he quickly signed a minor league deal with the Orioles, and made three starts at AAA Norfolk, where he pitched extremely well.  In 16 IP, Moyer had a 1.69 ERA, allowed only 11 hits, one home run, no walks and struck out 16.  The Orioles wanted Moyer to stay in the minors for at least one more start, so Moyer elected to become a free agent, as his contract provided.

Moyer will make two starts at AAA Las Vegas.  Las Vegas is almost certainly a much tougher place to pitch than Norfolk, and as such will provide a better idea of whether Moyer still has enough left to help a major league team.

Drew Hutchinson just joined Kyle Drabek on the 60-day disabled list; and while Brandon Morrow is still on the 15-day DL, he is expected to miss about two months due to an oblique strain.  Finally, yet another starter Henderson Alvarez is suffering from “mild elbow inflammation.”  While Alvarez isn’t expected to miss a start, pitching through elbow inflammation is always a cause for concern.

In short, the Blue Jays desperately need another starting pitcher, and if Moyer can hold his own through two starts in the Pacific Coast League, he’s certain to get a shot in Toronto.

The Best and Worst Hitters’ Parks in MLB

I recently discovered that espn.com now provides stats for what it calls “park factor,” that is, the ratio between runs scored per game in each park divided by the runs scored in the home team’s away games.

Espn.com provides “park factor” for each season going back to 2001.  However, individual seasons don’t mean all that much, because like individual players, ball parks are subject to wild swings from one year to the next in terms of whether more or less runs are scored at home than away.  For all but the best (Coors Field) and the worst (Petco Park) parks, it’s only over a period of years that you can determine which parks are really the best and worst for offense.

I used a five-year sample (2007 through 2011), which still may not be enough, but it’s certainly more meaningful than one or two seasons.  Here are the best to worst hitters’ parks in terms of runs scored for the period from 2007 through 2011:

1.  Coors Field (Rockies)  1.245

2.  The Ballpark at Arlington (Rangers)  1.141

3.  Chase Field (Diamondbacks)  1.127

4.  Fenway Park (Red Sox)  1.116

5.  Wrigley Field (Cubs)  1.098

6.  New Yankee Stadium (Yankees)  1.091  [Old Yankee Stadium, 2004-2008,  1.002]

7.  U.S. Cellular Park (White Sox)  1.079

8.  Camden Yards (Orioles)  1.061

9.  Great American Ballpark (Reds)  1.046

10.  Comerica Park (Tigers)  1.039

11.  Sun Life Stadium (Marlins) 1.038  [Marlins Park,which opened this year, has a whopping 1.271 park factor so far in 2012.]

12.  Citizens Bank Park (Phillies)  1.016

13.  Kauffman Stadium (Royals)  1.015

14.  Rogers Center (Blue Jays) 1.010

15.  Minute Maid Park (Astros)  0.996

16.  Nationals Park (Nationals)  0.992  [RFK Stadium, where the Nats played 2005-2007, 0.892]

17.  Miller Park (Brewers) 0.978

18.  Progressive Field (Indians)  0.972

19.  PNC Park (Pirates)  0.970

20.  Turner Field (Braves) 0.966

21.  Angels Stadium (Angels)  0.964

22.  AT&T Park (Giants) 0.953

22.  Target Field (Twins) 0.953  [Mall of America Field (the Metrodome), 2005-2009, 0.966]

24.  Busch Stadium (Cardinals)  0.926

25.  Dodger Stadium (Dodgers) 0.925

25.  Oakland Coliseum (A’s)  0.925

27.  Citi Field (Mets)  0.914  [Shea Stadium,  2004-2008, 0.886]

28.  Safeco Field (Mariners)  0.899

29.  Tropicana Field (Rays) 0.892

30.  Petco Park (Padres)  0.799

Not many surprises among the five best and five worst places to hit, although I personally was a bit surprised that Tropicana Field is the second-worst park to hit in over the last five years, excluding the now demolished Shea Stadium.

(No sadness about Shea’s destruction from these quarters — of the seven ballparks in which I’ve watched major league baseball games, Shea was the worst, easily beating out Candlestick Park, the Oakland Coliseum and the Vet in Philadelphia for that dubious distinction.  What made Shea the worst was that the sight lines were terrible: the lower deck seats were too flat, making it hard to see over the person in front of you; and the upper deck seats were too steep, making you feel like you were watching the game from outer space.  That said, I saw some good baseball there, including a Darryl Strawberry walk-off home run off John Franco in 1988 that may have been the hardest hit ball I’ve ever seen in person.)

The biggest surprises in my mind are that neither Minute Maid Park or Turner Field were higher on the list.  I remember the early days of Minute Maid, when it was named Enron Field and commonly referred to as Ten-Run Field because of all the scoring there.  Similarly, Atlanta has always been a good place to hit, regardless of the ballpark played in, due to the hot summer weather and the 1,000+ feet of elevation at which the city sits.

From 2002 through 2006, the previous five year period, Minute Maid Park had a park factor of 1.031, which would be 12th on the list above, a good, but not great, place to hit.  Turner Field, however, was a terrible place to hit from 2002 through 2006, coming in at 0.866.  Actually, Turner Field was a good place to hit in 2001 and in 2004 through 2006 (on average), but was absolutely horrendous (0.655 and 0.651) in 2002 and 2003.

As mentioned above, parks vary greatly from year to year, so perhaps ten-year averages would be more meaningful than five year averages.  Of course, ballparks also change over time (five new parks have opened since the start of the 2008 season), which means that parks rise and fall somewhat depending on whether or not the new parks are good places to hit.

Of the five new parks noted above, all except for Target Field appear to be better hitters’ parks than the ball parks they replaced, and Target Field so far looks to be only a little bit worse than the Metrodome.

This isn’t particularly surprising: baseball fans like offense, so new parks presumably are constructed with offense in mind.  Also, the new parks are generally baseball-only and are much cozier than the multi-use stadiums that were constructed between 1960 and 1985, the previous generation of baseball stadiums.  Less foul territory means fewer foul-outs and thus higher batting averages and more runs scored.

Hope Springs Eternal

The problem with posting your comments/opinions for the world to see is that sometimes you make a fool out of yourself trying to predict the future.  No sooner than you blast a player, and he has his best game in nearly a decade.

Today, Barry Zito threw his first shutout in nine years (!?!), and in Colorado of all places.  With the Yankees and Red Sox both starting with 0-3 records for the first time since 1966, you get the impression it’s going to be strange year — which is good — the game would get awfully boring if there weren’t a few crazy surprises every year.

I’m not going to admit that Zito has finally regained his old form after just one start, re-tooled delivery or not.  The fact that he hasn’t pitched a shutout in nine years speaks for itself.  Zito wasn’t exactly over-powering, striking out only four in his nine innings of work.  His control was exceptional today, and you can’t really expect that to last, given his 4.1 BB/9IP over his five year career as a Giant.

Frankly, if Zito pitches as well this year as he did in 2009 and 2010, I’d be reasonably satisfied.  One shutout to start the season at least gets him off to a good start toward that relatively modest goal.

One thing is for certain, though.  The Giants really, really wanted to win this game after losing three close games in Arizona.  It isn’t often nowadays a team lets a starter throw 114 pitches in his first start of season in early April.  With Zito, however, the Giants will try to get as much as they can, when they can.  If they get this kind of game out of him after five years, there isn’t much reason to think about tomorrow.

Oakland A’s to Sign Jonny Gomes

mlbtraderumors.com reports that the A’s are on the verge of signing corner outfielder Jonny Gomes.  On paper, it’s a brilliant move.

It’s been a pretty grim off-season for A’s fans, as the team seems determined to trade away the core of their pitching staff for a bunch of prospects who may or may not ever amount to anything.  One thing is certain, though.  The prospects aren’t likely to do much to help the A’s win in 2012.

The A’s are building for the eventual move to San Jose, which may or may not happen one day.  (This post could easily turn into a diatribe about what a turd Bud Selig is, particularly why he hasn’t pushed through the obvious solution — let the A’s play in San Jose and get construction on the new stadium started and find a way to pay off the Giants for their territorial rights with cold, hard cash — but that’s not the point of this post.)

The A’s recently traded for Seth Smith, a move that really didn’t excite me at all.  At least with the A’s signing Gomes, you can see a little a Money-Ball thinking behind it all.

In theory, Smith and Gomes are the perfect platoon combination.  Smith is terrific against right-handed pitchers, but can’t hit southpaws a lick (.881 career OPS against RHP; .588 career OPS against LHP).

Jonny Gomes is exactly the opposite.  He wears out lefties, but can’t hit right-handers well enough to start at the corner outfield positions (.877 career OPS against LHP; .733 OPS against RHP).

If you played Smith only against righties and Gomes only against lefties, you would have one hell of a left-fielder at a bargain price, not mention at least one really good platoon pinch hitter ready to come off the bench.

As I said, in theory it looks like an ideal arrangement.  In practice, I’m not quite so sure.

They’re both getting a little long in the tooth for the kinds of players they are.  More importantly, they are leaving good or great hitters’ parks in the NL (note that Gomes hit quite a bit better in Cinci than he did in Washington) to come to the worst hitters’ park in the AL.  It would be surprising if one of the two did not fall flat on his face in 2012 given this change, heavy platoon play or no.

One thing to be said for Gomes, given how his career has gone (he’s had a tough time getting guaranteed major league contracts even when he hit well) and the fact that he’s from Petaluma, he’s probably the only professional hitter in America glad to be going to Oakland.