So now that FA will have the dimensions of the ballparks be a factor in determining their destination, what the hell is the incentive to have a neutral park?? Seems to me that the best parks will be burlington and sante fe depending on the type of team you hope to build.

Not really, you get just that-- neutrality. An extreme pitcher's park won't attract any hitters and an extreme hitters park won't attract any pitchers. You get a moderate ability to attract both. Seems like an neutral park is actually a great way to have the best chance to build the type of well-rounded team that such a park would dictate.

Seems to me a neutral park will only get you average FA, no studs. I've never seen a team win a WS without a few studs.

how many times have you had an offer out on a FA where it came down to a tiebreaker?

Ballpark factors only play into the equation when multiple teams offer a FA a max contract. Which happens, I don't know, about once ever 5-6 seasons?? And if you've got a max contract on your roster, chances are you can't afford a second one.

I think people are making WAAAAAAAAY too big a deal about this.

How many MAX FAs are there in a given season?

A FA pitcher will take $1 more to play in Santa Fe. Fact.

This has to be one of the dumbest threads started in a long time.

Quote: Originally Posted By kingjohndevi on 1/23/2010Seems to me a neutral park will only get you average FA, no studs. I've never seen a team win a WS without a few studs.

Aside from the point being belabored about how this situation rarely happens, anyway, I don't think you understand my point. If you're a neutral park team and you offer a max contract to a player, you've got roughly a 50% chance of nabbing that player whether he's a pitcher or a hitter (since there's about a 50% chance that the team bidding against you is a pitcher's park team bidding for a hitter, or vice versa). So obviously you can nab huge stars this way. Having a pitcher's park increases those odds if you're bidding on a pitcher but decreases those odds when you're bidding on a hitter.

And further to prez's point... a heavy pitcher's park makes decent pitchers great, while the converse happens with heavy hitter's parks.

If anything, you'd want the best pitchers in Santa Fe, hitters in Tacoma, etc. for a better chance at winning, no?

Quote: Originally posted by iain on 1/23/2010And further to prez's point... a heavy pitcher's park makes decent pitchers great, while the converse happens with heavy hitter's parks.If anything, you'd want the best pitchers in Santa Fe, hitters in Tacoma, etc. for a better chance at winning, no?

That's the way I look at it. If you have bad pitchers in a hitters park, you'll lose too many high scoring games. If you have bad hitters in a pitchers park, you'll lose too many low scoring games

That's why I like the neutral park, and always will. You just have to build a generally strong team. A good player is a good player, period.