Barry Bonds isn’t coming here. Well, maybe if the M’s broke the bank to get him, but would you really want to pay ARod money to get one year of Bonds? Bonds is either going to stick around with the Giants while he chases Aaron, or he becomes a DH for the Angels (his family is in SoCal, and Moreno has pledged he’s going to make a big move — and though I seriously doubt that is it, he is willing to cough up the cash if the right opportunity came along). Besides, despite the M’s flailing efforts in recent years, DH is the easiest position to fill on a team. There’s no reason to tie up a big chunk of your payroll there.

There’s a reason every team turned down Lee last year. It’s possible he’s turned a corner, but it’s just as possible he’s had one fluke year. In any case I don’t see what the fascination is — even if you brought his numbers straight across, vs applying the usual translation factors for Japanese league stats, he’s not that amazing. He’s not going to be the next Ichiro. He could be the next Matsui — but which one? You’re taking a big gamble.

I would think getting a 1B and making Sexon the DH make sense too… that or getting a DH. there are a few things that can go around. for example. they could sign Barry *gasp* Bonds… whom with a year at DH has a good chance of putting up a good healthy season and has no real long term commitments attached. if you can’t find good long term solution, settle for great short term onces. not medicoare mediuem term solutions.

In the 1B market, Lee from Korea might not actually cost THAT much. remember that this is a guy that was turned down by every team last year. if your smart and quick you might be able to get a pretty economic deal on him. and he’s a lefty. which seems to fit the M’s needs. other wise the market gets pretty junky from there own and you probably should just consider getting Barry Bonds….

It seems more like a scenario where, after a few years, the overwhelming data shows the park hoses RHB more than they thought… so the park should be tweaked to make it a more evenly balanced park for RHB/LHB, just like how the batter’s eye was improved a couple years ago to everyone’s satisfaction (so it seems-I’ve heard nothing like the complaints I used to hear in the press since they put in the honeycomb).

Safeco is built to heavily penalize right handed hitters.

Most hitters (and most people) are right handed.

This means that your options to put together a roster that isn’t overly penalized by Safeco are limited, and thus expensive.

EVERYBODY wants left handed power, so scarcity is involved too inasmuch as the limited resources are heavily competed for.

This is, of course, an oversimplification; but you get the idea.

Actually, I was questioning that–because I was wondering if you built an extreme park where you win 70% of your games, will you be able to win outside of it? It’s all seemed conventional wisdom-like, and conventional wisdom should either be challeneged or supported by data.

Are there any other teams like the Minnesota Twins that relied on their home park as much? Because their example isn’t worth quite that much if they are the only team who took advantage of their home part like that.

I mean, let’s say that you assemble a roster that wins 70% of its home games. That team only has to win 30% of its road games (plus one game) to have a winning season. Fans at home go home happy a lot. And sometimes all you have to be is good at home — see the 1987 and 1991 Minnesota Twins. If memory serves, both teams won every postseason home game, lost every postseason road game, and took home big trophies at the end of October.

The M’s didn’t choose Sexson over Delgado.