Terry Ryan said this ballpark [Target Field] has not settled in...

For those interested here is the link:
Judd & Dubay | 1500 ESPN Twin Cities ? Minnesota Sports News & Opinion (Twins, Vikings, Wolves, Wild, Gophers)

Hour 2 from 1/30

When asked if you guys knew if the ballpark was be tough for lefties to hit out of the park (TR wasn't involved in that was he?... anyway) TR says:

"Well this ballpark hasn't settled in I don't think ... I don't know about concrete settling in .. I wasn't a part of this thing all that much but we set out to make it fair..."

I just couldn't believe that I actually heard the stadium settling/concete being used as a possible excuse for poor performance, and by Terry Ryan of all people.

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Originally Posted by S.

The details are a bit hazy from all the mind numbing chemicals it required to watch Twins games in 2012, but I recall other teams' hitters doing just dandy with that settling concrete in Target Field,

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Too true

Well, we can hold out hope that the RF fence settles down another 12 or so feet, rendering that high wall less of an obstacle to our otherwise fearsome Murderers' Row of lefty mashers.

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Originally Posted by LoganJones

Did he actually say settled in in reference to the physical space? Or was he saying the park factors haven't really settled in, to give them a good idea what kind of ballpark it really is?

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The latter.

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Originally Posted by 70charger

Could somebody who actually witnessed this please answer this question? Otherwise, this will just devolve into a Terry Ryan-bashing thread.

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Well, it certainly could be misinterpreted....but what other reason is Terry Ryan talking about concrete? Just a few years ago Thome had "heard about" this same issue. Seems like an organizational selling point Ryan is just now voicing directly to me.

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Originally Posted by BrentMpls

For those interested here is the link:
Judd & Dubay | 1500 ESPN Twin Cities ? Minnesota Sports News & Opinion (Twins, Vikings, Wolves, Wild, Gophers)

Hour 2 from 1/30

When asked if you guys knew if the ballpark was be tough for lefties to hit out of the park (TR wasn't involved in that was he?... anyway) TR says:

"Well this ballpark hasn't settled in I don't think ... I don't know about concrete settling in .. I wasn't a part of this thing all that much but we set out to make it fair..."

I just couldn't believe that I actually heard the stadium settling/concete being used as a possible excuse for poor performance, and by Terry Ryan of all people.




Too true

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So that would be to RF, not LF... :-)

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Originally Posted by TheLeviathan

Well, it certainly could be misinterpreted....but what other reason is Terry Ryan talking about concrete? Just a few years ago Thome had "heard about" this same issue. Seems like an organizational selling point Ryan is just now voicing directly to me.

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He's talking about how the park is settling into more of a pitchers or hitters ballpark and whether it is "fair". He answered in the context of the RF fence being too far and if it would make sense to move in fences.

What he did not do was suggest concrete had any negative impact on the team compared to the opposition. That would be a problem.

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Originally Posted by drjim

He's talking about how the park is settling into more of a pitchers or hitters ballpark and whether it is "fair". He answered in the context of the RF fence being too far and if it would make sense to move in fences.

What he did not do was suggest concrete had any negative impact on the team compared to the opposition. That would be a problem.

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No but he's suggesting the concrete settling is part of how the field is playing. Which is something Thome regurgitated a few years back about why it's hard to hit home runs. Essentially, Ryan is verifying this weird notion that part of why lefties don't hit homeruns is because of how the concrete is or is not settling.

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Originally Posted by TheLeviathan

Ryan is verifying this weird notion that part of why lefties don't hit homeruns is because of how the concrete is or is not settling.

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And witches.

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Originally Posted by Alex

Can someone explain what effect this would have or why there's even a theory that it would? I'm being serious here.

Also, does it somehow negatively affect our pitching as well and what is Josh Willingham's super power to negate the effect?

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still wet concrete doesnt relect the heat ,dried concrete causing riasing heat to help carry the ball?

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Originally Posted by Brock Beauchamp

And witches.

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and days that end in 'y', but only for his lefties... :-)

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Originally Posted by TheLeviathan

No but he's suggesting the concrete settling is part of how the field is playing. Which is something Thome regurgitated a few years back about why it's hard to hit home runs. Essentially, Ryan is verifying this weird notion that part of why lefties don't hit homeruns is because of how the concrete is or is not settling.

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Ryan was asked about LH hitters having trouble hitting home runs. He replied "This ballpark hasn't settled in yet I don't think. I think it was a little more fair this year than the previous two. And I don't know about concrete settling in and stuff like that." He then expands on how they wanted it to be fair when they built it and not a launching pad and that they are still analyzing it before fences would be moved in.

I still read that to mean that the park hasn't settled as a pitchers or hitters ballpark moreso than about concrete settling but it is ambiguous. Right center is a canyon and has a high fence. Probably good they are developing RH power hitters.

Concrete cures over the first several years after it is poured; during this process excess moisture in the concrete evaporates (this is a fact). The theory is that all this moisture leaving the concrete makes the air heavier and the ball doesn't carry. I have no idea if this is true or not but its not out of the realm of possibility when you consider the incredible amount of concrete that goes into a stadium.

If I am not mistaken, the total number of homeruns hit at Target field has gone up each year.

So is the new Vikings stadium going to cause our kicker to lose a few feet on his kicks?

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Originally Posted by drjim

He then expands on how they wanted it to be fair when they built it and not a launching pad and that they are still analyzing it before fences would be moved in.

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Except that the concrete issue was completely, 100% unprompted. Why are Twins players and now their public figurehead even mentioning this? Who, if not someone in the organization, is propagating this nonsense and why in the hell would Ryan even mention it if not as at least a partial excuse?

[QUOTE=BrentMpls;80293]For those interested here is the link:
Judd & Dubay | 1500 ESPN Twin Cities ? Minnesota Sports News & Opinion (Twins, Vikings, Wolves, Wild, Gophers)

Hour 2 from 1/30

When asked if you guys knew if the ballpark was be tough for lefties to hit out of the park (TR wasn't involved in that was he?... anyway) TR says:

"Well this ballpark hasn't settled in I don't think ... I don't know about concrete settling in .. I wasn't a part of this thing all that much but we set out to make it fair..."

I just couldn't believe that I actually heard the stadium settling/concete being used as a possible excuse for poor performance, and by Terry Ryan of all people.

This statement reminds me of one I read yesterday: "After being fiercely whipped, the chef fried the egg."

In 2010,Twins pitchers gave up the 64 HR (24th most)
2011: 80 (10th most)
2012: 6th most HR at home (98)

So trending up. An increase of 34

Thing is, for the Twins hitters:

2010 we hit 52 HR (28th)
2011 we hit 46 HR (27th)
2012 we hit 69 HR (20th)


An increase of 17 and going down, then up.

So is it due to the 'quality' of our pitching or the park settling?

Stop the crying and play the hand that you are dealth.

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Originally Posted by ThePuck

In 2010,Twins pitchers gave up the 64 HR (24th most)
2011: 80 (10th most)
2012: 6th most HR at home (98)

So trending up. An increase of 34

Thing is, for the Twins hitters:

2010 we hit 52 HR (28th)
2011 we hit 46 HR (27th)
2012 we hit 69 HR (20th)


An increase of 17 and going down, then up.

So is it due to the 'quality' of our pitching or the park settling?

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2011 Twins offense was godawful. Outside of that it has been trending towards more HRs in both hit and allowed. I'll go with park settling.

Maybe there is something to this concrete settling.

What an absolute load of ****.

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Originally Posted by Kwak

"Well this ballpark hasn't settled in I don't think ... I don't know about concrete settling in .. I wasn't a part of this thing all that much but we set out to make it fair..."

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When I listened to the audiocast, it seemed clear what he meant by "settled" the first time he used the word, and then the second usage was kind of off-the wall, wait, let me rephrase, out of left field, no never mind, anyway, it seemed like he was referring to some off-microphone exchange when he brought up the word "concrete". The effect was somewhat old-man ramble-ish, but I did not get the idea he was bringing up concrete to explain anything at all. More like he was referring to an inside joke, which is not usually a good idea. So, kind of dumb portion of the interview, but nobody speaks in public without eventually messing up. I give him a complete pass on this one.