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A) Yes, the park affects the opponent, but that's the problem with bringing the fences in. It's not like it only comes in for our right-handers. The kind of pitcher who can excel here will likely change. Assuming we keep our monster young arms maybe that's not a problem, but we're not gonna get a lot of effective home innings from the Vargases of the world any more (ERA 5 on the road).
B) See A. I like our pen because it has a ton of power arms who aren't likely to suffer too much from a fairer ballpark, but the illusions will be unlikely to see a lot of mound time. I dunno that the Orioles had a viable strategy so much as ridiculous luck in 1-run games. 29-9? Don't plan on that happening again.
C) Jaso could have played C/DH/1B for several hundred ABs a year easily, considering we'll have some RHBs for him to give days off to. It's not the end of the world to trade him, but a great lefty platoon bat is a weapon. A righty platoon bat isn't nearly as much of one.
Like I said, I'm prepared to get behind Morse being a force on this team, and then seeing if we can keep him around. Jaso was useful in many ways but Zunino and Montero should lock down the catching duties nicely. If Saunders and Seager can repeat their 2012s (with better home #s) then our lefty bats shouldn't take a large hit either.
Looking forward to Spring Training and seeing the final makeup of this team. The pitching spots especially should be interesting, although I still expect to add another veteran arm before then a la Millwood last year.
~G