Padres very open to moving Petco Park's fences

With Jeff Moorad and Jed Hoyer out of the picture it appears that the Padres are willing to reexamine the possibility of moving in the Petco Park fences to make it more hitter friendly.

How pitcher-friendly is Petco Park? From 2008 through 2010, it was roughly 20 percent more difficult to score runs in Petco than in the "average" National League ballpark.

Padres CEO Tom Garfinkel answered a tweet by fence moving proponent Mickey Koke last night.

@mickeykoke @bparker17 Josh and I have been discussing it and are studying it.Yes, very open to it. If we do it, we have to do it right.

— Tom Garfinkel (@TomGarfinkel) April 17, 2012

Josh, of course, is Padres General Manager Josh Byrnes. His predecessor Jed Hoyer was opposed to moving the fences, placing the blame on the hitters saying they were "spooked" by the dimensions.

"Let's not blame the ballpark, I think we have to blame our offensive approach or our lack of hits."

Last year Padres Manager Bud Black seemed open to moving in the fences.

"I do think we can discuss doing some things to maybe make this a little more balanced."

Just to summarize my feelings, I believe that the park isn't the pitcher's haven that it is made out to be. Pitchers might see benefits to in the short term if they're on a one year contract and looking to sign elsewhere in the future. If they are only worried about their ERA and not about wins then Petco Park could be a good place for them. Young pitchers under longer contracts will quickly grow frustrated that they don't receive the run support for their quality outings. If they make one mistake early they know that they've in most cases already lost the game. There is more pressure on them.

So really who's benefiting from an extreme pitcher's park? Aging pitchers looking to move on, fans who like low scoring pitcher's duels, and downtown residents that are annoyed by fireworks being shot off after home runs.

Historically Gaslamp Ballers have always voted to leave the park the way it is. Let's see if anything has changed.