With numerous holes to fill, the Mets have decided to address their bullpen first. However, they’re not talking about adding another lefty to assist Perpetual Pedro Feliciano or a set-up man for Francisco Rodriguez. Instead, the issues with the bullpen being addressed are where each bullpen will be located at Citi Field in 2010.
In his blog for the Star-Ledger today, Brian Costa reported that the bullpens at Citi Field are being restructured so that each team can have a non-obstructed view of the playing field. When the bullpens were originally constructed, the Mets claimed the bullpen adjacent to the field while the visiting team was given the dungeon. In all honesty, those players had a better view of the auto body shops on 126th Street than they had of the events taking place on the field.
It was always difficult for TV cameras to focus on which relievers were warming up in the opponents’ bullpen because those pitchers were invisible to mostly everyone. The people who had the best view of those relievers were the fans posing for pictures by the old Shea Stadium Home Run Apple near the bullpen gate entrance to Citi Field.
What I’m curious to know is what this will do to the configurations of Citi Field. Consider the picture of the Citi Field bullpens shown below as they appeared during the 2009 season:
The Mets are planning on positioning the bullpens side-to-side, where the relief pitcher warming up will be throwing towards the outfield fence. Looking at the current dimensions of the bullpen, it doesn’t appear to be feasible to position the home and away bullpens in this new way without moving the fences in front of the bullpen or behind it, although Costa’s blog states that the bullpens can be positioned in this fashion.
The Mets have already said that they will not be altering the dimensions of Citi Field for the 2010 season. So what’s going on here? Personally, I wouldn’t mind the right field fences being moved in a few feet. It actually has nothing to do with the potential for more home runs being hit into the bullpen area.
Remember how Carlos Beltran used to glide towards the fence at Shea Stadium before timing his leap perfectly to rob an opposing player of a home run? I can’t recall Beltran or any other player this past season robbing a hitter of a potential home run. The only places where the fence is short enough for this to happen is at the bullpen wall or down the right field line. Unfortunately, given the deep dimensions of Citi Field, by the time the centerfielder gets to the wall, the ball has already gone over it.
Another thing that bugs me about this move is that the Mets are doing this to accommodate the visiting teams. At Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, the visiting team’s bullpen is located above the Phillies bullpen, placing oppposing pitchers directly underneath the highly opinionated Phillies fans who are not shy to express their feelings about those pitchers from close range. The Phillies have not realigned their bullpens to make their opponents more comfortable, so why should the Mets do so?
It just seems like an unnecessary move to me. It makes it appear as if the Mets are more concerned for the teams we root against rather than the team we root for. Of course, if they’re doing this because John Lackey or Roy Halladay prefers the bullpen to be facing in the new direction, then I’m all for it!
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Great article. I will have to disagree with you however. The difference with Philly’s ‘pen and the Mets ‘pen is that in Philly the opposing players still have a fine view of the game. In Queens the opposing ‘pen has to look through two fences, making it impossible to see the game. Also Costa stated with this renovation the Mets will get rid of that hideous white tarp above the bullpen.
This is all symptomatic of the poor planning that was used in creation of Citifield. The designs appear to have been made by people with no knowledge of baseball and approved without a blink of the eye by those who should have known better. The bullpens were a hideous example of the deficiencies of Citi. Now the proposed fix is nothing more than another hodgepodge superimposed on a fundeamentally flawed design. The Mets need to bite the bullet and spend the $ to redesign the OF. Get rid of all the gimmicky crap and go back to simplicity. Change the wall totally by taking out all the ins and outs and ups and downs and make a uniform wall. Move it in and reduce its height and even it out symetrically. The bullpens need to be separated to opposite ends of the OF with uniform designs.
If they insist on leaving the existing OF design in place, then why not copy the Phillies and stack the bullpens in their current position? Place the visitors on top so their BP staff can be harrassed by Mets fans similar to what takes place in Philly. That will solve the viewing problem and create distraction for the visiting BP as well. Perhaps that will have the relievers so uncomfortable that they will groove a few after entering the game.
ONE POTENTIAL CAUSE FOR A CHANGE, MAY BE, AS REPORTED BY ROB DIBBLE(DRIVEL) GFNATS COMMENTATOR, THAT MLB HAD SENT AN OFFICIAL INSPECTOR TO EVALUATE THE PLACEMENT OF PENS AS NOTED IN VARIOUS VISITING TEAM ‘OFFICIAL’ COMPLAINTS AND SINCE ALTERATIONS CAN NOT BE MADE TO DIMENSIONS “IN-SEASON” THE COMPROMISE MAY HAVE BEEN, AN OFFSEASON ACCOMODATION FOR POSSIBLE MLB RULING AGAINST US.
SEE GUYS, THERE IS CERTAINLY SOME VALUE TO BEING FORCED TO WATCH OPPONENT’S BROADCASTS. ROB DIVEL RANTED CONTINUASOUSLY AGAINST THE VISITOR PEN & BY & LARGE A HUGE PREPONDERANCE OF OPPONENT REPORTS WERE CITI FAVORABLE.