Kerel Cooper Talks About Lowering the Fences

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• srt August 22, 2011 at 7:17 am

  I don’t want to see Citi as a HR happy hitting park either. However, I do believe some adjustments might be in order. I’d like to see them rethink that MoZone area for one. I also wouldn’t mind seeing them lower the LF field fence a bit either.

  I’ve watched just about every game this year. Right now, outside of Ike and possibly Duda (yet to be seen how consistent he’ll be up here at the ML level), there is currently no one on this team who has the power to consistently clear those fences when hit out there. And I know teams can turn over every 5 years or so but playing small ball, when you’re up against opponents like the Brewers who do have the talent for clearing those fences, is going to put you at a distinct disadvantage.

  I don’t want this park to be the type where FA power hitters think twice about signing here. Don’t want it to be where we take a chance on a pitcher with a tendency for the long ball b/c it’s ‘Citi Field’. Still have to play half those games on the road.

  I’d rather see the park dead average in both categories than be labeled an extreme pitcher’s park.
  • any August 22, 2011 at 7:38 am

    I agree MF about wanting something fair (which is what I always considered Shea to be). I guess the right word is Neutral.

    Lower the great wall in LF to 8′, and pull in RCF to make it more symmetrical (get rid of death valley), and you probably make a huge difference. I would also like to see the Mo zone notch out removed, just because I think it is silly and contrived.

    Those changes should not be particularly hard or expensive to do (you have to figure the place was designed with some adjust-ability built in!). As a side benefit, when you lower and pull in RCF fence, they can probably get a few more rows of seats in there!
• alex68 August 22, 2011 at 8:20 am

  again, i agree it should be done, but i mean.. pitching, pitching and pitching is the problem, specially the BULLPEN sandy alderson!!!!!!!!
• Lifelongmetsfan August 22, 2011 at 8:27 am

  Who the heck is Kerrel Cooper? Cecil’s kid? Why lower the fences? Keep the ballpark the way it is……. Jason Bay is going to hit home runs if he gets his act together not because the fences were lowered!
  Hey Kerrel how about advocating for obtaining a real major league catcher? or 2nd baseman?
  your happy with the likes of Josh Thole and Justin Turner?
  yeah, the Mets lower the wall 5 feet and bring the walls 15 feet closer to home plate, what then? I’ll tell you what then, we STILL lose! If we lowered the fences 15 feet and brought them in 30 feet only when the Mets hit we would still LOSE! You know why?
  Our players are NOT that good! Duda. Thole…. Turner.
  Jason Bay hitting 9 home runs!!! 9!
  • alex68 August 22, 2011 at 8:34 am

    Lifelong,

    who do you wanna replae those players with?? hu and eamus??? please elaborate?? next year won’t be pretty either, with the likelyhood of reyes gone, no santana, this team is pretty much the same, and we’re seeing how they will play in 2012.. i do agree though, THOLE just plain suck!!! jeezz
    • JoeSmith August 22, 2011 at 9:07 am

      Hu and Eamus?

      How about………

      Gary Mathews jr
      Guierro Moto after testing positive
      Moises Alou on his 40th bday
      Julio Franco on his 50th bday
      Alex Cora
      Mike Jacobs
      Ben Johnson
      Frank Catalanno after he filled out his retirement papers
      Aregenis Reyes
      Ramon Martinez
      Amboriox Burgous
      Brian Lawrence
      Jorge Sosa
      Jeff Coninne
      Chip Ambres
      David Newhan
      Ricardo Rincon
      Brandon Knight
      Tony Armas Jr
      Matt Wise
      raul Casanova
      Trot Nixon
      Brady Clark

      Want to go on?

      Yeah Hu and Eamus sucked………
      • alex68 August 22, 2011 at 9:15 am

        Well, i am talking about sandy’s regime, and btw, his offseason keeps getting WORST AND WORST by the day… yikes!!!
        • alex68 August 22, 2011 at 9:29 am

          thayer
          carrasco
          hu
          eamus
          beato
          capuano
          izzy
          paulino
          boyer
          byrdak
          pridie

          all of the above in 1 year…
          again, the WORST offseason EVER by a met GM.. if not, is rank top 3 of ALL TIME
          • jessep August 22, 2011 at 9:37 am

            So now Beato, Capuano, Izzy, Paulino, Byrdak are indictments on Alderson? Funny how things change so quickly, you just list them to try and make your list look longer….. BTW Pridie wasn’t an off-season grab by Alderson.
            • alex68 August 22, 2011 at 9:42 am

              don’t we have to wait for the season to be over before we can judge how a GM does right? so far, his moves are not looking good.. beato came CRASHING down to EARTH, so did izzy, byrdak just became HORRIBLE, i mean.. nothin he did this past offseason is worth talking about right??
              • jessep August 22, 2011 at 10:19 am

                So alex, the fact that those guys helped give the team LIFE early on in the season simply doesn’t count?

                I don’t get it. First this team was “too good to give up on and traded KRod and Beltran.”

                Now guys like Beato, Capuano, Izzy, Paulino, Byrdak are indictments on Alderson?

                Seems pretty convenient
      • jessep August 22, 2011 at 9:17 am

        Nicely Done joeSmith. I wish I could give you a “high 5″ instead of a “like”
      • Vinny B August 22, 2011 at 10:30 am

        Alou has the longest hitting streak in Mets history. And hit .342 in his career as a Met – His name should NOT be on a list that includes guys like GMJ, Newhan, ect – Those guys were terrible, while Alou hit great with the Mets.

        By the way, just to show how good that hitting streak was, here’s an interesting fact: Alou’s hitting streak was longest hitting streak by a new york player since Joe Dimaggio’s 56 game hitting streak in 1941.
        • JoeSmith August 22, 2011 at 11:56 am

          While it’s lovely to say he had a hitting streat while with that team, he also missed more then half that season, he played only 84 games, then his option was picked up and he played 13 yes thirteen games the following year.

          How you pick up an option on a 40 year player that couldn’t stay on the field is beyond me.

          Yes Alou belongs on that list
          • Vinny B August 22, 2011 at 12:14 pm

            In 07, he had the third highest average in Mets history – So putting him on a list with GMJ and David Newhan is a big, BIG stretch.

            I don’t care how old he was, he doesn’t deserve to be on that list of bums you have, he’s a terrific hitter, and hit great for the Mets.

            So who would you wanted the Mets sign to play LF in 07 anyway? Who was available? And I bet whoever was avaible to play LF that year, wouldn’t be as valuable to the Mets as Alou was, even if that guy played a full 162 games.
            • alex68 August 22, 2011 at 12:31 pm

              vinny:
              i like you, but alou for 1 season was bad, only play 87 games, picking up his option was EVEN WORSE.. instead of waiting for the market to see what else was available, he resigned a 41 year old guy who just played 15 games during that season, he could’ve hit 450 for us, he played 102 in possible 324 games during that span, all while making 16 million, MISTAKE..
              • Vinny B August 22, 2011 at 12:41 pm

                I’m just saying he shouldn’t be on that list. I’m sure you would agree that Alou is a far, FAR better hitter than GMJ, right?

                if you want to say he’s a bad signing that’s fair, but to put him on list with GMJ? That’s ridiculous.
                • JoeSmith August 22, 2011 at 12:51 pm

                  Fine, career wise he doesn’t belong in the same sentence as GMJ agreed, but it was a bad decision, no matter how you slice it.

                  Can’t use his BA as a Met as leverage when he played so few games.
                • jessep August 22, 2011 at 12:44 pm

                  I can prolly agree with that. He should be on a list of bad decisions, not bad players
            • jessep August 22, 2011 at 12:29 pm

              He played in barely half the Mets games in 2007. His batting average is irrelevant. And I don’t think Joesmith’s point is based on 2007 really as much as it’s about 2008. A 40 year old hitter who missed 47% of the regular season had his option picked up for $7.5mil.

              And again, the response I am sure can be “who should they have signed?” which I’ll respond to now. They shouldn’t HAVE to sign a 41 year old player to an option he doesn’t deserve.

              I agree they HAD to sign him probably based on the market. The problem is they didn’t have ANYBODY else. Heck you coulda brought Cliff Floyd back for almost $5mil less, and got about 60 more games out of your starting LF.
        • jessep August 22, 2011 at 12:07 pm

          He also played in 31% of the games the Mets played while he was with the team. So his career batting average as a Met is slightly higher than his career games played as a Met. Nice.
  • Des August 22, 2011 at 9:26 am

    Lifelong, why the indignation about Kerel Cooper? You’re supporting what Kerel said. It’s time for our team to be stocked with the speedy, line drive hitters that Kerel and others want.
    • Lifelongmetsfan August 22, 2011 at 9:39 am

      No fences! ENough with fence talk! the word “wall” “fence” “homerun-barrior” “Great wall of Flushing” all out of my vocab.. I refuse to acknowledge their existence…
      btw my apologizes to this Kerrel guy I never watched his video..seems like a good Met fan wearing a Met shirt, lots of Met stuff around his place… etc.. but NO FENCE TALK! Zip it! NO excuses!
• MetFan Lou August 22, 2011 at 8:57 am

  Oh, Pleeez! You have a lousy team that smells worse than the Carnarsie dump and you want to lower the fences, for what reason, the garbage will still smell but it will look better smelling?
• Lifelongmetsfan August 22, 2011 at 9:19 am

  That’s my point. what Lou said.
  What I want Alex is for the Wilpons and Alderson to finally honestly state that they have entered into a rebuilding process which began in December of 2011. I want an apology from Fred Wilpon for his dishonestly. I want the Mets to clearly announce their rebuilding plan.
  • alex68 August 22, 2011 at 9:27 am

    ahh, you mean december 2010??
  • gary s. August 22, 2011 at 9:36 am

    Llmf, If all u want is an apology, you have nothing to worry about.The Wilpons excel at putting a crap product on the field and apologizing to the fans at the end of the season after thay have taken all your money.As for Mr. Cooper and his above article.Please, enough with pitching and a speed team custom built for citifield.We have a staff of 3 and 4 starters, our 2 fastest players (reyes and pagan) have bad legs or don’t know how to run the bases and the owners have no money to spend on top free agent pitchers.As far as slap hitters, do u want alex cora back?What planet are you living on?Adjusting the fences at citicavern does not gaurantee the Mets a Home field advantage or more wins but at least the games might be a little more exciting.The 11-9 loss to the brewers was probably the most exciting game of the year.We need some more games like that.MOST OF THE GAMES IN THIS CAVERN ARE SNOREFESTS!!!!1-0, 2-1 scores in the 5th or 6th inning are the norm.We will probably still stink, but at least fans might have a reason to leave their seats for something other than a walk to shake shack if the park is adjusted to actually look like an mlb ballpark.Whew, i feel much better now.
• Lifelongmetsfan August 22, 2011 at 9:35 am

  Opps! Yes!!!!!…………
• sarge August 22, 2011 at 11:23 am

  If we had the same dimensions as Shea there would be no discussion for it was considered a pitcher friendly park till it’s retirement.
  Citi Field was the Wilpon’s excuse to honor the Brooklyn Dodgers and make a park that was different, for what reason who knows, when conventional new parks all have basically the same dimensions as past parks with a difference here and there.

  Moving the LF wall down to 8-10 feet would be good and getting rid of the indentation in RCF would be just about all needed.
  The fact that the team this year has not hit is partly talent, partly lack of lineup continuity also but for hitters like Bay, Wright, Paulino who don’t have Duda, Davis or Fielder type power fences like the ones at Shea would have helped them so I don’t see how changing the dimensions to the approximately the same as Shea is just giving into the bad players on this team.

  It shows just in the game yesterday, the ball hit by Bay is out in all parks except maybe a couple including Citi so yes bring down the LF wall and bring in the RCF dent.
• sarge August 22, 2011 at 11:25 am

  Building a team around the park is a good idea but as Terry has shared sometimes you need the bloop, walk and a blast to get back into game and not have to always depend on scratch hits when a 3 run HR can get u back in game fast.
• gary s. August 22, 2011 at 1:20 pm

  Sarge, we are on the same page.I think something along those lies will happen off season.Than i have nothing to complain about any more.LOL