31
2011
Pictures Of New Citi Field Dimensions and Blue Wall – Awesome!
An article by Hojo's Mojo
The Mets officially announced Monday that they will move in portions of Citi Field’s outfield fence next season, lower the height of the wall in left field and paint the entire fence blue.
The changes will result in approximately 140 new seats, including roughly 100 in left-center field and 40 in an expanded Modell’s Clubhouse in right field.
The Mets plan to add an angled eight-foot wall spanning from left field to straightaway center in front of the existing 16-foot wall. The team will also construct similar eight-foot walls to shorten the gap in right-center and the “Mo Zone” in right. Using a projection model, the Mets determined that their new dimensions would have resulted in a total of 151 more home runs at Citi Field over the past three seasons.
“We decided to change the outfield wall from black to Mets blue, which many of our fans have wanted,” Jeff Wilpon said.
“You don’t want the ballpark to be a distraction,” Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said. “And I really do believe a ballpark like ours has a more dramatic impact on the home team than on the visitors.”
This looks absolutely awesome, I love the blue walls. I can’t wait to check it out in person next season.
Good job by Alderson and the owners on this.
About the Author: Rob Johnson
69 Comments + Add Comment
NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 23 | 18 | .561 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 19 | .548 | 0.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 22 | .476 | 3.5 |
| Mets | 16 | 23 | .410 | 6.0 |
| Marlins | 11 | 31 | .262 | 12.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
Recent Comments
- 86mets: on Mets Appealing Harvey Earned Run, Want Tejada Charged With Error: Yes, this fosters the team approach, doesn't...
- Chicago Days: on Mets GM Tells Ike Davis He Has Until End Of Month To Turn Slump Around: Vaughn & Puello are the C &...
- Jesse: on Mets GM Tells Ike Davis He Has Until End Of Month To Turn Slump Around: I'd throw a fit.....Lagares looks completely overmatched...
- DrDooby: on Mets Appealing Harvey Earned Run, Want Tejada Charged With Error: It was a blatantly stupid scoring decision...
- Hawk: on Mets vs Cubs: Hefner Looks To Extend Amazins’ Win Streak To Three: Another 'you gotta tip your hat to...
MMO Mets Chat
Need Tickets To The Mets Game?
Check Out These Great MLB Links!
Photographs From Gordon Donovan
5357 Fans Follow Us On Twitter!
1270 Fans Like Us On Facebook!
2341 Fans Read Our Feed!
1702 Fans Subscribe via Daily Email!
Well if the same rotation is to be put out on the field,what difference will it make, they still sucked with the bigger dimensions.At least the offense will get a boost and may offset what the opponent does.Those dimensions were ridiculous!
A crappy rotation is a crappy rotation, it don’t matter what the dimensions are. A bigger field means less HR’s but more more open field leading to more base hits…seeing that the Mets had a mostly “pitch to contact’ rotation, I didn’t see the big field helping them too much. (especially seeing how Pelf would crumble with runners on base).
I think that the more “fair” park will help the pitchers. I cold only imagine what it’s like pitching a game, have a few runners on base and knowing that you have to pitch perfect because you know that your own team can’t score more than three runs a game.
I think it’ll help out pitchers relax and not try to be too fine. Plus it will help them by not getting into bad habits when they pitch on the road.
As for the hitters, I didn’t see Sh!t!F!eld as a difficult place for LH hitters to hit for power. Duda, Davis, Beltran and (short time) Delgado all hit bombs to right. But obviously something is screwing with RH hitters, both Wright and Bay lost all power once they started playing in Sh!t!F!eld. I can’t say about Bay, but I’m guessing it’s the same, Wright’s approach is completely different in the new park. There has to be something physiological going on.
I wouldn’t be too worried about the pitching. We’ll probably have a totally revamped bullpen and now that all those bad contracts from Minaya finally came off our payroll, we’ll have some money to add some solid arms. These changes were very much needed and very welcome. I feel like we just added a couple of 30 HR hitters to our lineup and we haven’t even done anything. Forget Reyes, take the draft picks and let’s get some pitching and a center fielder.
Dude, the Mets will not add payroll in the next year; they have already said as much. Stop looking towards salary relief as a source of player acquisitions, it is not happening.
These changes will hurt the Mets. We hit 8 more HR’s on the road than we did at home. Unless we can we can move the fences in on the road too…….. Davis and Duda can hit it out of anywhere and they weren’t flying out to the warning track. Either was Wright and Bay. Wright hit the wall a couple of times and Turner once I think so there you go. 3 more HR’s and 3 less doubles. Wright and Bay may get some more inside pitches so maybe it’ll help but no more than it’s gonna hurt.
Duda defensively will be helped but not as much as it will hurt Santana, Capuano and Gee.
Oh well. I guess the idea is to excite the fan base with lots of HR’s. Shame the majority of them will be by the visitor.
I have to disagree with you T agee.The dimensions have hurt this team psychologically,especially Wright and Bay.Since this park opened up Wright has totally changed his approach and has become to pull conscious.He used to hit a lot of 2B’s and HR’s to RF at Shea that are outs at Citifield.It doesn’t affect the road teams because they come in for a 3 game set and that’s it.The Home team plays 81 times here and it weighs on all of them.You’re right they struggled on the road with power but they also bring the same approach on the road with them.
Duda and Davis can hit the ball outta the Grand Canyon but this will help everybody else.It may take a few triples away from Reyes if he’s back but he’ll also have a few more HR’s as well.At least we’ll know if Wright has completely lost it or if it was the park all along.As far as Wright hitting in big spots,that’s a whole different story.
They could not go another season with these dimensions.I don’t know what the hell Jeff Wilpon was thinking,even with the smaller dimensions the wind still plays a large part in loss of HR’s the first 2 months of the season,just like Shea.Last year the team lost about 40 HR’s that would’ve been out at Shea.That number may have gone up but that was the number reported in early September.
Joe Diaz, Fair points but I’ll tell you truth. I don’t buy this psychological BS. Not one bit. You walk out into the park and say Whoa, that’s big. Alright, fair enough. Then you say to yourself what’s the best approach here? Look to go big fly or shoot the gaps? Obvious if you ask me. Wright hasn’t really had a chance to pull anything cause anything inside is TOO inside to hit. Sure you got guys pitching to the park but if winning is the only thing on your mind you adapt. Now I will say (and did) that with a reachable RCF gap Wright may get to look inside some as well and that would be nice but everyone else will too so what’s the net effect? Besides what’s the goal anyway? Winning the game or entertaining the fans? I say it should be about winning the game. Nothing beats that.
Citi Field could have and should have been a HUGE advantage. Alright we didn’t have the types of players to make it such but we have a couple on the way up and could look for more athletic types as well as an overall organizational philosophy and having two guys right now that don’t need the fences in is already a big advantage. If those numbers about flyballs that would have been HR’s at Shea is accurate then we’re not the only one’s who lost HR’s but I’ll tell you this, we did lose a lot of flyball outs due to the diminished foul territory and that alone is a huge advantage to the offense.
What we’ve seen here is guys trying to “beat the park” and then make back their numbers on the road to very little effect. The mindset has been one of making your number instead of just winning the game.
I also don’t buy this whole “changing their swing” excuse either. Citi Field almost always requires a driven line drive to get out. Fine, layoff the high pitch if that’s the case. Don’t hit it anyway and then moan afterwards about how that shot would have been out of any other stadium in the Majors. You knew where you were playing when you arrived at the park, started stretching right? Were Mays and Snyder crying in ’58? No, they adapted.
Now your going to have more guys looking to hit them out and consequently more fly ball outs as well so for the extra 5 HR’s……….Not to mention the effect on the pitching staff and all things considered over three seasons we’ve hit 7 more HR’s on the road than at home. That doesn’t scream Citi Field is the problem to me and that’s with guys actively seeking to hit them on the road.
My guess is 12 more for us and 30 more for them.
Somehow the fact that the stadium dimensions will STILL be bigger than the original Shea Stadium dimensions eludes you. Somehow you are not grasping that. Try, try hard.
I’ll tell you what I grasp.
I grasp that you think this website is a place to make comments about other posters Mothers, wives, girlfriends and daughters while doing it from behind a keyboard.
I also grasp that any dissenting opinion will be met with insults, instigation and buffoonery from you because that is what you come here for.
moderators I believe this is called instigating?
I believe everything you’ve ever posted on here or anywhere else on the internet could be labeled instigating.
So let’s say this is an instance of the pot calling the kettle black.
Grab a glass of water, lay in the couch and keep repeating to yourself
- CitiField is STILL bigger than Shea
- CitiField is STILL bigger than Shea
- CitiField is STILL bigger than Shea
Also for once, try giving the team you claim you root for the benefit of the doubt. At least just try it once.
The instigation was the comment preceding mine, as everyone can tell.
Hey Bayonne, you often have a good point, but you couch most of them in an adversarial way. Why the angst? Why not just make your views known and let others do the same?
Davis has NEVER hit 30 HRs. Duda hasn’t either. I dunno where the supposed power hitter reputation comes from but these guys are less of power threat than Wright. Also the argument that they can hit it out so the walls shouldn’t move doesn’t make sense anyways. Moving the walls in to a more reasonable distance would only help Duda and Davis (as well as the rest of the team).
Lucas Duda was leading the league with .597 SLG and 1.100 OPS prior to his promotion to the Mets. In his last 153 minor league games he slugged 33 home runs and drove in 111 runs. He also had 48 doubles in that span. In other words 550 AB, 48, 2B, 33 HR, 111 RBI, 96 RS, 83 BB, 111 K. In five years in the minors Duda has a .286 batting average, .383 OBP, and a .473 SLG.
Fluke?
After Duda was promoted this season he batted .292 in 300 AB with 21 2B, 10 HR, 50 RBI, .370 OBP and .487 SLG.
As he got acclimated to the majors he got better posting OPS of .711, .910, .911 and .929 in September to finish third in the National League.
Freddie Freeman who some consider the top rookie hitter in 2011 had almost 300 more at-bats than Duda and only had 21 HR and 76 RBI while posting a .787 OPS and striking out 147 times. Freeman was supposed to be the next big NL power hitter and ranked the #16 prospect in MLB by Baseball America in 2011.
Fact is if Freeman get more votes than Duda in ROY voting, something is rotten in Denmark.
Now I’m not saying Duda is a better prospect than Freeman (not yet), but at least let’s give Duda some respect because he was by far the best power hitting rookie in the league this year. Actually Duda’s slash was as good as Buster Posey in his rookie year. So lets stop pretending Duda isn’t a power hitter, and as for Ike Davis, you’re kidding me right?
You can tell how much power Duda and Davis have simply by how much they clear the fence by. Neither has played a full year in the majors and yet both have several tape measure shots already.
Davis is already a well rounded player and hopefully Duda can become a competent defender but as for power? There is no question.
Agee what you say is true about the park and that they should use it to their advantage but that’s easier said than done from our living rooms.
I also don’t like the fact that they have to build a team of players tailored to play in a certain park as opposed to just worrying about building a team to play in any park.
It’s hard enough to draft and develope good players let alone good players that are suited to play in a specific park.
Let’s be honest! As much as Bayonne can be insulting and instigative he is 100% on the money.The park is still going to be bigger than Shea in most areas except 2 feet shorter in straight away CF and about 5-7 feet shorter down the lines.It’s still going to be a more pitcher friendly park than Shea because of the wind.The smaller foul territory is the only negative from a pitchers standpoint and I also like the fact that a wild pitch to the backstop is not an automatic base.
Citifield has the shortest distance behind the plate to the stands than any other park and we’ve seen players nailed at home on wild pitches to the backstop.How much more exciting would it have been if Bob Stanley’s WP or Gedman’s PB(I forget) became a close play at the plate with Mitchell scoring the tying run.Of course I would be saying the exact opposite if Mitchell was out at home.lol…
Well Joe, HR Hitters only work in a HR Hitting park.
High BA players win in any park because they don’t need short porches to win!
A Big stadium may not be good for a HR hitter but it’s a BOON to high average hitters even those who don’t have Wll power because there is just so much space for the OF to cover!
So by building a team that is tailored to the current dimensions we would be building a team that can win in ANY stadium not just one that can win in a bandbox!
I agree Joe D. Duda looks like he has a shot to be a big time power hitter.
My only concern with Duda is defensively.He also is not a very instinctive player.Not as bad as Murphy but not good either.I think they should put Bay in RF and Duda in LF.Bay is the better of the 2 and has a stronger,more accurate arm.He’s a little more suited for RF than Duda.
Also Joe D remember that Freeman is almost 4 years younger than Duda and is obviously much more polished at 22 than Duda was,and also has a position he can call home for sure.
These changes will amount to a disaster for the Mets. I just hope the front office isn’t caving to the lunatic fringe of the fanbase. That was Omar’s mistake. Never a dull moment with my Metsies.
I have to give a thumbs up to Alderson on this one.
All i ever asked for was the dimensions to be returned back to what it was at the very least similar to Shea Stadium and now we have it. I can’t understand why anybody would complain about reducing the dimensions back to the type of ballpark the Mets played virtually their entire history in.
I cannot understand why anybody would be against it. Jus the most negative nelly would be.
In fact i think the dimensions may still be just a slight bit deeper than Shea Stadium. Citi Field was a JOKE and I wonder who it was that signed off on those dimensions knowing the type of club the Mets were.
And….what slugger would sign with the Mets knowing the reputation of the Citi Field dimensions?? Now we’re back to having a normal park
Thats 100% right.After seeing what happened to Bay,who in their right mind would wanna play here unless they threw ridiculous money a someone which the Wilpons aren’t noted for.These changes needed to be done.Go out and get better pitchers and we wont have to worry about how it impacts an already bad staff.
Sounds good to me. I liked Shea’s dimensions, with the wind current and all, was probably just a very slight lean towards more of a pitcher’s park but much closer to ‘neutral’ than Citi is.
Not sure who published this tidbit about a month ago – wasn’t this blog, might have been Ruben – but apparently, Bernazard was the mastermind behind those OF dimensions. What the hell he was thinking is beyond me.
I can’t be worried or clapping that this helps DWright, or hurts Gee, Santana, whoever right now. This park is going to stand for probably the next 40 years. A more balanced, neutral park means all talent whether homegrown, trade and especially ones we try and get via FA won’t be looking at those dimensions as either a plus or minus when either deciding to sign here, are drafted to play here or come over in a trade and think they’ve got to adjust what worked in their previous home park.
Now, to just make the walls blue…
Woot woot!
From what I read that ‘architect’ was Bernazard.
This may be a first – and I know it’s early – but Bayonne with all thumbs up? Never thought I’d live to see the day. LOL.
Maybe it wa because players were still juiced up when they were planning the park.I can’t think of any other reason but that.They should’ve learned from the mistakes that were made at Comerica Park in Detroit.Juan Gonzalez wouldn’t resign there until they moved the LF wall in.
I agree with t agee, How many more wins does 8 more home runs a season give us?
Right now we have one legit power guy at Citi Filed in Ike Davis.
And 3 gap power guys in Bay, Wright and Murphy.
If by some miracle Wilpon decides to sign Reyes add one more gap speedster.
Brandon Nimo projects to be a gap power guy with good speed as we.., “Von Hayes-ish”
Our starting pitchers are “put the ball in play pitchers.”
With Matt Harvey and the San Francisco Kid just around the corner in 2013 why make the change?
There are only (2) reasons I can come up with
1. change in the offensive style of the Mets from speed slash to powerr hitting.
ie. Reyes gone, look to sign power hitting free agent in the next few years
2. The players complained loudly, Bay and Wright, Pagen can’t cover all that much ground. Nimo is good but no Carlos Beltran in center-field.
It would be nice if our ex General Manager turned owner Fred Wilpon gave us speciifs into waht the rational is.
Brandon Nimmo? Wait…..what?
I think this move had to be done for several reasons. I’m not saying I agree with it… but I understand why they did it
Here are some reasons
A) Fan pressure. You know, it I know it. The loud majority disliked the dimensions, and I believe in business you pick the battles worth fighting. This was one that can easily appease fans.
B) Hitters coming to Citi Field for 81 games. I think Jason Bay and Wright’s lack of production will (if they didn’t already) open eyes to the fact that Citi Field is not a hitter friendly park. At some point in their future the Mets will try to get another big time free agent power hitter, and this makes that possible
C) Shea stadium was what 370 ish to RCF I think? So even with the change to 390 it’s still deeper, it’s more of a split the difference between the original Citi and old Shea.
D) Life without Jose. I know, I know what my loyal fans will say. But lets face it. Citi Field was built for Jose Reyes right? So if you were going to CHANGE the park you built specifically for 1 player who happens to be a free agent, what do you think that is a warning of? I’m not saying you keep changing it, but the opportunity was there and if the type of offense they intend to have won’t benefit from the park, why keep it as is?
I just think we should try making decisions based on how they help or hurt us win baseball games. Nothing else should matter. Do that and everything else falls into place.
Citi Field could have been a HUGE competitive advantage. Instead we have a now 33 year old LFer who hits like a SS and a first basemen playing RF.
Line drives and speed play well in every stadium and it’s not like we were hitting a ton of HR’s on the road. 50 at home, 58 away.
Santana throws a to of fly balls. Pelfrey gives up fly balls against leftys, Gee against everyone. Capuano does the same.
This change makes us worse, there fore the vocal “majority” will be even more vocal about moving them back come June.
Anything to take the focus off 12 losing seasons over the last 21 years I guess.
I don’t consider Santana an option for our starting staff.
He’s has retired in my mind.
It’s not like they’re making Citifield into a HR haven agee.It will be a lot like shea which was more of a pitchers park than hitters park.Don’t forget you still have strong wind currents off of Flushing Bay that knocks a lot of well hit balls down too.I could see if they were making the dimensions like Wrigley Field but it’s still going to be a pretty big park,just not an absolute joke.415 to right center was absolutely nuts.Either way we still need to upgrade the staff.Philly pitchers still pitched well in a bandbox.They need better pitching.Why hurt the hitters to protect a bad pitching staff? That’s just my opinion.I hated going to Citifield knowing I won’t see much offense.
Offense comes in forms other than HR’s too and we already cut out most of the foul territory.
Citifield is a huge park. Its not supposed to resemble a football stadium. Making it a little more realistic is only going to benefit the team. I don’t know why any fan would complain that the team won’t fly out to the warning track all the time anymore. “Dammit, it sucks that Mets players will hit more home runs! I hate it when the Mets have a better chance of winning at home!”
That might be true if we were the only team hitting but we’re not, and we’re also not flying out to the warning track very often either.
You must not understand math. The Mets play 82 games at Citifield. Every other team plays MUCH less there. Sooooooooo big math problem here, who benefits most from moving in the walls? The METS! Not a huge problem to figure out here.
How do you figure metsguppy? The mets play 81 games a year here and so do our opponents.
The only way it’s going to help us MORE than our opponents is in things like individual and team stats for the offense. It will hurt in individual and team stats in pitching. Some hitters it will help, others it won’t make much of a difference for, some it could even hurt.
Thole for example. LFers can play even a little more shallow and take away 10 hits from him. Same can be said about Turner with the RFer. Murphy it could help and hurt. Help in HR’s but hurt in the amount of ground a CF must cover. An awful lot of Murphy’s doubles were due to stinging the ball to all areas of CF, some of those that were doubles will now be HR’s but others will be outs. Net effect will be a lower BA. Duda and Fern will be helped by a smaller area to defend but our fly ball pitchers will give up more HR’s.
We really don’t have any GB pitchers. Pelfrey doesn’t get GB’s anymore. Niese does but also gives up a lot of HR’s as well. Accosta’s going to get killed. Younger guys like Gee, Schwindon, Stinson, Beato give up a lot of flyballs. Forget Capuano, Izzy and Carrasco, those guys ERA’s would double.
At least the way the field was we could be a run or two down and have a reasonable shot but now it’s going to be more like 7-2 with outs turning into 3 run HR’s.
Yeah our power offensive stats will be better but so will our opponents. The question is will the net effect be to our benefit? My feeling is an unequivocable no. It won’t. The only way it could is if we loaded up on GB pitchers and the guys we have coming up are more flyball than GB for the most part especially the guys closest, excepting Mejia and McHugh.
That’s going to hurt us now and later.
They can’t play much worse at home than they did last year.
LOLOLOLOL epic fail.
Since when have the Mets played 82 games at Citi Field? It looks like it is you, sir, who doesn’t understand math.
How did this get poorly rated without the thumbs down button? lol
About time the Mets changed the dimensions. Citifield and the Great Wall of Flushing had to be changed. It was ridiculous that half the games the Mets play had to be in a giant stadium that robbed them of runs. It still won’t turn the stadium into a bandbox like in Philly but will make it easier for the team to score runs at home which has been a problem.
somehow, to me, changing the park from huge to bigger than average (and certainly likely still tilting toward a pitchers park) does not mean that they are shifting from a speeds lash to power hitting! The same attributes of speed guys lining balls up the gap will still be valuable. so maybe they get a few less triples having to stop at 2nd?
And I also believe that a huge park is more likely to mess with the home team, with guys consciously changing their approach, which road teams won’t do.
anyway, stop looking so short term. the park will be here for my great grandkids (and the grandkids haven’t been born yet!). But Gee, pelf and Capuano certainly won’t.
Yeah well my prediction is we will add a few more HRs to Wright and Bay and a whole point and a half to the TEAM ERA!
But everyone loves the HR…
I wonder if they will love them when the other side is getting more of them as well!
It’s not being turned into Citizen’s Bank ballpark. The distances will still be a little bigger than Shea so I don’t know what people are worried about.
Still bigger than Shea Stadium!
And pitchers and the pitching coach will change their approach to hitters. The change in dimensions will only help the Mets not hurt. It’s just becoming more of a normal ballpark that’s all.
Power hitters change the way pitchers approach them. Ike and Duda are considered guys with a ton of power. The difference between a fly ball and a homerun is microscopic. Mistakes are more likely to turn into homeruns. 25 feet is a substantial difference. It relaxes the home team’s power hitters. This advantage will totally help the home squad’s power hitters. While Citi will still play to a pitcher’s park, our guys will adjust marvelously. The reason is they will play 81 games there. The adjustment over the season will greatly help them on a psychological level. RC @ Shea was 396. That’s still a long ride @ 390. 415 was brutal for our hitters. This only helps our power numbers. Our pitchers will still benefit from Citi like they did @ Shea.
There is no doubt that moving the fences in to a more reasonable distance will help the team greatly. As mentioned by others here, this park got into the heads of David Wright and Jason Bay. With the changes, I believe that both hitters will bounce back strongly and perform as they did a few years back. Neither is over the hill!
One thing no one has mentioned is how are the impoverished Wilpons able to afford making these changes to the field? You mean they can afford to spend millions changing the field around, but can’t spend any money on player acquisitions? Sad that had they designed the park correctly from the start, we wouldn’t have to go through this distraction and all the negatives of the last couple seasons associated with having a huge pitcher’s with only a pedestrian pitching staff at best. We are in the midst of a very sad phase of Mets history. Better days are still a ways off in the future.
That’s a good point masked man,
How much are the changes going to cost?
I still want the changes and think it’s the right thing to do but you’re right, there always seems to be money popping up whenever something besides acquiring free agents happens.
Here is my take on changing the stadium…
First off it seems rather rediculous to change a stadium in the attempt to suit TWO players!
Second in doing so it hurts 5 players namely the Pitchers!
Even with the fences moved in it will probably STILL be a pitcher’s park (If only we had some….Pitchers that is!)
Truth is if we build as many would like us to, moving in the fences probably is NOT the thing to do.
HRs hitters cost a lot, Line drive hitters not so much, Good OB guys also not so much and if they have speed like Reyes (who is PERFECT for the park the way it is) Singles become Doubles, Doubles become triples and Triples become inside the parkers!
I personally son’t think it’s going to help guys like Duda and Davis much as when they hit one it goes out of pretty much every park.
to answer the cost of bringing them in well they plan on adding extra seats in between where the wall is now and the wall will be. Can they sell those seats? Maybe if Reyes is here and Bay and Wright actually get helped by the moved in fences.
I don’t think it makes a ton of difference either way. I don’t really care what the dimensions of the field are, They need better pitching either way and 5-10 more HRs from David Wright is not going to change 20 games our way!
And another 10 from Bay isn’t either!
Truth is our field as is favors contact line drive hitters because of the ground the OFers have to cover! It favors speed as well and we are now looking for a CF and an eventual replacement for Bay if we can find a way to dump him!
I say leave the fences, concentrate on some speed in the OF who can cover the ground and turn those singles into doubles.
The Pitcher we have will not give up more dingers and if we get better pitchers even less!
I know the place is huge but that could be our advantage!
If we build to suit our needs!
On the Road Duda, Davis will still be fine and Wright/Bay should be doing much better if fence distance really is the issue!
I personally think if they concentrated on hitting the ball hard instead of hitting the ball far they would have a better average, get more good wood on the ball and get the HRs everyone wants!
I would rather they hit close to .300 with 19 HR than .250 with 30 Hrs!
it is really a move for the long term, to balance the park closer to neutral. Not about 1 or 2 guys for the next year or 2. The park was skewed too far to one end of the spectrum in their opinion, so just putting it where it should have been all along.
also, I don’t see how this change will convert any reyes doubles into singles. triples into doubles (but some triples into HRs too) it could though.
But, if he is a 20mill player, take the double and just steal 3rd!
Maybe after they shorten the fences to 8 feet, Mets can recycle the excess and put dividers between the urinals.
If Sandy is being nice today does that mean he is going to announce that Reyes will not be resigned tomorrow.
I read (I think it was in the NYTimes piece today) where Jeff Wilpon threw Omar under a bus saying that the original dimentions were made at Omar’s urging. Don’t know if that is true but I do know that Papa Wilpon gave Jeff the CitiField project to keep him away from the Mets for a while. Jeff was “totally in charge of construction” of the new ballpark. Now Jeff is saying “it wasn’t my idea”. Nice fellow, huh?
The secret master plan is to keep moving the fences in until we win the World Series. When Ruben Tejada gets 30 home runs a year we’ll be there. I bet the starting pitchers love it and so will Prince Fielder and Pujols and the biggest fan Larry “Chipper” Jones. Think about it. Oh yeah do you think this will make David Wright “unclutch.” It’s just as easy to strike out with a 308 foot fence as it is a 340 fence.
Good Start with the Blue walls But We need even more MET feel to the park
Imho the fences needed to be moved in.I’ve been saying that since i first walked into the place.The real problem is what idiots the owners are.Almost every historic home run that you see on SNY highlight shows in the history of this ballclub would have been outs in this dopey ballpark.I rest my case
btw, the owner of the tigers altered the dimensions at comerica park a year later, so i guess the wilpons don’t stand alone in this idiocy.I wish the ballpark opened this way 3 years ago, but better late than never.
Wonder what Wright’s excuse will be next year.
Did he really make excuses ? I don’t remember that.
Wonder what Mets fans will come up with to blame on Wright next year.
It will go back to the old stand-by that we needed someone to protect him in the lineup.
I think you are (w)right. Davis and Duda should protect David, they look capable of hitting 25-30 Hr each. It’s who they are going to drive in might be the question if we do not resign Reyes or someone that gets on base to lead-off.
Correct Nicky…It’s not the Fences as much as the threats batting around Wright!
The house that Bay built.
He’s gonna bust out next season. I predict 12, maybe even 14 HR’s.
Oooh how pretty, lets all got to CitiField and look at the walls next season. Is this what we’ve been reduced to?
[...] Metsmerized isn’t BLUE at all about the changes. [...]