Hits: 0
WPCNR VIEW FROM THE UPPER DECK. By “Bull” Allen. November 6, 2011:
Now for a real issue!
Just the news Mets fans have been waiting for!
The Metropolitans announced they are moving in the fences at Citi Field next season.
The euphoria with which the fantasizing New York sports press has greeted this announcement last week is laughable.
Bringing them In! Left Field at Citi Field will be moved in to the new blue dimensions below.
NEW CITI FIELD LEFT FIELD WILL APPROACH EBBETS FIELD BANDBOX LEFT FIELD, SHOWN IN 1955
For the money they are going to spend on the fences, they could sign Albert Pujols for a year or two. Or better yet, sign Pujols and Prince Fielder.
That’s whom they need to gain a little credibility!
Memo to the Wilpons: Fans want teams that win. They don’t come to see just homeruns.
Pujols and the Prince…that’s who I want. Put Pujols on first and Fielder in left…it’s going to be so short Fielder’s bottom will be against the fence.
They should also bring in a big time pitcher to replace Johan Santana who may not be coming back as strong as he was in 2010 when the Mets overpitched him.
In a significant factoid not appearing in the glowing articles about the new Citi Field fences is this: 108 homers were hit in Citi Field last year, the Mets hit 50 and the Visitors hit 58. The fences are coming in a good 15% so who knows how much the opposition will hit next year 150 against the Met pitching staff and the notoriously inept Met bullpen? And the Mets have to hit the homas with baserunners on.
Ironically, yours truly, puffing on a White Owl wallop, four years ago complained bitterly that Citi Field touted by the management as an ode to Ebbets Field, could have matched the Ebbets Field contours more accurately and provided more thrills.
Now, three years later, the thrills are going to be there. But because of the overrated Mets lineup, the Mets are the only team that has built a new ballpark and not been successful with it. They are bringing in fences to approximate Ebbets dimensions in left field with almost a right angle fence out from the foul pole in left that should turn a lot more Met pitcher hangers into bangers.
How much more will those monsters of the midway, the Cardinals bang in that ballpark? How many will the Atlantas launch (Chipper Jones must be ready to start the season now and play five more years…in Citi Field) – let alone the Milwaukee maulers and Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and the Phils?
It is so easy to throw pies at the Mets management, reminiscent of Horace Stoneham and Clark Griffith, this column is just too easy to write.
But I have to do it.
Fences don’t win pennants.
Players do.
Tough, swashbuckling, get-your-uniform-dirty-dive-in-the-dirt-hang-in-there-extend-the-count-come-up-with-the-big-hit players do. Gritty-control-big-stuff-brush-em-back,-put-them-in-the-dirt-go-more-than-5 pitchers do. The Mets are hoping that the bright lights from the minors who gave fans interesting moments in 2010 brightening the gloom of the Gowanus Canal will blossom in 2012.
Maybe.
But, the Tidewater Kids were all new to the NL in 2010. In the first swing around the league in 2012,. the scouts will be watching. By June, they’ll have the book on how to pitch to them. The Mets must make some moves, but they won’t because management will not spend money for free agents.
Pujols in Flushing, and Fielder in Flushing would fill that place, and they’d hit 50 apiece with the old fences alone. The Mets need to make strong offers to those two and get one.
They won’t because the Wilpons are trying to protect their pathetic fortune, whatever is left of it.
Sure Pujols could stay in St. Louis. But up in the Bronx empire, you have to know the Yankees are looking at Pujols and Fielder. Pujols for first, and Fielder for DH. Frightening thought. Where does Tex play? Trade him for a significant pitcher to give the Yankees a solid 2nd pitcher behind C.C.
If the Mets spend a dime for Reyes they are nuts.
This is a very selfish, immature player whose proclivity for getting hurt will tie the Mets up for years. It would be far better to invest in Pujols and Fielder. The nomination of Reyes for Great Impact Player of the Year is absurd.
He does not give himself up. He is a very selfish player and basically cost the Mets two pennants for lack of hustle when Randolph was the manager. And he still does not hustle.
The team that signs him will find that out soon enough. Could the Yankees sign Reyes to replace Jeter? Do they want another A-Rod headache? A player who is all about himself? I do not think so. But the Mets signing Reyes will be a disaster for their work ethic with players coming up.
Perhaps the Mets next move will be to introduce a new line of concessions to their concession stand menus lineup.
On the fence issue.
When I critiqued CitiField three years ago I wrote “there is nothing unique about the new CitiField, and it is no Ebbetts. If anything the fact that the new Citi Field will be deeper makes it worse.” I had no idea how right I was.
The deep outfield was very tough on the Metropolitans because they lacked good defensive outfielders who could not cover the real estate out there.
A lot of “gapers” coughed up by the Met pitchers were yielded by the slow footed New York outfielders and this particularly hurt Met relievers and starters who seemingly never could pitch out of jams in the clutch, or worse created them with their walks.
Now the shorter fences should turn the Mets “Elephant outfielders” into gold glovers. This will help if the opposition does not out-homer ratio the Mets.
How short are the fences? From left field over to right center they are approaching old Ebbetts Field dimensions!
However do the Mets have pitchers like Newcombe, Podres, Roe, Maglie, Roebuck who can make a big pitch and live within those friendly confines? That’s the big gamble.
The Mets are bringing in the left field fence to 358 feet in straightaway left…almost a right angle out from the foul pole which stands 335 down the left field line….with the straightaway left poke-out now 13 feet shallower from the prvious 379 feet.. That’s a lot. The pull hitters will have a field day.
From the new Citi Field straightaway left 358 mark (just 7 feet deeper than the Ebbets Field straightaway depth of 351 feet), the new fence moves to 385 feet in left center. The new 385 mark meets the former wall right at the end of the decks…considerably farther to the right with about 25 to 20 more feet of homer territory from the left field foul line to the 385 mark.
From the 385 mark the new blue fence will cover in to a straightaway center depth not specified, then over to a right center fence distance of 398 feet. Is straightaway center also 398 feet? If so that is only 5 feet more than the old Ebbets Field center field depth (393). Blasts over the Ebbets center field fence were very common.
Are the Mets creating a Ebbets Field left field here? It’s very close!
Swinging the new fence over to right field, the Modell’s area is brought in to 375. This distance is not comparable to the Ebbets Field right field that was 352 feet. This means that the right center fence will taper from 398 into 375, how much more homer territory this adds is not indicated by the Met diagrams.
Needless to say this is going to overcompensate and Citi Field is going to turn into a bandbox. May the Mets hit more than the opposition!
The Pittsburgh Pirates tried a similar venture moving in the left field fence of Forbes Field when they acquired Hank Greenberg.in 1948. They moved fences in from 406 feet in left center to 376 feet, and move the foul pole in left in from 365 feet to 335. Greenberg and Kiner were the leaguer’s best one-two punch, but the Pirates still finished last, while drawing 1.5 Million fans to see the homers.
When Detroit moved Comerica Park fences in after it opened homerun output doubled, it was not an equal percentage.
No lead will be safe with the pathetic Mets bullpen and the starting pitching will be challenged.
They should hire a known spitball artist to train the Met pitchers to throw an out pitch once in a while.
