I am just guessing I’ve written 47 articles on Citifield dimensions, given ball carry inefficiency at the park.
Give or take a dozen articles. I’ve lost count.
Anyway, my brother Steve is an highly independent thinker, and if he disagrees with me on a Mets subject, he doesn’t mince words.
He agrees with me on the Citi fences, though - still too deep.
Friday night, he was given tickets to the Mets-Seattle game. While there, he told me Mauricio’s 117 MPH first hit which landed on the track was a homer in Yankee Stadium…except it was a double in Queens.
Instead, the Martian got all the media attention when he took Verlander deep in his first Yankee AB.
I missed the game, but Steve also said Pete and Vogelbach hit balls that would have gone out in the Bronx or Philly.
Could have been 3 HRs - but instead, no HRs.
He agrees with me that the Citi dimensions are killing Pete, relative to the road. As of Sunday, for his career:
82 HRs in 1,163 Citi at bats. One every 14.2 ABs.
105 HRs in 1,272 road at bats. One every 12.1 at bats.
A hitter should have a slight home field advantage. Agreed?
So, if he hits one every 12.1 road at bats, what if he hit one every 11.6 at bats at home? He would now have 100 at home, not 82.
Eighteen more HRs in roughly the equivalent of four full years.
4 or 5 more a year, a big, big difference over the course of a career.
50 every year. 60 a real possibility in 2024.
Move the fences in 7-8 feet.
Simple solution.
My brother talked with guys sitting near him at the game about their take that if the fences were shortened, p “it would be worse for the Mets pitchers”. My brother agreed with my assessment that it is easier for a pitcher to adjust to a somewhat smaller park than for a hitter to hit balls further, since hitting a baseball is reputedly the hardest thing in sports.
Just keep Pete … and move them in.
RIGHT ON CUE:
The Mets hit 5 HRs - on the road - last night.
The kids played together in the majors for the first time as a foursome, did great, and Pete (with #42) and with 24 games left…why exactly can’t Pete reach the Big Five Oh this season?
60 might have been a real target, except when he got HBP in a game in early June by the Braves, and injured, with no retaliation. Two things happened…
1) He hit just 5 HRs over the Mets’ next 38 games, making 60 a virtual impossibility.
2) His injury-related several week swoon cost them a Wild Card shot and led to the dismantling of a team that truly could have won a World Series.
The Mets remain 7.5 gamesout of a Wild Card spot. Ever wonder if they traded no one at the deadline, and with Lindor, Nimmo, Pete, and Jeff hitting far better the last 5 weeks, if right now they may have surged to a tie for the Wild Card lead? Max is 3-1, 2.21 in 6 post-trade starts, and Verlander is 4-2 in 6 starts. We’ve been using Cookie, Denyi, and Butto instead. Cost them 5 wins right there.
FYI:
Pete’s last 365 calendar days, he has hit 50 homers and driven in 127.
Impressive.
Tidwell allowed 3 bombs in 3.1 in effective innings, but fanned 5, while Jeremiah Jackson had 3 hits and JT Schwartz got on base 3 more times.
JT in his last 37 games? .357/.456/.500. Clearly not Olerud II.
Adios.
11 comments:
Good morning to all.
It is an impressive feat to write that many articles on this subject. You always entertain!
One thing I don't agree with is that pitchers can adjust to pitching in a smaller stadium. This would imply that they could avoid the long ball my making adjustments in their pitching. Not so, as evidenced by Max Scherzer who was one of the more cerebral pitchers in the game giving up lots of HRs at the absolute worst time late last season and early this season.
I think that if the Mets choose to move the fences in or lower them, they choose to have their pitchers lit up more. That simple. If it results in more wins then it is better for the team. Like pitching in Colorado.
Morning Tom
Don't fence me in
It is worth the analysts running the data. Moving fences, if desirable, is cheap to do and adds no lux tax
They're too busy on Tik Tok
Good morning everybody! Guess what? I have an opinion! And questions…
- The Mets bullpen allows them no chance for a World Series. No chance.
- When Seth Lugo wanted to be a starting pitcher, we went to Petco park: Baseball’s equivalent of the Grand Canyon. While they have moved the fences in a little, their pitchers still have the lowest ERA’s.
- I think Citifield is fine but if you move in the fences to help your hitters, what happens when another team wants to move them in more to help their hitters?
- Last night I read an article about Messi and it got me to thinking: every sport has standard dimensions for their playing fields… every sport but baseball. Why not? And, if they standardize them all, do you still ask Coors Field to be 10% bigger since the ball flies there? Or, what about Chase Field in the dessert?
- Lastly, what is the biggest issue facing a new PBO? Is it setting up player development, the bullpen (great article in a MLBTR li k yesterday about Seattle approach to their successful bullpen. Spoiler alert: one of the pitchers they have was cut by the Mets in January for no reason. Where have we heard that before?, or is his biggest issue the starting rotation?
Be well!
Great comment
I think the new PBO needs to first decide whether Eppler should remain or, at least, take away the trading signing and releasing aspect of that job from him
Good points, Gus, but I am on the move today, and so am “signing off”
Tayler Sausedo was the pitcher the Mets acquired from the Blue Jays and lost on wavers to the Mariners.
IMO Eppler is very UNDERrated. His Japanese contacts led him to sign Ohtani for the Angels, Senga for the Mets, and hopefully will land us Yamamoto this Fall.
At last year's deadline, we were disappointed in the players he added, but to get better ones he would've had to further deplete our farm system. At this year's deadline, he traded guys who did not justify their salaries for prospects that have been universally praised, especially by his boss.
Steve is an active but not overbearing owner, whose stated goal is to make the team long-term contenders, and Billy is moving the team in just that direction.
Would we have seen the 4 "Baby Mets" in last night's game if not for the the joint decisions of Billy and Steve? I doubt it.
Don't judge him by Ruf, Naquin and the others who failed. Judge him by our very promising future, both short- and long- term.
Our rally cry,”Move the fences in,the hell with the pitchers!”.
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