Tom Brennan - Citi Fences, Edition 47

Many A Deep Conversation Occurs In And About This Park

 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.