Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Is Citi Field Too BIG?



A Joke. That's what former Mets Outfielder Jeff Francoeur calls Citi Field. He could be right. The Dimensions at Citi Field have cut down on the Mets Home Runs substantially. The dimensions at Citi Field are: Left Field 335 ft Left Center 379 ft Center 400 ft Right Center 383 ft Right Field 330 ft. But two big bats in the Mets lineup have been hurt by the big ballpark. David Wright and Jason Bay. David Wright has hit most of his Home Runs on the road in some of the more "hitter friendly" ballparks. Jason Bay has only hit 8 Home Runs in 128 games at Citi Field. Bay hit 36 bombs with the Red Sox in '09. New GM Sandy Alderson has found the good in this large ballpark. Sandy says that it should help attract free agent pitchers in the future. Look at Chris Young, he was picked up during the offseason and before he blew out his shoulder, he had a 1.29 ERA at Citi. Just think of this: If we moved the "Great Wall of Flushing" in Left Center Field 10 feet closer to home plate and reduced its height by 10 feet you would increase homers to that part by 35% and overall homers by 22 percent. If we changed the "Mo's Zone" in Right field by the same dimensions as earlier said, it would increase homers there by 25% and overall by 9%. If this was done, just think how much more homers David Wright and Jason Bay would have! Also, when Sandy Alderson was GM of the Padres, he moved PETCO Park's walls forward. Before this move, that ballpark had 3rd worst number of Home Runs of any ballpark in the MLB.
All quotes and dimensions come from ESPNNewyork.com and Mets.com
Pray for Gary "The Kid" Carter #8.