Mets moving in portions of Citi Field fences

"We put a lot of time and effort into analyzing this decision," general manager Sandy Alderson said. "We believe these modifications will increase the number of home runs for our team, without hurting our own pitchers."

Though pitching is expected to be a strength for the Mets in 2015, Alderson quashed the notion that moving in the fences would be playing against the club's own strengths.

"It's all relative," Alderson said. "If we believe we have the kind of pitching that won't be adversely affected by a change like this -- which we do -- and our own hitters can take advantage of it, then from a comparative standpoint, we're better off."

Alderson said the club reviewed all the data from 2014 and determined that the Mets would have hit an extra 17 home runs under the new dimensions, while their opponents would have hit just another 10. He added that the majority of those 10 would-be home runs were served up by pitchers who were not part of the Mets' regular rotation.

Aside from the hard numbers, Alderson said that eliminating the field dimensions as a constant talking point should also benefit Mets hitters from a mental aspect.

7/11/14: Lucas Duda launches a two-run blast into the upper deck in right field for his 14th home run of the season

"We're trying to take the dimensions of the park out of the conversation, so it's not something that's discussed in the clubhouse, it's not discussed in the media and it's not something our fans have to talk about," Alderson said. "We want the ballpark to be fair, but a few more home runs for us wouldn't be a bad thing."

According to the Mets' calculations, the majority of those 17 extra home runs would have come from left-handed hitters. Curtis Granderson would have had an additional nine homers under the new dimensions, while Lucas Duda would have racked up another four and Daniel Murphy would have had one.

That doesn't mean, however, that the changes won't also help the club's right-handed hitters, including David Wright.

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Mets moving in portions of Citi Field fences