Mets Mulling Another Round Of Moving In The Fences At Citi Field

Power Numbers Are Just Not There, So Collins Wants To See Something Done September 10, 2014 3:00 PM

Get our weekday morning briefs direct from the WFAN newsroom

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) If you cant beat it, keep shrinking it.

Not scoring runs the way they want to, theMets are considering moving in the fences yet again at Citi Field.

The state-of-the-artstadiumhas afforded its tenants few advantages during its six-year existence. The Mets, who have been one of the weakest-hitting teams in the sport during that time, have messed with theoutfield set-uptwice before. Following the 2010 season an 8-foot high wall was put in front of the 16-foot wall in center field. After the 2011 season all the fences were set at 8 feet and were movedcloser in left field, right-center and right.

Now, three years later, the Mets are hitting more home runs, but not nearly enough to manager Terry Collins liking. They hit a total of 139 in 2012, 130 in 2013 and 113 so far this season.

I think its going to help us a little bit confidence-wise when you get in that batters box and say, Hey, look, I can use the field and do some damage here, because thats what a lot of guys in this lineup are paid to do, and thats get big hits. I think it would be great for us Collins told the NY Post recently.

And while its true the Mets have kept payroll low for several years, which has prevented them from landing difference-making power hitters, they do have players with pop. Lucas Duda, Curtis Granderson, David Wright and Travis dArnaud, who have combined for just 66 homers this season, would likely see a spike in production ifthe outfield wasntso cavernous.

Its something that we had talked about the possibility of in the past and we continue to look at it, general manager Sandy Alderson said. We brought the fences in a couple years ago. Its not about tailoring the ballpark to a particular player or a particular composition of team, its about making Citi Field as fan-friendly and as exciting as we can make it.

Obviously by moving in the fences the Mets would also be making life easier for their opponents, but Collins said its a risk hes willing to take because hes extremely confident in the organizations young pitching, including Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, and Zack Wheeler,along with veterans Dillon Gee, Bartolo Colon and Jon Niese, who are all signed next season.

See the rest here:
Mets Mulling Another Round Of Moving In The Fences At Citi Field