Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
-- Mending Wall, Robert Frost
As the Mets put the finishing touches on their sixth losing season in succession, there is a gnawing sense that Met fans will we have to endure more disappointment next year -- despite the emergence of some wonderful young players (e.g., Jacob DeGrom, Zack Wheeler, Juan Lagares) and what should be the hopeful return of Matt Harvey.
The team's remarkable run of medical malfeasance has taken its toll again -- this time on David Wright's shoulder -- which should have been correctly diagnosed and repaired rather than played through and further damaged. Terry Collins, a lousy manager who has admitted he would rather play mediocre veterans than develop talented youngsters, will be back at the helm. And ownership - still plagued by Madoff-related debt and recently stung by a Neanderthal-inspired sex discrimination lawsuit -- is without the wherewithal to spend on a big bat (or two) necessary to complement the emergence of a promising young pitching staff.
So, instead of getting the hitters they need, the Mets will try to enhance the warning track power of the hitters they have by bringing in the fences. ESPN reports that Citi Field will undergo "a modest reconfiguration in right and right-center field" this offseason to help the power numbers of Curtis Granderson and David Wright.
After 2011, the Mets changed the stadium's dimensions (as pictured above) and the team still lost more games than it won. Unless the Mets can bring in the fences when they are up at bat and push them back when the opposing team hits, I'm not sure another retweaking is really the answer to the Mets' woes. And it raises the troubling question: What is management walling in or walling out?
3 comments :
Bravo! I couldn't have said it any better myself. The problem is the talent and the leadership, not the stadium. If other teams can hit the ball out, why can't the Mets? Oh right, their players are simply not as good.
I'll never understand this. And I can't understand why fans want it. It just shows just how bad the Wilpon's finances are. Instead of acquiring better hitters, they'll move fences in and bank that their young power pitching can keep the ball in the park.
If I was David Wright or Granderson id be embarrassed and scream my head off for Sandy to not do it. I wouldn't be able to look Harvey or deGrom in the eye. What a complete joke this team has become and this idea makes it worse.
Sandy says it'll be more exciting for fans. We'll see Wright and Grandy hit one out now, possibly
In the same game even!!!
But wait..... In that same game, Harper, LaRoche, Rendon, and two other Nationals will also hit homers. Probably two each for Bryce and Rendon. Whoopie!!! I can't wait to get my tickets this season....
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