Comments on: Daily News: No Major Changes to Citi Field

By: Hit The Weights Zeile

Hit The Weights Zeile — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:57:11 +0000

just build a GOOD TEAM! Matt Holliday has to be signed. John Lackey needs to be signed. The rest (bench, bullpen, catcher) can be done fairly cheap. Good teams can win in any stadium. The phillies win in CBP and citi, the red sox win in fenway and oakland, the giants win in SF and houston. Why is that? because good teams win games, bad teams lose games. Just get good players in here who can get the job done no more tatis’, no more livans or schneiders, or castillos.

By: jamie_

jamie_ — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:01:48 +0000

or it could be that that really was the plan, but Omar & Co. consistently have mis-evaluated talent (and/or risk/reward).

By: VCarver

VCarver — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:59:15 +0000

“I think the mistake of the “pitcher’s park” mentality is that it causes the GM to actually think less about intelligent roster construction. It’s almost a crutch.”

I totally agree PR. It’s an excuse for failure by a GM.

But I don’t favor a hitters park either. I think a neutral park should be the goal.

It’s too soon to say what Citi is. Even off of one year. They need to put a decent offensive team on the field next year and then we’ll get a better idea.

Having said that, Wright has suffered from the larger dimensions (documented by espn) … but I also think having no protection in the lineup has hurt him, as well as changing his swing.

What I hate is when a GM says they want to build on pitching, speed and defense and then does many things that are contradictory to that. Omar has been saying this for years — not just this year — and yet he has no hesitation bringing in older defensively challenged players. I don’t think Omar really has had a plan all along.

By: jedimynd

jedimynd — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:52:52 +0000

Or modeled after recent Angels team’s…agressive base-running/strong bullpen/defense.

By: pedros rooster

pedros rooster — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:43:28 +0000

Hoping to generate some discussion here—interested to hear all of your thoughts…..

I would think that having a hitter’s park would be more advantageous. You’d be forced to obtain top-notch pitchers (who would be even more successful in bigger parks on the road) or extreme ground-ball pitchers (also an all-around asset). You could then build a lineup of legitimate power hitters (again, who would be successful in other parks), and thus have a lineup that can generate offense on command, and come back from deficits and (I know this sounds corny) develop a positive winning approach to baseball. You know, the Phillies model.

I don’t understand what having a “pitcher’s park” gets you. My initial thought is that a big park with high walls might help mediocre fly ball pitchers SEEM better than they are. What else?

I also don’t think that approaches are mutually exclusive: it’s not “speed/pitching/defense” OR “power hitting/no pitching/chimps with gloves.” There are many teams who blend quality pitching with quality offense—I think the mistake of the “pitcher’s park” mentality is that it causes the GM to actually think less about intelligent roster construction. It’s almost a crutch.

By: Lorenzo23

Lorenzo23 — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:24:41 +0000

‘Yes, we’re building a team that plays crap defense, has bad pitching, and only hits singles,’

Isnt that exactly what we have now???

By: sofla1225

sofla1225 — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:22:02 +0000

They need to change the bullpens. It looks like there in jail

By: ItalPiazza31

ItalPiazza31 — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:05:11 +0000

Well Omar did say he wanted to build a team with speed, defense and athleticism the day he was hired 5 years ago. And yet he’s still added players like Delgado, Alou and Sean Green since.

By: ItalPiazza31

ItalPiazza31 — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:03:14 +0000

Exactly, this park is more neutral than it is a pitchers park. I heard Bobby Cox on Mets Extra back in May say he thought the park played fair. I’ve also heard interviews with other players and managers (that crybaby Larry excluded) say they think it plays fair.

The lack of HR’s from the Mets has more to do with the players than it does Citi Field. Chances are this team wouldn’t even be in the middle of the pack in HR’s if they played their home games at Coors Field.

By: Horseman

Horseman — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:39:13 +0000

Are you sure Citi Field is a pitcher’s park? Looking at the mets ERA, I am convinced otherwise.