Our favorite Padres beat reporter Brian Hiro talks about bringing in the fences. We really should start doing more of this kind of followup...
"We're not changing the dimensions in any material way," Padres CEO Sandy Alderson said. "It means that any hitter with reasonable speed can still get a triple in that area, and hitters that don't won't be unjustly rewarded. And it won't change the home run output significantly, either, I don't think."
I'm guessing that's in response to the negative two home run differential the Padres will likely experience.Although, this lineup is so completely different and we've only got a couple years under our belts, it's really impossible to tell.
They're also going to redesign the seating, but not till the 2008 season.
Besides changing the field dimensions, another motivation behind the project is a chance to reconfigure the prime seating area behind the fence in right-center. For this season, it will remain a sand pit for children backed by so-called "beachers." But the Padres will solicit opinions from fans on a planned redesign that would likely take place next offseason.
You know what bothers me about this. This was supposed to be the very best ballpark in the country when it was built. As bad luck would have it, they were given extra time. They claimed that the sightlines would be the best in baseball, and now they're redesigning the seating.I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the change was not just to ease the haters who think the park is too big, but also the people who sit out at the Beach and realize that they don't ever get to see the right fielder. And depending on the formation, they don't always get to see the centerfielder either.
In the quest to make the park old school, they purposely ruined sightlines which doesn't make much sense. If there's anything good about this, it shows that the front office is listening to the fans.
It's just like that mini jumbotron in right field. For the entire first season the park was open, the fans in left field complained that they can't see the new jumbotron. And why can't we get another jumbotron and so on.
I remember the response of one of the Padres front office on the Leitner show. It was something like, "Nobody in baseball has two jumbotrons."
Now if I'm one of the complaining fans, I'm thinking that I don't really care what everybody else "in baseball" has. I want to know why we don't have it.
And then, sure enough, a new minijumbotron.
Anyways, I just would've liked for them to have gotten it right the first time. That's all.