Mariners moving in fences at Safeco Field

[Golden Taters]

http://seattletimes.com/html/marinersblog/2019323270_mariners_moving_fences_in_at_s.html

This should come as no big surprise, but after discussing it all season long, the Mariners have decided to give their rebuilding offense a jumpstart in 2013 by moving in the fences at Safeco Field.

The biggest change will be from left-center to straightaway center, where the wall will be moved in anywhere from four to 17 feet.

From the left-field corner to the left-center power alley, the wall will come in four feet. Also, the hand-operated scoreboard that currently makes for a 16-foot-high wall to clear will be moved elsewhere, leaving the wall 8-feet-high.

The distance to the left-center power alley will decrease from 390 to 378 feet.

Straightaway center will decline from 405 to 401 feet.

From straightaway center to the right-center power alley will change four feet from 385 to 381.

"Our goal was to create an environment that is fair for both hitters and pitchers,'' Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik said in a release. "Considering the current field dimensions as well as the climate in and around Safeco Field, we feel this will be accomplished with this new layout."

Like I said, this move comes as no surprise, given the slow progress by Mariners hitters compared to other parts of the rebuilding plan.

The Mariners came off their recent road trip with an OPS+ of 98 for the season away from home -- just two percent lower than league average.

At Safeco Field, the Mariners entered last night at an OPS+ of 67 -- 33 percent below league average and one of the worst home performances in MLB history.

Clearly, if the Mariners can get themselves something looking like a league average offense overall next year -- they are currently 11 percent below average -- it might fast-forward their rebuilding by a year or more.

That's if everything goes according to plan.

We don't yet know how this will impact the pitchers. I'm sure we'll see a ton of statistical guesswork on that in days ahead, but we won't really know until the team gets out there ad plays next year.

Jason Vargas just took one for the team.

Don't like this at all. You should build the team around the field you're dealt. Ehhh...

 

[EmpireWF]

Chicks dig the long ball.

 

[MVPete]

The balls just die as soon as they hit the air there anyway, I think this will be better for everyone.

 

[EmpireWF]

The balls just die as soon as they hit the air there anyway, I think this will be better for everyone.

Watch out though....Mets moved in the fences at Citi and the visitings teams end up hitting more home runs than them because of it. Go figure.

 

[NAHSTE]

Watch out though....Mets moved in the fences at Citi and the visitings teams end up hitting more home runs than them because of it. Go figure.

Wasn't that going to happen no matter what?

 

[bluntside]

Chicks dig the long ball.

...and if you can't hit the long ball, shorten the fences.

It'll be interesting to see how much of a difference this will bring.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Moving in walls is faggot shit.

Let your park play the way it plays. There are launching pads, there are pitchers parks. Some places have giant OF gaps, some have a short porch in left or right. Others have lots of foul territory or high walls. These differences, and how teams choose to build teams based on that, are part of what makes baseball so interesting.

 

[ThomasTomasz]

Mariners moving fences in for 2013

Mariners moving fences in for 2013

It had to be done. Seattle Mariners games at Safeco Field over the past several seasons had become a succession of low-scoring, mundane affairs, one after another. So the Mariners finally decided to move the fences in for 2013, as much as 17 feet in left-center field. Greg Johns has the story at MLB.com, complete with a graphic showing the new dimensions.

"Our goal was to create an environment that is fair for both hitters and pitchers," general manager Jack Zduriencik said in a statement. "Considering the current field dimensions, as well as the climate in and around Safeco Field, we feel this will be accomplished with this new layout."

Safeco has always been a pitcher's park since it first opened in 1999, but played even more extreme than normal in 2012. The Mariners have scored 62 fewer runs than any other AL team despite ranking fifth in the AL in runs scored on the road. They've hit .247 with 93 home runs on the road but are hitting just .218 with 54 home runs at home. Their opponents have similarly struggled, hitting .266 on the road but .229 at Safeco.

Here's how bad the run-scoring was at Safeco this year: In 79 games so far, a team has scored two or fewer runs 70 times, or nearly half the time. There have been 38 1-0 games in the majors and six of them took place at Safeco.

Moving the fences in was necessary for three primary reasons:

1. Bring a greater variety of action to Safeco Field. Hey, 2-1 games are exciting. Too many 2-1 games is boring. Mariners attendance has plummeted in recent seasons -- yes, primarily because the team was terrible, but also because the product wasn't interesting. Let's face it: Offensive is more exciting.

2. The ability to sign free-agent hitters. No hitter wants to play at Safeco, making it nearly impossible for the Mariners to sign a power-hitting free agent.

3. The development of young hitters. How much of Dustin Ackley's and Justin Smoak's problems can be attributed to Safeco? Kyle Seager is hitting .293 with 15 home runs on the road but .215 with four home runs at Safeco. Creating a better pitcher-hitter balance is better for the organization and better for business.

So if you're a fantasy, buy low now on Seager for 2013. And trade Jason Vargas ASAP.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/29515/mariners-will-move-fences-in-for-2013

:golfclap:

 

[Bomberooski]

Hallelujah

 

[NAHSTE]

They are also making the fence a uniform 8-feet tall all the way around. They are moving the hand-operated scoreboard to behind the fence somewhere else in the outfield, so it the fence will be one height.