As you’ll note in the image above, the Home Run Apple at New York’s Citi Field was protected by a curiously high wall last season, a barrier that proved to be virtually impregnable – at least for the home team. The Mets hit the fewest homers in the majors in 2009, and they finished in last place by a ridiculous margin. They cleared the fence just 95 times; the Giants were next-to-last with 122 home runs. Not surprisingly, Citi Field was ultimately a poor run-scoring environment.
On Tuesday, New York took a tentative first step toward correcting that situation. This from the Daily News:
The height of Citi Field’s centerfield wall will be sliced in half, making the ballpark more homer-friendly, the Daily News has learned.
Last season, the wall measured 16 feet in front of the sparsely used Home Run Apple. Now, with the second level of padding being removed, it will measure eight feet in the middle of the outfield.
Technically, sure, the park will be somewhat "more homer-friendly," since the height of the wall will be reduced. But Citi’s new 8-foot wall will still be located 408 feet from home plate. The actual field dimensions aren’t changing. Let’s not get too bullish over anybody’s 2010 projections simply because a giant, distant wall has been lowered, but is nonetheless still distant. David Wright(notes) hit just 10 home runs in 2009, only four of which traveled far enough to reach the newly exposed apple.
(According to Hit Tracker‘s Greg Rybarczyk, however, Wright lost as many as nine potential homers in the Shea-to-Citi ballpark conversion. It’s not like the park didn’t impact his totals).
At this point in our story, you’re probably wondering how these wall height alterations will affect the rating on the municipal debt issued to finance Citi Field’s construction. Duh. Well, we’ve got your answer: It ain’t good. In a move that is obviously a reaction to the park changes, Standard & Poor’s has lowered the rating on the stadium bonds to junk status.
Bloomberg seems to think S&P made the move because of "losses suffered by an insurance company that provided a
surety bond," or some such nonsense, but c’mon. This is clearly linked to that apple in some way. Connect the dots, speculators. Please continue visiting Roto Arcade for all breaking financial news.
—
Photo via Getty Images