Padres Officially Considering Moving the Right Field Fences

Robert Moreno provided you with his thoughts on the fences at Petco Park, but now it seems the team is officially considering the change.  CEO Tom Garfinkel was live in the booth during a recent broadcast when the topic came up with Mark Grant and Dick Enberg.  He revealed that the team was considering a change and has until the end of this year to submit plans to Major League Baseball.

According to an article by Bill Center of the San Diego Union Tribune, the Padres have already contacted MLB about the protocol for moving the fences.  Garfinkel said:

"We’d have to submit plans by the end of the season.  I don’t think a final decision needs to be made until October."

According to Garfinkel, the plans would including moving in the right field and right-center field fences to “reward” players who do their job.  Garfinkel is of the impression that players are crushing the ball and winning their battle against the pitcher only to be denied as balls drop into outfielders’ gloves.

"A solidly hit ball should be rewarded. Baseball is a match between the pitcher and the hitter. We’ve seen a number of times here where the hitter wins that battle and gets nothing to show for it."

The goal of the change would not be to suddenly turn Petco into a hitter’s park, but to make it more neutral for left handed hitters.  Righties do not struggle nearly as much as lefties in Petco, and the goal would be to make the park play equally for lefties and righties.

If changes were made, they would be put in place for the 2013 season.

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