Fenway Park will not be changing--at least not the bullpens. The Red Sox have canceled their plans to expand their bullpens nearly 10 feet into right field, withdrawing their request to the Secretary of State's office for permission to alter the landmark according to a WEEI report. The team cited time constraints amongst other issues as the main reason for canceling the renovations.
As we moved through the review process over the last several months, issues arose regarding implementation that required additional discussion and consideration of other design possibilities. Given the tight construction timeline we are operating on to have the ballpark ready for Opening Day 2011, and the fact that we’re already deep into the off-season, plus the impact any work on the bullpen area would have on other work currently being done on the right field seating bowl, we decided to take this project off the table for 2010-2011 off-season.
You can imagine that the entire rotation is breathing a sigh of relief right about now. Fenway is already a hitters park--the last thing they need is to add more home runs to the mix. At the same time, while Adrian Gonzalez is already going to see a big bump from Fenway, you have to imagine the entire lineup would be alright with seeing that deep right field get a little smaller.
Of course, the renovations aren't off the table for next year. It may be a short reprieve for the starters.
The relievers, though--who knows? Do you exchange the hits and homers for a more comfortable bullpen? I wonder if the team would go through with it next year if the whole relief corps begged them not to.