Any speculation as to what it is that's about to blot out a large portion of the anachronistic train and part of the outfield wall? What ever it is, it's huge. On her Astros Facebook page, Footer says she can't discuss it but that there will be "an explanation" from the team soon. I also noticed the billboards on the foul poles have been toned down a bit. No more giant cows wearing Astros caps - just the text now. That's a step in the right direction.

Unless I'm just going blind I haven't seen any construction where you are talking about when I've been to the ballpark. I also didn't see anything on Footer's blog or FB page that mentions this. Have some pics?

I can't access FB or photobucket from work. If you look at some of the videos where they show a homerun from the past two days, you can see it momentarily. It's nearly the size of the giant video scoreboard, and it extendes from where the Citgo sign used to be (it's been removed) and goes below the wall, covering some of the past division banners.

The FB page with a picture is Footer's Astros page, not her personal page (she has two).

On the video page, the clip for Bixler's homer shows it.

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?tcid=mm_hou_vid&c_id=hou

I was actually wondering the same thing. It is an unfinished structure, and not many would notice because it blends well with the roof closed. Maybe it is a way to block the sun for the first few innings of those who sit along the 1B line.

I tweeted one of the employees at MMP and he said he can't discuss it right now. I think it's going to be for advertising space. I also asked about the pennants and if they would be relocated and he said he didn't know.

Whatever it is I hope it gets rid of that train.

If I were a betting man, I'd say it is probably some form of advertising board. With statements like - "can't be discussed right now", "organization will explain later", etc - it doesn't sound like something they think the fans will like. This past off-season they were bragging the new scoreboard and the "Ultimate Sports Bar" (Insperity Club) months before they even started installation and construction.

Just like to point out that that was all under the McLane regime. It's farfetched, but maybe another video board, mostly for the people sitting behind the bullpen? That little one waaaaaay up in the rafters in LF foul territory looks like of ghetto.

I thought it might be a second scoreboard also. I will say though, the structure so far is massive. At first glance it seems about as big as the new HD board. Two of those would be an awful lot of video distraction.

For our 2012 World Series Championship sign.

Here's the picture of the construction so far. This is from a post on Footer's FB page;

http://i47.tinypic.com/x98yh.jpg

BC,

I and a friend were at the game today, and saw that also. I had a crazy idea (based on no facts or knowledge):

They are going to take out part of the Crawford boxes in the off-season and move the fence back in LF, deleting the manual scoreboard. That new construction will then hold a new electronic scoreboard. They will also flatten Tal's hill and move the CF fence in a little.

That would make me sad, the boxes and the super-deep CF add character and variety to the park. I can't stand places like Turner Field that have one, long, evenly-curved, boring OF wall.

But there's a more practical consideration as well; the fanbase likes sitting out there, and they don't want to losing seating. The Boxes are generally at least mostly full even when a scrub team is in town and the rest of the stadium has fields of empty seats.

It just...seems too big to be advertising. I mean, I'd like to THINK they wouldn't plaster that much advertising right there, over that nice wall and partially block the outside view.

But...what else COULD it be besides advertising, a video board or an out-of-town scoreboard? I can't even think of anything.

I wouldn't mind that. Hopefully they'll remove the train track too and add some more seats.

Why add MORE seats? They can't fill the ones they have as it is.

I'd replace the train with a space shuttle...

I'm guessing a big video screen.

Whatever it is, I wonder if it will affect the grass. Seems like something cashing a shadow that size might make a section of the grass suffer somewhat...

I doubt it would affect the grass if it is permanent. The sun moves during the day and during the year.

Video Screen makes sense to me because if you have seats around RF, there really isn't a big screen to look at.

I have a feeling it might be advertising space... something like Target Field or the Rangers' Ballpark