RA Dickey close to deal with Mets. soon to be Memories of ?

[Guest attgig]

The most exciting news since Igarashi....


http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/nl/2009-12-22-3645001328_x.htm

[metirish]

Stop being a dick Omar

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

He's a knuckleballer!

Nobody knows this but his real first name is Ulysses.

URA Dickey

[HahnSolo]

I remember a Mad Dog Russo rant a few years ago, about how (maybe the Giants) could not hit "ARRRR AYYYYY DICCKKEEYYY". He went on and on with it. I bet he loves this move.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Knuckleballers peak at 35.

[Frayed Knot]

"Pitching his entire career without the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, Dickey is 22-28 with a 5.43 ERA in 48 starts and 96 relief appearances in seven big league seasons. Doctors think he either was born without the ligament or it dissolved after a tear."

So at least he can't tear it pitching for us!!

[metirish]

john Harper's column tomorrow goes like this.


Here's all you need to know about the Mets mindset right now, not to mention the Mets fans, who by the way are livid. On the day the beloved Yankees bring back Vazquez, a road tested Vaquez it should be noted all the Mets could do was sign RA Dickey. Forgive yourself if you have never heard of him, only the desperate Omar Minaya would sign a guy who doesn't even have the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.

I wonder what Jason Bay thinks of this move....oh the indignity of it all.

A scout I spoke to says Dickey doesn't evan have a fastball.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I wonder if I have a ulnar collateral ligament in my right elbow?

[Ceetar]

metirish wrote: A scout I spoke to says Dickey doesn't evan have a fastball.

Warthen will try to get one out of him, just you watch.

[Gwreck]

Dickey faced the Mets in June 08:
http://archives.cranepoolforum.net/9400/f14_t9405.shtml

Some info on Dickey in this KTE:
http://archives.cranepoolforum.net/9300/f15_t9388.shtml

Key NY Times article about him:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/sports/baseball/27dickey.html

[Benjamin Grimm]

Any reports yet on how this is affecting the Citi Field tour groups?

[batmagadanleadoff]

Fast ball? Ligament? This guy doesn't even have a first name.

[Guest themetfairy]

Robert Alan Dickey

[Met Hunter]

What do D.J. Dozier, C.J. Nitkowski and J.J. Putz all have in common? They were all sucky Mets.

Ok, ok, I'll give you J.C. Martin.

[batmagadanleadoff]

themetfairy wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: Fast ball? Ligament? This guy doesn't even have a first name Robert Alan Dickey

Killjoy.

[Fman99]

I am excited for 2010, now, for the plethora of anatomical jokes about this guy. Big Dickey fan here.

He's got a cousin in AA ball, I.M. Penisy, that's supposed to be pretty good too.

[smg58]

I can see him providing us with two or three games of entertainment throwing the knuckleball. And the Mets might even win one of those games. Otherwise, he's just roster depth, nothing to get excited about or to burn Omar in effigy over.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

My heart's a-flutter at the thought.

[Guest Edgy DC]

What's this I hear about the Mets signing Rodney Allen
Rippey?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

A very short history of Mets knucklers.

http://mbtn.net/how-about-knuckle-sandwich

[Benjamin Grimm]

This is further proof that the Mets medical staff is incompetent.

They just signed a pitcher with no elbow!

[Guest Edgy DC]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: A very short history of Mets knucklers. http://mbtn.net/how-about-knuckle-sandwich

Me likey. Pete Falcone called his out pitch a knuckle curve, but, if I correctly recall, it bore little relation to a knuckleball beyond the nomenclature. I wonder if the same is true of Mlicki's knuckle curve.

It seems hard to reconcile, as the action on a curve is created by the rotation, and the action on the knuckler is created by the lack of rotation.

[G-Fafif]

Should we save bandwidth and rename this thread Memories of R.A. Dickey now?

[MFS62]

G-Fafif wrote: Should we save bandwidth and rename this thread Memories of R.A. Dickey now?

OK.
My favorite memory of R.A. Dickey is when he taught the knuckleball to Oliver Perez.

Later

[G-Fafif]

How about the time his knuckler got away from Molina but took that crazy bounce off the brickwork and let Bengie tag out Rollins and Victorino? The best part was our catcher falling on ol' Shane and knocking all the oxygen out of the not-so-Flyin' Hawaiian.

Sure, we were losing 12-3, but it was one of the few nice moments of 2010.

[Centerfield]

Great play! But I hate that it triggered the "two-outs on one play" incentive in the Molina contract putting us on the hook for the remaining 4 years, 48 million.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Edgy DC wrote: John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: A very short history of Mets knucklers. http://mbtn.net/how-about-knuckle-sandwich Me likey. Pete Falcone called his out pitch a knuckle curve, but, if I correctly recall, it bore little relation to a knuckleball beyond the nomenclature. I wonder if the same is true of Mlicki's knuckle curve. It seems hard to reconcile, as the action on a curve is created by the rotation, and the action on the knuckler is created by the lack of rotation.

Mussina's curve was one of these, and I think I've heard Burnett's called this, too. Really, it's a curveball thrown with either your index or your middle finger tucked in behind the ball, so as to make your fingers jut out all knuckler-like; the grip supposedly makes the ball spin tighter, but doesn't provide any wacky Niekroing action. Basically, looks like a knuckler, drops like a curve.

Why bother even calling it "knuckle curve?" People just like to name things, I suppose.

[MFS62]

The first pitcher I remember who threw what he called a knuckle curve was Cub starter Burt Hooten.

Edit: And if you go here, you'll see that our own Steve Renko threw it.
http://www.oddball-mall.com/knuckleball/list.htm

Later

[Guest Edgy DC]

Cool thing to this story (cool now, sucked at the time) was that Dickey was the first round draft pick for the Rangers in 1996. He was offered an $875,000 contract and he flew in to sign it, have a press conference with Doug Melvin, and throw out the first pitch that night. A routine MRI found the missing ligament, the offer was rescinded, the press conference scrapped, the first pitch cancelled.

After James Andrews confirmed the news, he planned on going to college, but a sorry Doug Melvin offed him a $75,000 bonus and he jumped at it, and managed to pull together a career of a sort anyway.

[ashie62]

G-Fafif wrote: Should we save bandwidth and rename this thread Memories of R.A. Dickey now?

Feel Free