R.A. Dickey Says -- 2011

[Vic Sage]

well, he's trying to take a glass-is-half-full kind of view. As an athlete in the midst of the situation, would you think he'd call out his bosses as assholes, and proclaim next season as an utter waste of time? No. He's making the "we'll rise to the challenge" statement. And that's fine. That's what i think athletes do, publicly.

i'm more concerned with his typos. and his tweeting in general.

[metsmarathon]

well, i didn't expect him to come out and say "fuck the mets"

his is an appropriate respone for a member of hte team. he's saying not that it isn't a big burden to replace reyes, but that the burden is shared by the whole team. i got no issue.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I don't disagree with what Dickey is saying; I'm just tired of his "pretending to be an intellectual" schtick.

He may have a good vocabulary for a ballplayer, but that doesn't mean we have to be impressed with how smart he is.

I'd be more impressed with him if he'd speak in plain English without trying to talk like Hank McCoy.

[Edgy MD]

I'm more concerned about his collectivism.

CAIN IN 2012!

[seawolf17]

Edgy DC wrote: CAIN IN 2012!

Making $15M in 2012. Doubt it. Although Cain-for-Wright would be intriguing.

I wish there was a baseball Trade Machine on ESPN the way there's a basketball one.

[Frayed Knot]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I don't disagree with what Dickey is saying; I'm just tired of his "pretending to be an intellectual" schtick. He may have a good vocabulary for a ballplayer, but that doesn't mean we have to be impressed with how smart he is. I'd be more impressed with him if he'd speak in plain English without trying to talk like Hank McCoy.

But you have to admit that you're impressed with his heightened since of vocabulary.

[Benjamin Grimm]

His vocabulation is verifiedly unsurmounted.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Here are some words for him to use. I am despondent with having capitulated so often for my team. I have deserved to have won but one fixture this year; in all other starts my control has been dreadful and my usually elusive knuckler has been unproblematic for my adversaries to demolish. As the nominal ace in a team that badly requires one, I must endeavor to elevate my effort so as to overcome the opponent�s best effort, as when the Mets opposed Clayton Kershaw on Sunday and bestowed me with yet another lead. As diminutive an advantage as it was, it was a benefit I could ill afford to surrender. I think maybe pretending to be an erudite college professor instead of a destitute athlete, and impressing sportswriters by having read more books than they have, exhibits considerable foolhardiness on my part and requires a re-examination of my priorities and maybe, more exertion and less loquaciousness.

Post of the year?

[batmagadanleadoff]

I don't know who Hank McCoy is, but I like that post.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

You all are annoyed because he reads a lot, employs a prodigious vocabulary publicly, and thinks enough of the fan-athlete relationship that he takes a second to try and make sense of a traumatic team event in a visible forum?

Perhaps we should all retire to more cloistered environs and attempt to clammily create the beast-with-two-backs with ourselves.

[Fman99]

I like him. His name is Dickey.

[ashie62]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: His vocabulation is verifiedly unsurmounted.

Supposively

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

RAD, on his dogs' reaction to his jogging in an oxygen-deprivation mask wrote: "They get freaked out. They either want to bite my neck off or they run as fast as they can in the other direction."

The mask was a gift from Carrasco; naturally, it only works right for short spurts, and even then, only 2 out of every 3 times you use it.

RAD, on the risks involved in the whole Tanzania-altitude-adjustment thing wrote: "I don't think there's really any lethal risk to doing it. It's not like it's Everest."

Okay. Maybe he's a LITTLE bit stupid.

Unsurprisingly, the Mets are less than enthused about the whole business.

[batmagadanleadoff]

A few months ago, the Mets sent a letter to Dickey's agent warning him that they reserve the right to void the remaining year on his contract if he is injured on the mountain. They can't stop him from going, but they clearly would prefer he did not.

It's gotta be at least 50/50 that this year's Mets are rooting for a contract voiding injury.

[metsmarathon]

"If I were by myself, I would probably try to push through headache and push through nausea and maybe get some kind of altitude pulmonary enema and croak," Dickey said. "But I've got guys that I can count on that are going to keep me grounded."

honestly, i would've expected a more expressive word there than croak. its like he forgot to embellish his vocabulary for a moment.

[Chad ochoseis]

If I were by myself, I would probably try to push through headache and push through nausea and maybe get some kind of altitude pulmonary enema and croak

As unpleasant as a pulmonary enema would be, it's the edema that kills you.

I've got friends who've hiked Kilimanjaro who are fifteen years older than R.A. and who aren't professional athletes (OK, knuckleball pitchers aren't exactly athletes, either). According to them, it's really no big deal.

[Gwreck]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: RAD, on the risks involved in the whole Tanzania-altitude-adjustment thing wrote: "I don't think there's really any lethal risk to doing it. It's not like it's Everest." Okay. Maybe he's a LITTLE bit stupid..

My mother had a friend who went to hike Kilimanjaro and got killed in a freak rockslide (the rest of her party survived, fortunately). There is indeed a lethal risk, although, in fairness, it's not necessarily an unreasonable risk.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Point is, from edema to rockslides to any one of dozens of acute mundane-to-extramundane issues that can turn funky without standard first aid... there are a great many small-but-not-insignificant risks to the climb.

It's a little doofy-- and a gigantic, hubristic finger to fate-- to publicly dismiss 'em. Or maybe, as a man of letters, he doesn't understand odds.

[metirish]

Chad Ochoseis wrote: If I were by myself, I would probably try to push through headache and push through nausea and maybe get some kind of altitude pulmonary enema and croak As unpleasant as a pulmonary enema would be, it's the edema that kills you. I've got friends who've hiked Kilimanjaro who are fifteen years older than R.A. and who aren't professional athletes (OK, knuckleball pitchers aren't exactly athletes, either). According to them, it's really no big deal.

A group from Ireland climbed it recently, a group that included several youngsters one from my village, aged ten.

[nymr83]

I know it makes Wilpon look like a scrooge, but I think the Mets did the right thing here in warning their employee that they believe his proposed course of action may violate his contract. Let him make an informed decision about going. And, if something does happen and the Mets attempt to void it (good luck with that), I feel better that he was warned.

[ashie62]

R.A Nitwit

[Edgy MD]

Chad Ochoseis wrote: If I were by myself, I would probably try to push through headache and push through nausea and maybe get some kind of altitude pulmonary enema and croak As unpleasant as a pulmonary enema would be, it's the edema that kills you. I've got friends who've hiked Kilimanjaro who are fifteen years older than R.A. and who aren't professional athletes (OK, knuckleball pitchers aren't exactly athletes, either). According to them, it's really no big deal.

I have friends who are smokers who have done it. It's a harsh wakeup call, but they made it and they came back in one piece. Sudden snowstorms can happen, but I'm pretty confident he'll make it back, also.

[Edgy MD]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: A few months ago, the Mets sent a letter to Dickey's agent warning him that they reserve the right to void the remaining year on his contract if he is injured on the mountain. They can't stop him from going, but they clearly would prefer he did not. It's gotta be at least 50/50 that this year's Mets are rooting for a contract voiding injury.

Andrew Marchand made more or less the same crack in what was ostensibly a news story.

[Ceetar]

Gwreck wrote: LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: RAD, on the risks involved in the whole Tanzania-altitude-adjustment thing wrote: "I don't think there's really any lethal risk to doing it. It's not like it's Everest." Okay. Maybe he's a LITTLE bit stupid.. My mother had a friend who went to hike Kilimanjaro and got killed in a freak rockslide (the rest of her party survived, fortunately). There is indeed a lethal risk, although, in fairness, it's not necessarily an unreasonable risk.

The odds are probably better he gets killed by a car if he spent the same amount of time in NYC than a rockslide on Kilimanjaro.

I've got $10 that says if he's not the best pitcher on the team in April, someone will blame it on Kilimanjaro fatigue though.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Well, if he misses time with a gangrenous knee, that's where my head's going.

[batmagadanleadoff]

A few months ago, the Mets sent a letter to Dickey's agent warning him that they reserve the right to void the remaining year on his contract if he is injured on the mountain. They can't stop him from going, but they clearly would prefer he did not. It's gotta be at least 50/50 that this year's Mets are rooting for a contract voiding injury. Andrew Marchand made more or less the same crack in what was ostensibly a news story.

Jinx!
_______________


December 28, 2011
The BP First Take
Wednesday, December 28

by Daniel Rathman

The Mets are struggling financially and on thin ice with their fans, so you�d think that when one of their players spends his offseason preparing to do something generous and cool, the front office would praise him and consider opportunities to market it. There are few major leaguers whose careers and stories are more intriguing than those of R.A. Dickey. He was born without an ulnar collateral ligament, couldn�t cut it as a regular pitcher, transformed himself into a knuckleballer, and spent more than a decade as a journeyman searching for a multi-year contract. The Mets finally gave Dickey a stable home with a two-year, $7.8 million deal last offseason, and he has since become a fan favorite. Now, Dickey is trying to use his newfound fame to give something back. His attempt to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro is meant to benefit Bombay Teen Challenge, a charity that aims to help victims of human trafficking. He has devoted hours to conditioning himself for the challenge, and to minimizing the already low risk involved. That�s the glass-half-full view; the Mets have chosen the glass-half-empty one. They aren�t happy with Dickey�s plans, sent him a letter requesting that he abandon them, and told the Wall Street Journal about it. Given all that has gone wrong in recent years, the team�s concerns are understandable. But, if anything, these matters should have been handled internally, in a way that would have left the door open for the Mets to piggyback on a potentially great story. By publicly chiding Dickey for what they deem an unnecessary risk, the Mets have thrown away the chance to generate positive attention from it. With the Wilpons� fiasco still unfolding, the fans reeling from the departure of Jose Reyes to a division rival, and a full-scale rebuilding process underway, the Mets need all the feel-good stories they can get. Yet, they�ve managed to spin Dickey�s climb as something both the pitcher and the fans should feel bad about. The open threat to void Dickey�s contract if he suffers an injury that prevents him from pitching is both pointless and wrongheaded. There is far more on the line for Dickey�who had few guarantees during his first 14 years in professional baseball�than for the Mets, and his runs with an oxygen-limiting mask are proof that he understands both the challenge of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and how much he risks by doing it. His desire to do it anyway is selfless. The Mets� attempt to stop him is just another example of the selfishness that got them into their current hole.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=15739

[Edgy MD]

I agree with much of that. But I don't think it's selfishness that got them into the current hole. Though it can certainly be argued that it's selfish of the Wilpons to not sell at this point.

[metirish]

I agree with much of that too, Dickey is a good guy trying to do a good thing,I'm OK with that. Really discouraging to to even entertain the idea that the Mets might be rooting for a void on a $4 million plus contract, and on one of the better players.

[Ceetar]

metirish wrote: I agree with much of that too, Dickey is a good guy trying to do a good thing,I'm OK with that. Really discouraging to to even entertain the idea that the Mets might be rooting for a void on a $4 million plus contract, and on one of the better players.

The Mets didn't need to notify Dickey in order to void his contract if he gets hurt. (why they leaked it to the WSJ..who knows..) That they did so suggests more that they realize how desperately they need him to pitch. It's clearly not a win-win situation of "We get Dickey, or we get to save $4 million!" or they wouldn't have raised the issue.

It's very much just a business move. Just like Reyes. they're pieces to a puzzle, not people. The Mets would like nothing more than for all their on-field employees be cryogentically frozen between the end of the season and the start of Spring Training.

[Edgy MD]

Of course, they absorbed something like the exact opposite criticism, letting (having?) Thole play in Venezuela.