RA Deserves His Own Thread

[Benjamin Grimm]

NY Mets ace R.A. Dickey's trade value is high, but that doesn't mean club will deal him It is far from certain that the Mets will trade their Cy Young candidate, R.A. Dickey By Andy Martino / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Monday, November 5, 2012, 12:16 AM A dozen or more teams would line up to bid for R.A. Dickey, major league executives say, but there is little consensus among rivals about the ace�s trade value. "I would say 10, 12 teams, maybe more, would be in on him, if the Mets decided to move him," said one American League executive. "It makes sense that they would think about selling high on him," said a National League talent evaluator. "There would obviously be a lot of interest." To be clear: It is far from certain that the Mets will trade their Cy Young candidate. General manager Sandy Alderson has said publicly that Dickey, along with David Wright, is one of the club�s two "core players," worthy of a contract extension. The GM values Dickey�s leadership and production. Alderson is described by associates as genuine in his desire to retain Dickey, but also open to other viewpoints -- and debate about Dickey�s future continues at Citi Field, where there is far more talk about dangling the popular ace than Jon Niese, another pitcher who rivals say would draw significant interest. Before and after exercising Dickey�s $5 million option for 2013 last week, it was natural for club brass to discuss how to maximize his value: Is he worth more to the Mets as a pitcher, or as a trade chip? The team is in desperate need of outfielders and catchers, have an abundance of young pitching, and believe they should deal from depth. While rival executes were united in their view that Dickey would draw significant interest, few were confident in predicting his price. "I�m sure they think they can get a lot," said a National League executive. "But how much is a lot? My question is, would you be able to sign him?" "There is a limit to what I would give up for him on a one-year deal," said an executive with an A.L. team that is rich in outfielders and seeking pitching. "If he�ll agree to an extension, that would be different." One scout raised a smaller concern: The challenge of catching a knuckleball. "What if you don�t have someone on your team who can catch him?" the scout said. "They might have to include (Josh) Thole in a deal." Among scouts and executives, there was greater agreement about Dickey�s ability to remain productive for several seasons. After going 20-6, with a 2.73 earned run average, in 2012, the 38-year-old convinced most outside observers that his performance was not a fluke, but consistent with a three-year pattern of late-career improvement. "I lean towards him being legit," said an A.L. executive. "He probably had a career year (in 2012), but at the very least he will give you quality innings." The situation is complex, and the Mets are weighing many questions, while also engaging Dickey�s agent, Bo McKinnis, in preliminary extension talks. If Dickey wins the Cy Young Award on Nov. 14, will an already-restless fan base accept news shortly thereafter that he has been traded, even if a deal is logical? Do the Mets need Dickey in order to avoid losing 90-plus games next year, when the roster will once again be constructed on a strict budget? Alderson and his cabinet are considering these factors, learning the pitcher�s asking price through discussions with McKinnis, and deciding if the organization is better served by paying Dickey or trading him.

"They might have to include (Josh) Thole in a deal."

I don't think that will be a major stumbling block.

[HahnSolo]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: "They might have to include (Josh) Thole in a deal." I don't think that will be a major stumbling block.

To the other team it might be.

[Frayed Knot]

I get a kick out of the sub-headline: It is far from certain that the Mets will trade their Cy Young candidate, R.A. Dickey -- something that's repeated later on within the body of the story.

As if the on-going general consensus has been that this is something approaching certainty.

[smg58]

HahnSolo wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: "They might have to include (Josh) Thole in a deal." I don't think that will be a major stumbling block. To the other team it might be.

As if Thole catches the knuckleball particularly well. I'd have thought that even an AL scout would know more about Thole than that.

[Frayed Knot]

Well, the thing is that he's the only one in the major leagues these days who catches it at all.
Hell, half the backstops in MLB have probably never seen one.

[G-Fafif]

PL Robert A, which is to say Players Love Robert Allen Dickey.

In perhaps a hint at further hardware to come, Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey took home his first offseason award Monday evening when the MLB Players Association revealed its annual Players Choice Awards. Dickey took home Outstanding Pitcher honors in the National League, as voted by his peers. It's a promising sign for Dickey leading up to the Nov. 14 announcement of the NL Cy Young Award, considering that four of the NL's last five Outstanding Pitchers went on to win the Cy. Dickey submitted his best season ever in 2012, going 20-6 with a 2.73 ERA and 230 strikeouts. At age 37, he led the NL in innings, strikeouts, shutouts and complete games, ranking second in both ERA and wins. Following his final start of the season, Dickey revealed that he had been pitching since April with a torn abdominal muscle, which he had surgically repaired last month. To become the NL's Outstanding Pitcher, Dickey beat out fellow finalists Gio Gonzalez of the Nationals and Johnny Cueto of the Reds, both of whom figure to receive significant Cy Young support. The Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw and the Braves' Craig Kimbrel also should factor into the Cy Young vote, which will be revealed next Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET on MLB Network. But the odds-on Cy Young favorite for months has been Dickey, whose story includes a decadelong slog through the Minors, a rebirth with the Mets as a knuckleballer in 2010, a book deal and starring role in a documentary, a climb up Mount Kilimanjaro, a 20-win season and now this: the first of what certainly will be many awards to come. "The award would obviously be nice," Dickey said of the Cy in September. "That would be silly to say that it wouldn't be fantastic. But at the same time, you've got to be able to lay your head on your pillow, whether you've won it or not, and know that you've done your best. And I can do that. "A 20-win season is also very difficult to get, and thankfully we've been able to do that. So at the very least, to be able to say that you were a 20-game winner for the New York Mets? That's pretty significant for me." Adding to his offseason intrigue, Dickey's future with the Mets is currently in flux, with the two sides attempting to negotiate a long-term contract extension -- and bracing for the potential of a blockbuster trade if they cannot reach an agreement. But if either party needed reminder of the knuckleballer's greatness in 2012, the Players Choice Awards on Monday provided it. The MLBPA has presented an array of Players Choice Awards each year since 1992, honoring each league's outstanding player, rookie, pitcher and comeback player, in addition to Player of the Year and Man of the Year awards that span both leagues. Under the supervision of the accounting firm KPMG, players voted on the 2012 awards on Sept. 19. This year's winners in all categories will select charities to receive grants totaling $260,000 from the MLB Players Trust, which raises funds and attention and promotes community involvement for issues affecting the needy. Since 1992, the Trust has recognized the performances of Players Choice winners by contributing more than $3 million to charities around the world. After the award announcement was made on MLB Network, Dickey said he would donate his $20,000 to Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. The Players Choice Awards are unrelated to MLB's Cy Young, MVP, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year awards, which select members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America voted on in September. The BBWAA will release the results of those ballots next week.

[Vic Sage]

Well, the thing is that he's the only one in the major leagues these days who catches it at all. Hell, half the backstops in MLB have probably never seen one.

there's no trick to catching the knuckleball.
you wait till it stops rolling and pick it up.
- Bob Uecker

[MFS62]

I know, this falls into the blatantly obvious category, but methinks the Mets are waiting to see if he wins the CY, so they can judge his value for an extension/ trade. Reasonable extension if he doesn't and high return trade if he does.

Later

[Frayed Knot]

MFS62 wrote: I know, this falls into the blatantly obvious category, but methinks the Mets are waiting to see if he wins the CY, so they can judge his value for an extension/ trade. Reasonable extension if he doesn't and high return trade if he does.

I don't think any GM - on either the giving or receiving end of a trade - is going set his giving/asking price on a player based on whether said player finishes 1st or 2nd or 3rd in a CY vote. Dickey's season, his assets, his age, etc., are what they are regardless of how a small and almost random sample from the BBWAA cast their votes.

[MFS62]

I realize that, but was thinking that a team acquiring a Cy Young winner would be looking to not only improve their team but sell more tickets too. So they might be willing to pay more for that.

Later

[ashie62]

Dickey and Flores for Justin Upton...just do it.

[Frayed Knot]

If we trade those two for Kate Upton will we get Verlander thrown in too?
I'd do that one in a (skip a) heartbeat.

[Edgy MD]

Upton is everybody's favorite flavor of ice cream these days, isn't it?

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy DC wrote: Upton is everybody's favorite flavor of ice cream these days, isn't it?

And why not? Comes in three varieties these days:
- one is a 28 y/o FA/CF
- one is a 25 y/o under team control for the next three years and reportedly on the trading block
- and the other is ridiculously hot

[Edgy MD]

And one a muckraking novelist who blew the lid off the meat packing industry.

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah, but he's not available this off-season.

[smg58]

Ashie62 wrote: Dickey and Flores for Justin Upton...just do it.

Dickey "and" implies that Upton is the better player. He's not.

[Edgy MD]

It's easy enough to imagine Upton garnering his team more wins going forward.

Every pitcher is a candidate for a disaster.

[Edgy MD]

Dickey gets sorely needed pub from the Huffington Post.

Christopher Rosen Become a fan Christopher.Rosen@huffingtonpost.com R.A. Dickey On 'Knuckeball,' His Future With The New York Mets & 'Star Wars: Episode VII' Posted: 11/19/2012 10:03 am EST Updated: 11/19/2012 10:18 am EST In the last year, New York Mets starting pitcher R.A. Dickey climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, released a memoir ("Wherever I Wind Up"), became the first pitcher in 24 years to throw consecutive one-hitters, was the focus of an acclaimed documentary, and, just last week, won the 2012 National League Cy Young award. The 38-year-old shows no signs of slowing down either: In 2013, Dickey will release a children's book, likely sign a lucrative contract (either with the Mets or another team), and possibly see his story honored by the Academy Awards. "Knuckleball!," the aforementioned documentary about Dickey and fellow knuckleballer and former Red Sox starter Tim Wakefield, is a potential Oscar contender in the Best Documentary category. Not bad for a pitcher who just two years ago was a roster filler for the Mets AAA affiliate in Buffalo. HuffPost Sports spoke to Dickey about his banner year, why he doesn't really care if people like "Knuckleball" and whether or not he wants to stay with the New York Mets. What were you feeling before the Cy Young award announcement? I know it's an epic thing, but I also have four kids running around and my wife was out of town, so I didn't have much time to devote a lot of anxiety toward it. Which was great. I'm thankful it ended up the way that it did, but I didn't have too much stress over it. This has been such a whirlwind year for you, for Mets fans and for the city. Have you gotten the chance to fully appreciate everything that has happened? It's an incredible story. To be perfectly frank with you, it's just much bigger than me. This story itself is really, really epic. I'm a player or character in this story. That I walked off the mound tying the modern-day Major League record for the most home runs given up in a game in 2006 to being the 2012 Cy Young award winner is just incredible. When you were approached for the film, were you worried at all about overexposure? That's an interesting question. I have a certain apathy about that in some regard, in that you can't live your life trying to be all things to all people. You hope to be authentic and honorable and honest, and if people don't like it, they don't like you. That's just the way that it is, and that's OK. But I've tried to do a good job of telling the truth and being vulnerable and transparent and people make their own judgements. Whatever judgement they make is OK. You keep living your story and try to be as honest as you can. I made a commitment to be like that a while ago and whatever was going to come from that was going to come from it. What did your teammates think of "Knuckleball"? A few guys came to the Tribeca Film Festival premiere back in April. They all really appreciated it. They liked it. It's a story about much more than baseball. It's a real narrative. That's why I was interested in lending my time and energy for it. If you were to come to me and said, "I want to make a knuckleball film about people striking out and how goofy it is and tricky it is," I would have told you that I'm not interested. But Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg made it in way that was very narrative driven. I was awed. As the film details, you had a long road to Major League success. How does what you've been through affect your view of the next year, when you'll either sign an extension with the Mets, get traded or become a free agent? The way it helps me is that I've been on both sides of the coin. I've had to hold what's great, fantastic and joyful about the game alongside what's hard and sad and disheartening and cruel about the game. Because of that, I feel like whatever is going to come up, I'm going to have the tools to be able to process it in the way it needs to be handled. Being in the minor leagues, going through a lot of adversity -- that helps shape you. So, the contract talks and trade talks are part of the story of what God is going to do with my life. I'm willing to open my arms to that and give up my control of that. Do you want to stay with the Mets? Yeah. I feel a very deep sense of loyalty to this team, which gave me an opportunity when other teams didn't. If I finished my career as a Met, I would be glad. At the same time, you don't want to be taken advantage of, and you want to be treated fairly. We're trying to work it out, and we'll see where we end up. You mentioned in the film how hard it can be for players to stay focused when the team is out of contention. Do you think the push for your Cy Young helped motivate the team to play harder in the games you pitched? Openly, nobody is going to say that they tried to perform better in games that I pitched. I don't think that is the case at all. But I think when I took the mound, the team believed we had a chance to win. Because of that, maybe just for a pitch or a single at-bat, they were checked in a little bit more. I would say for professional baseball players, you don't get to where you are by just trying hard for one guy and not the other. We're all playing for something, regardless of the record. You're playing for contracts, playing for the opportunity to play next year, playing for arbitration; you're always playing for something. This year, to be able to play for a milestone like the Cy Young, was really great. Josh Hamilton's life story is being turned into a feature film with Casey Affleck writing and directing. Would something like that interest you? Yeah! You know, I think the sharing of my story could be pertinent and relevant for a lot of people, because of some of the darkness I walked through and was able to get over. But I wouldn't be willing to relinquish complete creative control; I would want to be involved in some capacity. I really don't want a production company to sensationalize my story and make it Hollywood. I think it's inspirational enough on its own and the tendency is to use hyperbole to create drama, and I feel like my life has been dramatic enough. I'm entertaining those ideas and we'll see where it leads. You've got some experience with writing; would you want to write the screenplay? I think I could contribute. I wouldn't feel comfortable in that particular literary medium. I would certainly help proofread it and make adjustments here and there, but I don't think I have the energy to devote to it full-time. It was hard enough trying to write the manuscript for the other book. I know you're a big "Star Wars" fan. What do you want to see from the recently announced "Star Wars: Episode VII"? Man, I don't know where to begin. I think I'd like to see a little bit of the backstory of Luke and Leia; how they got where they were on Alderaan and Tatooine. I'd like to see some of that. But I'm willing to hope that whoever they put in charge of directing will want to add to the epic the way that it should be. That's a big deal. There's enough people here as far as the fan base that you don't want to mess that up. "Knuckleball!" is available now via VOD. To pre-order the film on DVD, head over to the "Knuckleball!" website.

[smg58]

The Royals are shopping OF Wil Myers (.314/.387/.600 with 37 HR and 109 RBI in AA and AAA last year, turns 22 on Dec. 10) for a front line starter. They've apparently inquired about Jon Lester and James Shields, neither of whom won a Cy Young last year. I'm not saying the Mets should necessarily trade Dickey for Myers, but it's imperative that they either re-sign Dickey or get at least as much value in return for him as Myers would provide.

[Ceetar]

smg58 wrote: The Royals are shopping OF Wil Myers (.314/.387/.600 with 37 HR and 109 RBI in AA and AAA last year, turns 22 on Dec. 10) for a front line starter. They've apparently inquired about Jon Lester and James Shields, neither of whom won a Cy Young last year. I'm not saying the Mets should necessarily trade Dickey for Myers, but it's imperative that they either re-sign Dickey or get at least as much value in return for him as Myers would provide.

I'd want more than Myers.

[G-Fafif]

R.A. was just on CBS This Morning charming the hell out of Charlie Rose. Came out in favor of reading, persevering, staying with the Mets.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Ceetar wrote: smg58 wrote: The Royals are shopping OF Wil Myers (.314/.387/.600 with 37 HR and 109 RBI in AA and AAA last year, turns 22 on Dec. 10) for a front line starter. They've apparently inquired about Jon Lester and James Shields, neither of whom won a Cy Young last year. I'm not saying the Mets should necessarily trade Dickey for Myers, but it's imperative that they either re-sign Dickey or get at least as much value in return for him as Myers would provide. I'd want more than Myers.

I don't think there's a chance you get more than Myers. Hell, I'm not sure you get Myers.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Ceetar wrote: smg58 wrote: The Royals are shopping OF Wil Myers (.314/.387/.600 with 37 HR and 109 RBI in AA and AAA last year, turns 22 on Dec. 10) for a front line starter. They've apparently inquired about Jon Lester and James Shields, neither of whom won a Cy Young last year. I'm not saying the Mets should necessarily trade Dickey for Myers, but it's imperative that they either re-sign Dickey or get at least as much value in return for him as Myers would provide. I'd want more than Myers.

OK, we'll throw in Josh Thole.

[Ceetar]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Ceetar wrote: smg58 wrote: The Royals are shopping OF Wil Myers (.314/.387/.600 with 37 HR and 109 RBI in AA and AAA last year, turns 22 on Dec. 10) for a front line starter. They've apparently inquired about Jon Lester and James Shields, neither of whom won a Cy Young last year. I'm not saying the Mets should necessarily trade Dickey for Myers, but it's imperative that they either re-sign Dickey or get at least as much value in return for him as Myers would provide. I'd want more than Myers. I don't think there's a chance you get more than Myers. Hell, I'm not sure you get Myers.

Then no chance I'd make the deal. Unless Myers is bordering on Trout, and no one is, I'd wager on Dickey being more valuable the next couple of years.

[Guest Swan Swan H]

"Bordering on Trout" sounds like an Irish insult.

[Edgy MD]

Lester's tied up for two years, as is Shields.

I don't want to trade Dickey, but pitching is ephemeral. Dudes with potential is what a high-end 38-year-old starter gets, and a 22-year-old who just slugged .600 in the high minors speaks to me a little about potential.

Bordering on Trout has been heating up the alt-folk scene in recent years. A lot of flannel-wearing fans.

I'd wager on Dickey being more valuable the next couple of years.

Depends on what the "next couple of years" means. But on a per-dollar basis, I wouldn't guess this comes to pass.

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: Depends on what the "next couple of years" means. But on a per-dollar basis, I wouldn't guess this comes to pass.

I meant closer to a WAR basis. I don't really care about the dollars as much as the total production.

[Edgy MD]

But dollars count --- and we've been down this road --- as they can be turned into production elsewhere.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Put another way: 3 years x (Dickey + in-house/"value" OF) < 3 years x (Myers + assorted FA pitching)