The Mets have determined R.A. Dickey's 2010 season is not a fluke, reports Andy Martino of the New York Daily News, and the team is open to discussing a multiyear deal with the knuckleballer in the offseason. Dickey would be under team control anyway for 2011 as an arbitration-eligible player.
Dickey, 36 next month, has a 2.57 ERA, 5.9 K/9, and 2.2 BB/9 with nine home runs allowed in 133.3 innings. He's allowed less than one hit per inning. His Triple A numbers were similar. I don't see the harm in buying out a free agent season if the price is right – say $4MM or less.
Knuckleballers come into their own in their mid 30’s after they have lost their youthful exuberance and develop consistency in slowing their arm speed down. Dickey could be “twirling” effectively for the Mets for the next 5-6-7 years…if he stays healthy and pitches within himself. Good move.
Or he could just be a one year wonder with a knuckleball
This is true…. but lets face it, he is not going to throw his arm unto the trash heap by pitching balls & strikes at 100 mph
What does that have to do w/ a multi year deal? He still could be a 1 year wonder or get hurt.
You may be right!…My point is more along the lines of , “RA Dickey is not Steven Strasburg”. Guys, like Strasburg, who throw at or near 100 mph, usually end up having rotator cuff surgery because they put so much pressure on the muscles of their upper arms and shoulders. Not so with a knuckleballer. The latter try to find a slow speed that allows their pitches move in odd ways.  If they overthrow, their pitch doesn’t move the way it should. It takes a long time to master this skill. The odds are.. they are less inclined to hurt their arm.  A multi-year contract is less of a risk, from that perspective. Could Dickey lose his “touch”? Possibly, but more so, from start to start, than year to year. It takes years to learn how to throw the knuckler with consistency. Apparently, Dickey has done that…at age 35.
I know technically age doesn’t matter as much with a knuckleballer, but that doesn’t mean the Mets don’t have leverage to that point. Despite the knuckleball putting less strain on the arm, other parts of the body could break down at age 37 (in 2011) that wouldn’t at age 28-32.
Also, while he’s been very good on the road, he’s been unreal at home–possibly another advantage in contract talks.
Two year deal for six million with an option for 5 million.
two team options
one at 5 million.
the other at 10 million.
3/3/5/10
it could be as short as 2 years 6 mil…it could be as much as 4 years 21 mil. ( basically if u got that far…he was well worth the money )
I just don’t think R.A. Dickey will maintain what hes doing for years to come. Maybe keep him for another year to keep building his value, and set up a market for the trade deadline.
This seems almost destined to blow up in the Mets’ laps with Omar in control still. If they give Dickey an Ollie Perez type deal, or anything even close to it, Omar should be fired, but won’t be.
Well, hopefully Minaya will be fired before the off-season or whenever actual talks with Dickey happen.
“An Ollie Perez-type deal?” 3/36? Nobody has talked about even more than a relatively small fraction of that, so even the phrase is kind of silly, or worse. John Maine, for those who can remember back that far, is making (one hesitates to use the word “earning”) $3.3 million this year; that’s likely to be the general vicinity we’ll see Dickey sign on for.
And the Mutts will probably save that $3.3M by non-tendering Maine this winter, as he’s got one more year on arbitration eligibility before he hits free agency, and is unlikely to find anything more than a minor league contract with incentives in his mailbox this winter.
LOOOB another Oliver Perez
The man has a “good” one year then the Mets need to give the player a multi-year million dollar contract.
Except Dickey’s shown the one Ollie hasn’t: consistency. Plus what’s wrong with giving him a couple years cheap at $3 million or so? That’s not the hulking contract Ollie’s is if they wanna move him.
Whatt consistency? he’s pitched part of 1 year.
To add on to what you say, he’s not averaging 5 walks per start either.
Let him do it for one more year before talking extension. Every dime is going to count so don’t just give it away when it doesn’t have to be.
Agreed. And if he’s good again next year then he’s probably a Type A FA, so win-win.
He’s not the type of Type A player that teams would take a chance on. So it would be a lose-win.
Exactly. Offer him arbitration, if someone else signs him you get 2 picks. If no one is willing to give up that draft pick, the Mets have more leverage to sign him.
That plan is much better than giving him a multiyear contract now after 1 season
Can the Mets say Arron Small?
When did Aaron Small ever have a good full season? Derp.
In ’05, Small came up in mid season pitched in 15 games and went 10-0 for the Yankees. Never had a full good season.That’s the very same number as R.A. Dickey.Remember that on Opening Day, R.A. was in Buffalo. So the next good full season he has will be his first.
Chillax people. Dickey is not getting anywhere near an Ollie deal. I forsee less than $5mill a year. Can’t decide personally if I want to lock him up long term or just 2-3 years. Probably short term.
but why even bother with that now? I mean they could just offer him arbitration considering all of mlb believes this is a fluke so no one else is going to look to sign him. It’s like the mets are setting this up to blow up in their face.
Dickey isn’t a free agent until the end of 2011. Judging by the year he’s having, he might end up getting more in arbitration this Winter than he’ll accept for an extension now. That being said, if he has a similar year next year and he’s offered arbitration, he’ll either decline, netting a potential bidding war, or get a ton in arbitration. I say it’s low risk offering him a modest extension now while his value is still to be determined.
the fact the mets are even considering a multi year deal for a guy with one good year proves they do not know what they are doing- if he signs a multi year deal i bet you he gets lit up like a christmas tree
Of course you would say that. Multi year doesn’t mean 10 years 10 million, it could mean 2 years at 5 million per year.
Ike, even that contract is too much. I like Dickey, I don’t think he’s a flash in the pan. I believe he’s legit but I still think he’s no more than a 4th man in a rotation and should be paid as such. If you’re going to offer him a contract, offer him a 2 year deal at $2.5 million per year. That’s plenty of money for him and plenty of time for him to prove himself as a legit starter. If he works out next year you can explore a contract extension. If not, you can push him to the BP.
“The Mets have determined R.A. Dickey’s 2010 season is not a fluke”. How exactly did they come to that conclusion? Based upon his whole career to date, I’d say there’s a much higher probablility that his 2010 season is indeed a fluke! Maybe he will finally have a decent career for a few seasons, I hope he does. But I wouldn’t bet on it.
Minaya is like the W. of GM’s.
That’s a real low blow. Even W. wouldn’t have signed Perez to that contract.
Aaron Small had 9 starts. That’s half a half of season. Dickey is pitching through 3/4 of a year. 20+ starts, way different.
‘When did Arron small have a good full season ?’ Derp. was the posting.
You are correct about Small 9 starts.
20+ starts or 3/4 of a season in not a full season. If you must nit pick, get the facts right.