According to Marc Carig of Newsday, R.A. Dickey says contract talks have progressed between he and the Mets, and Dickey feels the organization is heading in the right direction.
Nov. 8, 6:15 am: In his column for the New York Post, Joel Sherman says while it's still early in the discussions, 'the impression the Mets were leaving on executives at the General Managers Meetings was that there was a substantial gap between what they are willing to offer the righty and what they perceive Dickey wants.'
As a result, Sherman says the Mets are beginning to gauge Dickey's value on the trade market at the GM Meetings this week, and will weigh their findings against keeping Dickey through 2013 and not signing him to an extension.
Sherman notes Dickey's 'sweetheart' contract for 2013 along with what he can potentially bring to a starting rotation are what the Mets are using to find that interest among other teams and says the Mets might entertain a deal for the right two or three player package.
Alternatively, the Mets can reassess Dickey's value at the trade deadline, should they be unable to come to terms on a new deal and they cannot find the right trade partner this winter.
In the end, Sherman says the Mets remain conflicted as to how to deal with Dickey's contract situation.
'One team official said that to have any chance at contention next year, the Mets need to retain their strength, which is starting pitching, and try to augment around that. However, another executive described a roster in need of multiple upgrades and limited prospects and dollars to address those holes. Dickey would provide a chip the Mets could turn into potentially a few long-term solutions,' Sherman writes.
Michael Baron, MetsBlog.com
The Mets are certainly justified with their concerns about Dickey's abilities over the long term. And, as far as the debate goes about trading starting pitching to fill other gaps, there's no questioning the importance of starting pitching and trading away from that not only takes away from that quality, but increases the need for more depth as well.But the decision shouldn't necessarily come down to is not whether Dickey is injury prone, or his advanced age, or the wear and tear an 80 mph knuckleball will have on his arm as he gets older. If they want Dickey (and Wright for that matter) to be a part of the solution, those are all understood risks in the engagement. They would be in a better position to debate those issues if they were closer to a championship. Rather, the primary debate should be in determining his value to the team while inside the organization, or the value he might add to the organization if he were dealt. Does Dickey's presence for the next few years makes them better? Does his presence makes the organization healthier? Does his presence help put the team on the quickest path to not only being successful in the short-term, but the ability to sustain success over the long-term? Or, can they be a better club by trading him to fill other organizational holes, both at the Major and Minor League levels? To me, those are the issues at hand, and the risks associated with a contract extension come into play only if they believe he puts them on the quickest path to contention.
Previous Updates on R.A. Dickey
Stats: Dickey went 20-6 with a 2.73 ERA, having allowed 192 hits and 54 walks with 230 strikeouts in 233 2/3 innings. He became the first Met to win 20 games since Frank Viola in 1990.
Contract: Dickey just completed a two-year, $7.8 million contract he signed with the Mets before the 2011 season. The Mets picked up the $5 million option on Dickey for 2013, but he can become a free agent after the 2013 season.
Reports
- Adam Rubin if ESPN New York says the Mets are still not close to coming to terms on new deals with either Dickey or David Wright.
- Andy Martino of the Daily News said the Mets are interested in retaining Dickey for the long-term, there is an internal debate as to how the Mets will handle Dickey's future with the Mets.
- In a recent report for CBS Sports, a rival GM told Jon Heyman he believes Dickey's value to be around $15 million per season and says the Mets are not thinking along those lines for Dickey at this point.
Matthew Cerrone, MetsBlog.com
Based on an educated guess, I now put the chances of Dickey being signed or traded at 50 percent. Had you asked me weeks ago, I was more confidence a deal could get done. However, every day that passes, I convince myself more and more that he could be traded, because the language I hear in regards to RA is less specific and firm than used to talk about David Wright's situation. There is no good argument for signing Dickey to a four- or five-year deal. At the same time, teams will give up good, young talent in trade to get him for one season making reasonable money. It's going to be a more complicated and more pressing decision than Wright, who, again, can be delayed if needed.Here are the results from a recent poll to MetsBlog that asked how Mets fans would handle Dickey this winter:
