Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Smoking the Dickey Pipe
Tonight R.A. Dickey will take the mound for the final time in 2010 for the New York Mets. Dickey, 35, was signed by GM Omar Minaya as an insurance policy in case any of the starters on the major league level were injured or performed poorly, and since he was brought up in mid-May he has gone 11-8 with a 2.92 ERA. While the fate of Minaya is unknown at this point, the Mets should not hesitate to bring back Dickey, who is arbitration eligible this winter. To open the 2011 campaign the Mets will begin the year without Johan Santana, who will not begin throwing until spring training after recently undergoing surgery, and the only other two arms who figure to have spots locked up are Mike Pelfrey and Jonathan Niese. If Dickey were a pitcher who relied heavily on his fastball to get hitters out, then bringing him back at 36 years old would be a dicey option, but instead, he relies on a pitch, the knuckleball, that has allowed pitchers to pitch well into their 40s; Tim Wakefield, this era's most famous knuckleball pitcher, won 17 games at the age of 40 and is still taking the mound for the Red Sox at age 43. Hopefully the Mets will have the sense to bring back R.A. Dickey, a pitcher who has shown enough class and guts to deserve a spot in the 2011 rotation.
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Obviously Dickey has enjoyed a fantastic season that exceeded anyone's reasonable expectations. This year's success, however, does not necessarily predict another fabulous campaign next year. Knuckleballers are notoriously difficult to predict, primarily due to the dearth of comparable pitchers with a significant body of work. Mets definitely should re-sign him, but only with short-term plans in mind. As Wakefield has shown during his long stint with the Red Sox, even the best of his lot remains a decidedly average inning muncher.
ReplyDeleteI agree, giving him a long-term deal would not be a wise idea, but a 1 or 2 year deal is certainly not going to hurt anyone. If Dickey can duplicate his success this year next year, then I would be all for the Mets signing him to a deal similar to Wakefield's with the Sox. The Sox have Wakefield signed to a rolling $4 million a year deal that will keep him in Boston for the rest of his career.
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