Part VIII --- An Uninformed look at the Dickey Trade
Instead of being picky, the Blue Jays went and got Dickey!
Okay, we got that out of the way.
With the trade between the Blue Jays and Mets 99% official now that R.A. Dickey has signed a contract extension with Toronto, here are some brief initial thoughts on the deal.
One: that all the injuries to Blue Jays pitchers last season really got to General Manager Alex Anthopolous. With Drabek, Hutchison and Luis Perez all needing Tommy John surgery, Anthopolous has traded for a pitcher who doesn't even have the UCL ligament they replace in that procedure! Now sure, what happened last summer to the team was a calamity and unlikely to happen again (unless fate is truly a cruel mistress), but beyond J.A. Happ the depth of the starting rotation was not inspiring. While strong on paper, they would've been one Josh Johnson elbow explosion or a hard comebacker off Brandon Morrow away from serious problems. This trade helps with that.
Two: I'm not a huge fan of Travis d'Arnaud. Scouts say shiny things about his tools and his numbers the past few seasons look pretty, but I think he's closer to J.P. Arencibia than Buster Posey. Also, this isn't the first time the Blue Jays have had an impressive young catcher who struggles with injuries (remember Quillermo Quiroz?) and the reality is that the catcher position grinds your body down. I like d'Arnaud's chances of becoming an above average major league catcher, I really do, but the risks that come with him make it seem like Toronto is trading one gamble for another in this deal.
Three: I like Noah Syndergaard. A lot. I think pitchers with his size, fastball velocity, good control and age (especially!) are exceptionally rare. It stinks to lose him.
Four: Josh Johnson's pending free agency. The way contracts for free agent starting pitchers are going, Johnson could easily get something well over the 100 million dollar range. With Dickey locked up for the next three seasons, retaining Johnson after 2013 (while nice) is not crucial to the team's success.
Five: Knuckleballs are fun to watch. Seriously. I remember having the opportunity to sit behind home plate and watch Tim Wakefield pitch a game in his final season. I can't recall ever seeing major league hitters look so uncomfortable, and Wakefield didn't even pitch well.
Six: People are worried about Dickey's transition from the NL East where pitchers bat to the AL East where pitchers consider new lines of work. It's a legitimate concern, but I believe Dickey has an advantage because he has such a unique pitch that the American League is unfamiliar with. I mean, he'd been doing rounds in the National League for three seasons, facing teams that had seen him several times and they still couldn't hit him. That knuckleball makes me nervous in Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park though.
Seven: That contract is a bargain. Even if Dickey's more 2011 than 2012, that's still pretty damn good.
Eight: Definitely a vote of confidence for Arencibia, who from his twitter reactions genuinely seems like he wants to be here. Say what you will about his short comings, it can't hurt to have a guy like that around.
Nine: A lot of fans are crying about the farm system being depleted. Nonsense. We were short on position players anyway (and I'm so glad we kept Anthony Gose through all of this) and there are still enough pitchers down there to ogle if that's your thing. I know I'm excited to see what Sanchez, Nolin, Osuna, Stroman, Smoral and Norris can do in the next few seasons.
Overall, acquiring R.A. Dickey makes the 2013 Blue Jays a better team more realistically than d'Arnaud and Syndergaard would've. Could this trade hurt in a few years? Definitely. Probably. But clearly this team wants to win now and hey, I'm on board with that.
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