*In our first installment of the Future Impact series: How does R.A. Dickey factor into the future of the Mets?*
- Born (Age): October 24, 1974 (36) (Wiki)
- Current Contract: 2 years, $7.8M (2011-2012), $5M Club Option (2013) ($300K buyout) (Cot's Baseball Contracts)
- Season Statistics: 75.2 IP, 4.04 ERA, 48/24 K/BB, 1.388 WHIP, 4.16 FIP (Baseball-Reference)
I thought I'd start off the series with one of the more interesting cases on the team as far as future impact is concerned. As you probably know, Dickey is old. He's 36 year's old to be exact. So what kind of future can Dickey really have in the Mets organization? Actually, he could have a lot more value going forward than some might think for a couple of reasons.
The first reason is he's a knuckleballer. Knuckleballers tend to last longer, showing the ability to pitch into their 40s. Joe and Phil Niekro are obviously prime examples both pitching into their 40s (43 and 48 respectively). Another example would of course be current Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield. He's currently 44 years old and is still chugging along for the Red Sox. He's now the longest tenured member of the Sox sticking on the roster since the 1995 season. So there is clearly a precedent for knucklers to hang around. Granted, these are some of the best to ever let the ball flutter, but Dickey has shown in his two years with the Mets that he can be effective. Speaking of which…
In his two years with the Mets, despite a shaky start to this season, R.A. Dickey's gotten back on track and he has shown that he can be a very good pitcher without overwhelming velocity. He does have a mid-80s fastball which is rare for a knuckler to employ, if not completely unprecedented. This is really the key to his success in my opinion. His uniqueness as a pitcher really throws off opposing hitters. Not only does he get a strong differentiation between the speed and movement of his pitches. But unless you've seen him a few times as a batter, it's incredibly difficult to compete with him given the fact that there aren't any other pitchers like him in the majors right now. Batters just aren't used to facing a pitcher like Dickey.
So what does all of this mean for Dickey and the Mets going forward? It means that maybe you should get used to seeing Dickey in a Mets uniform, because there's a possibility that he's going to stick around for awhile. He's under contract for next season with a club option for 2013. He'll be 40 years old in the 2015 season. Anyone want to bet against the fact that he's still a Met by then? I don't…
