*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…

Yesterday the Mets got some upsetting news that their top pitching prospect, Jenrry Mejia, had torn his MCL in his right elbow.

Mejia went for an MRI and one doctor said that he will need surgery to repair the tear. Mejia will go for a second opinion, but that doctor will most likely tell him the same thing.

With an injury like this Tommy John Surgery is recommended to fix it, and it will most likely be the option that Mejia chooses. In any event, Mejia's 2011 season is over.

Mejia was off to a great start in Triple-A Buffalo. The 21-year old started five games, pitching 28.1 innings with an 1-2 record, a 2.86 ERA, with 21 strike outs, and 14 walks.

It takes about a year to recover from Tommy John, so Mejia should be able to pitch in the 2012, but I doubt it will be a major league level.

It looked like Mejia was going to pitch a full season as a starter down in Triple-A and then start the 2012 season in the Mets rotation. Now, it appears highly unlikely that he will in 2012, and it might not be until 2013 that Mejia will be in the rotation.

I guess the good news here is that Mejia is still young, so coming back from this surgery won't be the hardest thing in the world. The problem with this type of surgery is that it can greatly change who you are as a pitcher. Some players get Tommy John and are never the same when they come back from it. In recent years, the surgery has had higher success rates, with pitchers coming back at the same level they were before the surgery, sometimes even better.

Personally I don't think this injury will jeopardize Mejia's career, but Mets fans are going to have to high a bit longer to see their best pitching prospect take the mound at Citi Field.

Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen told the Daily News that:

"Mejia works really hard to throw the baseball, and I worry about the volume of pitches during the course of a year. I think you find a lot of torque on your elbow and your shoulder."

Matt Harvey has been making a lot of noise down in the minors, but a guy who has been pitching almost as impressively is Jeurys Familia. 

Last night, pitching the day after Harvey, Familia went seven innings, giving up no runs on three hits, three walks, and eight strike outs. Familia has given up one earned run in 25.2 innings this season. That's a 0.35 ERA. The 20 year-old right hander out of the Dominican Republic, struggled last season with a 5.58 ERA, but the two seasons before that he had an ERA under three.

This season Familia is off to a dominating start and that one-two punch of Harvey-Familia has to be one of the best in the Single-A league.

Well in case you haven't heard, Matt Harvey (4-0) is pitching well. Very well. In his fourth start of the season last night Harvey went six innings, allowing no runs on four hits, two walks, and seven strike outs.

Harvey earns his fourth win of the year and his ERA for the season stays at 0.00. Kind of like my GPA for this semester.

The bottom line is this. When the Mets get quality innings from their starting pitching, everything else will fall into place. The Mets as a team were absolutely horrid to start the season from a pitching stand point. To this point they hold a 4.75 ERA as a team. Nothing to brag about by any stretch, but it's plenty better than the 5.24 ERA they had before R.A. Dickey made his start against the Astros on Wednesday (though to be honest, numbers still don't mean a great deal this early in the season with only 20 games played thus far). It's amazing the difference 3 starts can make. But for me the starting pitching has always been the key. 

Early on in the year, the Mets had trouble, you don't need me to tell you that. But the problem was the starting pitching. Combined with some slow starts to games at the plate, they fell behind early, thus demoralizing the team. And since they got very little length out of their starting pitchers to start the season, the relievers became overtaxed and began to underperform. But the tides are beginning to turn, at least I hope.

Though Dickey gave up 4 runs, he did make it through 8 innings, and if Angel Pagan lowers his leg on a slide at home plate, who knows what would've happen. Capuano and Pelfrey both took the mound on the following two days and through a couple of gems. Naturally, the Mets had a much easier time overall. They pounded the Astros on Thursday like you'd expect a team with a team with a ton of built up frustration to do. Then came out and played a solid game for the most part against the D'Backs behind Pelfrey, earning him a win. Like I said, starting pitching means everything. A starting pitcher can have the most profound impact on a game of any player. He controls everything. It's no surprise that they've won the past 2 games with the performances they've got. The key is now to keep that streak going. Dillon Gee will try and make that happen tomorrow. 

After the start the Mets got off to this season, it was easy for a lot of Mets fans to go nuts, some even wearing paper bags on their heads to games. I even let it get to me, which I hate. Fans can't get too high or low over the course of a season, especially in baseball. There are too many games. Things will inevitably even out. The Mets have too much talent on their roster to be the worst team in baseball, it's that simple. The question was always their starting pitching, and I know it has only been 2 or 3 good starts in a row, but this is something the Mets need to build off of. If they do, maybe we'll actually have some fun baseball to watch this summer.