During the period following the First World War and before the beginning of the Second World War the first one was called “The Great War.” Obviously they did not know at the time that after WWI there would be another one, even worse as if that were conceivable, so World War I got its name after World War II began.
Baseball trades can have their names revisited too when developments warrant it.
Before it even happened and before any of us knew how to spell the word Syndergaard the trade that brought the dynamic righthander to the Mets was referred to as the R.A. Dickey trade. You may recall that Dickey in the first year of a two year contract with the Mets ($9.25 million total for the two years) won the National League’s Cy Young Award in 2012. He went 20-6 that year with a nifty 2.73 ERA. Going into the walk year of his contract he justifiably hoped for a long term lucrative contract extension.
Sandy Alderson and the Mets were in the midst of dealing with the Madoff Ponzy scheme fallout and did not want to get involved in a big deal for Dickey who at the time was already 37 years old and relied on a trick pitch, the knuckleball, for his success. Instead of negotiating a deal with him they let it be known he could be had in trade. They made clear to interested parties that they expected not one, but two, top prospects in return for the Cy Young Award winner.
The baseball punditocracy scoffed saying that Alderson figured to get one grade A prospect and perhaps a B prospect to go with him but that no team would surrender two blue chippers for an old knuckleballer.
The trade that came down with Toronto on December 17, 2012 read like this:
New York Mets trade R.A. Dickey + Mike Nickeas + Josh Thole to the Toronto Blue Jays for Travis d’Arnaud + Noah Syndergaard + John Buck + Wuilmer Becerra.
The keys were Dickey for d’Arnaud and Syndegaard. Alex Anthopoulos, the Blue Jays’ GM, fearful that his team’s catchers might not be able to handle Dickey’s butterfly pitch requested the inclusion of the Mets’ light hitting catchers and for that Alderson negotiated the inclusion of veteran catcher John Buck and 18 year old prospect Becerra.
At that point the trade started to be referred to, at least by Mets fans, as the Travis d’Arnaud trade although the minor league gurus started touting Syndergaard as the big train coming down the line. d’Arnaud looked like he would be an offensive catcher if he could stay healthy, something he had had trouble doing in the minors. Buck was a known quantity, probably better overall than Thole and definitely a major leaguer as compared to Nickeas. Becerra was an athletic wild card that might or might not ever surface in the majors.
While no one is ever thrilled to give up a top of the line starter it was clear that the potential was there for this to be an outstanding swap for the Mets.
Let’s take a look at what all of these players have done since changing teams.
Dickey –
40-39 5.06 ERA
Thole –
316 ABs BA=.209 OBP=.280 SLUG%=.263 OPS=.542
Nickeas –
No major league at bats
d’Arnaud – (includes Monday night’s game)
766 ABs BA=.242 OBP=.311 SLUG%=.408 OPS=.719
Syndergaard – (includes Monday night’s game)
177 IP record 11-7 ERA= 3.01 strikeouts 204
Buck (as a Met)
368 ABs BA=.215 OBP=.285 SLUG%=.367 OPS=.652
Becerra
750 OPS through rookie ball and hi A (St.Lucie)
And to quickly play the Biblical game of who-begot-whom it should be noted that Buck was packaged with Marlon Byrd in August of 2013. The return was relief pitcher Vic Black and a young player who may well be the Mets’ “second baseman of the future” Dilson Herrera.
All in all the big trade has been a rousing success for Alderson and the Mets.
While d’Arnaud still may end up the top talent in that trade it is looking more and more like Syndergaard is on the verge of being in the next generation of National League Cy Young Award winning pitchers. He may soon be joining the conversation when people are extolling Clayton Kershaw and Jake Arrieta.
It’s not the R.A.Dickey trade. It’s not the Travis d’Arnaud trade. It’s the Noah Syndergaard trade.
Good piece. Becerra keeps rising as an OF prospect. Bodes well for the future.
Thanks.
Looks like I shortchanged R.A. Dickey a bit. I see that while he is 40-39 as a Blue Jay his ERA for them is 4.01, not over 5 as the article states. Right now after 4 starts he has a really ugly 6.10 ERA for the season.
Yes, it was a great trade that we’d all make again without batting an eye, but I miss RA Dickey. I really enjoyed rooting for him as a Met. A fun pitcher to watch, and a really interesting guy. I read his book and really appreciated the unique personality and pitching style he brought to the franchise.
I sometimes wonder what this team would have been like had we stood pat – kept Dickey, Beltran, Pagan, Reyes, K-Rod, etc. We wouldn’t be the contender we are today with the exciting future ahead, but, on the other hand, we wouldn’t have had those awful years leading up to last year. It’s funny how one move begets another, but had Minaya and ownership spent the extra money to get Matt Holliday instead of Jason Bay, had Derek Lowe agreed to sign with us as expected instead of resigning Ollie Perez, everything might have worked out very differently. I love what we have now, but I just wonder.
Very good points Matt. There was one other thing to wonder about: what if they did a full blown rebuild and traded Reyes and Wright. As hindsight is 20/20, one player has fallen into exactly the problems that were predicted as far as speed guys go and the other suffered a spinal problem that may have been caused when trying to play through an injury. The Reds needed Reyes and were said to be dangling Billy Hamilton (wonder if the Mets cared); don’t know what else they would have offered. Didn’t hear a single rumor involving Wright.
Larry, great and very thorough piece. It was telling that as soon as the Mets got TDA, the Rangers called them. I heard three prospects, but nothing else. I loved that the Mets were trading away a 37 year old knuckleballer that may never come close to that season again, and would have been happy with just TDA. Alderson gambled big and won big. Some people called it retribution for the crap we got for Seaver, but, I knew Anthopoulos got hoodwinked (to use a Jimmy Johnson phrase used at the time of the Hershel Walker trade) and wanted the Blue Jays to win it that year to take him off the hook. However, Anthopoulos made up for that by getting a stud like Donaldson for some nice but very raw players.
“Dickey… went 20-6 that year with a nifty 2.73 ERA. Going into the walk year of his contract he justifiably hoped for a long term lucrative contract extension.”
–It was widely understood Dickey would get a two year extension added on to the 5m he was already signed to get in 2013, in the neighborhood of 2/25
“Sandy Alderson and the Mets were in the midst of dealing with the Madoff Ponzy scheme fallout”
–no. The Wilpons were and are using the Mets as their cash cow, through which they’re paying off massive debt.
“They made clear to interested parties that they expected not one, but two, top prospects in return for the Cy Young Award winner. The baseball punditocracy scoffed saying that Alderson figured to get one grade A prospect and perhaps a B prospect to go with him but that no team would surrender two blue chippers for an old knuckleballer.”
–nonsense. Dickey had just won the Cy Young award. Alderson got a nice but not remotely unexpected haul for Dickey. You seem to think changing definitions (Cy Young award winner / old knuckleballer) from paragraph to paragraph is a meaningful rhetorical exercise. It isn’t. It just makes you intellectually dishonest.