28
2012
Where Does R.A. Dickey Rank Among Omar Minaya’s All-Time Acquisitions?
An article by 
Over his six year tenure as general manager of the New York Mets, Omar Minaya made hundreds of acquisitions. Hours of going over stats, phone calls with scouts, negotiations with agents, all in an effort to put the best possible 25 players on the field come Opening Day. Minaya had made some oustanding acquisitions over the years, others; not so great. R.A. Dickey was definitely one of his better ones, but where does that incentive-laden minor league deal that brought the Mets and Dickey together rank amongst Minaya’s all-time signings over his years as GM of the Mets?
Does he deserve to be placed among some of his best? Yes. While many signings such as Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo and Jason Bay will go down as some of the worst signings in franchise history, there have been some excellent acquisitions such as Carlos Beltran, Billy Wagner, Johan Santana, Carlos Delgado and of course, R.A. Dickey.
Of the better ones, I would place Dickey, Santana, and Beltran in his top three. From there however, how does one compare? In terms of what the Mets have given up, Dickey clearly takes the cake. Minaya gave up some once star prospects who eventually turned out to be busts plus $137.5 million to lock up Santana. He wrote a $119 million dollar check to Scott Boras for Carlos Beltran. For Dickey however, all it took was a minor league deal with a $600,000 bonus and a hunch. In terms of overall performance, one could make a case for any of the three.
Beltran, a solid five tool player for New York, who had three exceptional years from 2006-2008 then overcame two years of injuries to put up all-star numbers when he could make it on the field with exception to 2010. Unfortunately by many, he is known for one pitch not swung at in Game 7 of the ’06 NLCS, but his career in New York should be known for so much more than that and is very much underappreciated. He went out there every single day and was one of the veteran leaders of that team from when he signed in the winter of 2005 to ultimately his being traded for Zack Wheeler in 2011. A five-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove Award winner for New York, Beltran was truly one of the greatest Mets of all-time.
Santana has a similar story, many injuries, but a workhorse. He will work himself until he cannot crawl onto the field, he’s pitched through a torn meniscus, elbow chips, and countless other problems to go out there until his body doesn’t allow it and gives the Mets every last ounce of energy he has left. Overcoming a career threatening shoulder injury, Santana has returned to his old form in 2012 and that was most exemplified on June 1st when he threw the Mets first no-hitter in their storied 50-year history.
Dickey, unlike the other two mentioned above, didn’t come here a perennial all-star. He wasn’t a major acquisition of any sort, in fact the move was mocked on SNY and the fanbase. This was a former first round pick who just could not figure himself out. The New York Mets were one of his last chances, and man did he take advantage of his opportunity. Since being called up on May 19th of 2010, the knuckleballer hasn’t missed a start, going 30-23 with a 2.91 ERA in his 73 starts for the New York Mets. As dominant as he was in 2010 and 2011, Dickey has been in a world of his own in 2012. Now sittting at 11-1 with a 2.31 ERA and 106 strikeouts in just 14 starts, R.A. Dickey has been one of the top reasons why the Mets remain in contention in the Nation League East. He has become an ace alongside Johan Santana, and does it with unfathomable control on a historically uncontrollable pitch. He is one of the greatest stories in sports right now and the ultimate tale of perserverance and determination.
R.A. Dickey has come from columns desribing him like this:
“Unlike Javier Vazquez, who joined the Yanks, Dickey is not a 15-game winner with an ERA under 3.00, but the signing is a move of some kind for the relatively quiet Mets”
-Daily News’ Roger Rubin on the Mets and Yankees acquisitions in December of 2009
To glowing nuggets such as this:
“R.A. Dickey’s impeccable control with that dancing knuckleball has made him the most dominant pitcher in baseball.”
-Associated Press after Dickey’s back-to-back one-hitters
Dickey is easily one of Minaya’s shining legacies left on the New York Mets, but is it his greatest acquisition with New York? Maybe too early to tell.
However, if R.A. Dickey can continue to perform anywhere near this level for another 3-4 seasons, he will without a doubt go down as not only Minaya’s best signing, but one of the best players to ever wear a Mets uniform. He has reached heights that most ballplayers, at one point including himself, couldn’t even dream of (and I’m not just talking about Mt. Kilimanjaro). Yet here he is, R.A. Dickey, the probable NL starter for the All-Star Game. R.A. Dickey, the leading Cy Young candidate. R.A. Dickey, the legend, being born before our very eyes. His legacy as New York Met has only just begun despite being 37.
…and it all started with an innocent minor league signing, a little determination and a nail file.
About the Author: Clayton Collier
Clayton, a Long Island native and die-hard Mets fan, started writing online about three years ago. He is currently a Journalism major with a minor in Broadcasting at Seton Hall University. Although very disappointed with the current state of the team, Clayton remains hopeful that the young prospects in the farm system will bring the Mets back to a respected franchise in baseball once again. Besides writing for MMO, Clayton is also a staff member at 89.5 WSOU, Seton Hall's modern active rock radio station. You can contact Clayton by following him on Twitter: @Clayton_Collier or E-mailing him at MaybeNextYearMets@yahoo.com
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 42 | 28 | .600 | - |
| Nationals | 34 | 35 | .493 | 7.5 |
| Phillies | 34 | 37 | .479 | 8.5 |
| Mets | 25 | 40 | .385 | 14.5 |
| Marlins | 22 | 47 | .319 | 19.5 |
Last updated: 06/18/2013
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Right now, I put Beltran #1, Pedro #2, Johan #3, Delgado #4 and Dickey #5. If we’re talking about FA signings only, obviously Dickey slides to #3. But acquisitions in general, I put Johan and Delgado above Dickey.
I agree right now I’d put Beltran #1 but I have a hard time picking a clear #2 from Pedro, Johan and Delgado. I’ll say this though if Dickey finishes this season strong and follows it up with another strong season next year I’d put him right up at #2.
Sure, Dickey has the chance to move up, but after a season and a half, I can’t give him as much credit as the other guys. Beltran made the team an instant contender, Pedro gave them instant credibility and Delgado put them over the top.
Agreed wasn’t trying to infer otherwise. As far as Pedro, Delgado and Johan I struggle to pick a clear #2 from them because with Pedro it was more about the emotion he provided us than what he actually produced on the field. Can you imagine him and Dickey pitching together how fun would it be to watch the antics between those 2 in the clubhouse?
Delgado gave me 2006 and had a great 2nd half 2008 so looking at it in that light I’d go with Delgado over Santana.
Pedro was such a flash in the pan as a Met and had more impact by missing time than anything he did on the field. Hard to put him up that high.
I agree, He had one good year in 2005 but his veteran presence above anything kept him around for a while.
Delgado you could probably make an argument for however.
His four year deal didn’t pan out, but his signing was more about his presence than what he could produce. It changed the entire culture of that team.
Actually winning games changed the culture on the team, the rest is just narrative.
Which they would not have done had it not started in 2005 as they then forged two consecutive seasons of double digit win increases year over year.
Martinez was a huge reason for that in year one and his “Decision” to go to New York paved the way for Carlos Beltran who was a huge reason for the entire 2006 season.
History has a funny way of taunting from the sidelines. Had the Mets not fiddled with using a six man rotation when Pedro returned in September of 2007 and had they simply eeked out to close ones along the way, the Met would have had their first back to back division titles, and who knows how 2007 playoffs break and how Pedro is remembered despite his injuries.
Then again, the Mets likely don’t go all in to get Santana and here we might be entering June 2012 without a Mets no-hitter still. It’s a funny game, unlike any other so many things that weave together endlessly.
Exactly. I think Beltran said that Martinez was a big deciding factor for him to sign with the Mets.
And if the Yankees said yes after he went to them and offered to play for 1 less year, the signing of Pedro would’ve meant beans to Beltran. He went to the Mets because they offered the best contract not because Pedro signed. He could’ve stayed with Houston for 105 Million on a team that was ready to win, instead he took the most money not because who else signed. If Pedro didn’t sign he’d still would’ve went to the team with the best offer other than the Yanks who are always in win now mode.
I’m getting this from an article in the Mets 2005 year book:
“Without Pedro, there is no way we would have signed Carlos Beltran”, says Minaya. “In my mind there is no doubt about that”.
I’m going to believe the guy who was involved with the signing instead of somebody who’s just assuming why Beltran signed with us.
Vinny: To be fair what do you want Minaya to say there?
“Well he wanted to play for the better of the 2 New York franchises, but we got him instead.” ?
I agree Pedro had something to do with Beltran, but everybody knows Beltran the back story with NYY/Beltran so lets not pretend that Pedro > Yankees. It was more like “ok I guess so, I mean they do have Pedro.” (exaggeration)
Lol. 119 million reasons why Beltran was a Met and Pedro wasn’t one of them. If Houston offered 120 He’s an Astro saying signing with Houston gave him the best chance to win. Or else he never offers the Yanks to play for them after the Mets offer. I’m sure he was happy that they did sign Pedro though.
“so lets not pretend that Pedro > Yankees.”
Did I say that? I don’t think I did. The point was that he wouldn’t have came here Pedro if wasn’t signed.
Pedro’s signing gave the Mets credibility.
I would put Pedro at #1 but I am not doing it based on individual pay/return/performance.
Pedro is #1 because he is the signing that got Beltran to sign. It is the signing that told the rest of the MLB that there was a new sheriff in town, one who was going to go after the best players he could find because he wanted to win.
Without Pedro you probably don’t get Beltran and that means you probably don’t get Santana and so on.
If you are going to judge based on bang for the buck then Dickey would be the best. Beltran was worth every penny and Pedro and Santana could be argued because of the injuries.
I agree with the above posters that Pedro Martinez is the top signing of the Minaya era, in that it was the start of the new-look Mets (Beltran, Delgado). Dickey is definitely up there, though.
If there’s one thing that R.A. Dickey’s performance shows, it’s that these little under-a-million signings that we sometimes brush by or complain about (“where’s the BIG signing?!”) can, on occasion, have a big impact and are important. Not to say that an R.A. Dickey is going to be signed for under $1,000,000 every offseason, but rather that if you don’t look for a few each offseason, you won’t find one.
Actually Drew you know what Dickey’s performance shows?
Too much attention to the radar gun and not enough attention to how important throwing strikes and working a batter via location and change of speeds is….
It seems any kid who can throw a fastball 95+ is a prospect with no regard to the fact of can he locate that fastball for strikes, does he have a good changeup of curveball to go with it (a slider is not enough of a change of speeds and slowing the fastball doesn’t work either)
If you can locate, throw strikes and keep the speeds changing enough so they can’t sit tight and catch up to your fastball you don’t need to throw a fastball 95+ to win games and get batters out!
Santana doesn’t get anywhere near 95+ anymore and he threw a no hitter…
Why?
because he knows how to locate, throw strikes, change speeds and set up hitters using all those skills!
“Too much attention to the radar gun and not enough attention to how important throwing strikes and working a batter via location and change of speeds is….”
Good point. And that’s one reason why Gee was always underrated in the minors, and continues to get overlooked now despite his good control, and good movement on all his off speed pitches.
Same reason guys like Rick Reed surprised everyone!
That’s a very good point. Though I don’t know how many people were checking a radar gun with a knuckleballer like Dickey (or Tim Wakefield) on the mound. It’s definitely a valid point, but I don’t know that a knuckleballer is really the best example of why radar guns are over-rated. Like Vinny B. said, I think Gee is a prime example for that…Dickey’s pitching repertoire isn’t focused on a fastball or change-up or curveball or slider, so the speed of his pitches is even more completely irrelevant.
If there’s a point to be made (aside from the radar gun point, if you feel that Dickey is still an example of that), it’s that the <$1,000,000 signings can have a good impact…you can't JUST make those signings, but they help without much risk.
he point is why does a guy like Rick Reed, Dillon Gee and Dickey surprise everyone?
Because they dismiss them because the5re isn’t a note on thier scouting report that says 95 MPH fastball…
But there is a lot more to being a good pitcher than how fast or hard you can throw a fastball.
Great list and agree with all, but man if the Mets really turn out to have a special season this year and go somewhere we did not think was possible in spring, it will be intresting (seeing where they rank) being that Johan and Dickey were the #1 and #2 starters for this year.
I would put Dickey number 1 for the simple reason it didn’t cost us anything in terms of dollars, draft picks or players in return. Beltran, Santana and Pedro were excellent acquisitions but lets be hinest, we got Beltran cause we paid him more than anybody else, same with Pedro and Santana was a salary dump that fell in our laps because the Yanks and Redsox refused to part with their prospects.
So when you consider how we acquired Dickey compared to the other, 3 Dickey was IMO the best pickup on the ML level than the other 3. The Duaner Sanchez trade was another excellent move that was derailed because of a freakin late night cab ride, but Dickey has basically saved us from being a 90 loss team the last 2 1/2 years.
If you look at it in that light then you make some good points and I agree we got Beltran cause we simply paid him more than the Yankees were willing to pay. I think though looking at it at what they have contributed to the Mets I still feel Beltran right now ranks higher than Dickey.
Fonz, it’s a good point, but that’s actually why I’d put him at #5. That was a throw-away move at the time that paid enormous dividends, but it wasn’t a move that was expected to do anything but most likely fill out the AAA roster and/or be what Batista is. Omar got a little lucky there.
The Santana fleecing and even the Delgado was trade was very one-sided. I give Omar lots more credit for those moves than I would picking up a scrub who found the glass slipper. I mean, if Bay can’t come back and Hairston plays every day and hits 30 homers this year and next, it’s not like Sandy expected that and signed that player. He’d have gotten lucky Hairston exceeded expectations.
I wouldn’t say Minaya was lucky, he had been after Dickey for several years.
Yes the pre knuckleball Dickey but even still just remember even Minaya said he never expected the Dickey we have seen thus far and rightly so. No one could of ever foreseen what Dickey has done.
Very true. Showalter and Orel Hershiser even seem stunned at his level of success and they made him into a knuckler.
Now that you mention Hershiser. How cool would it had been to have Dickey break Hershiser’s record for consecutive scoreless innings?
It would have been even cooler if he somehow could have done so while Hershiser was announcing the game on ESPN. That would’ve been something.
LOL I think he would have had to pitch 20+ Innings to do it that day!
No, not lucky he was signed. That was diligence. Lucky he turned out to be a Cy Young contender.
Exactly.
People act like Minaya being a fan of Dickey’s makeup means he knew 2012 Dickey would happen. Dickey didn’t even know 2012 Dickey could be possible. His pitch is a continuous learning process….it was not luck that he signed Dickey. It was luck that Dickey turned out how he did after the signing.
It’s been my experience that you make your own Luck!
Get hard workers and they will always do better than some guy who doesn’t work but has physical talent!
You call thier surprise lucky but truth is Talent has more to do with being Lucky to get the right genes and physical traits than hard work does!
Metsie – That’s a nice cliche but it’s not true.
RA Dickey has said himself he continues to try new things with the pitch. It’s an unpredictable pitch. Minaya couldn’t have known 2012 Dickey was possible because not even Dickey knew it.
Based on your cliche, if the Nats Bryce Harper suffers a career ending injury… is that bad luck? Or did the Nats do something to create that bad luck?
Signing him was a good move. But it has turned out to be more luck than skill… and there’s nothing wrong with that at all. Sometimes it pays to be lucky.
It IS true….
Why does a guy who has an 11-1 record continue to try NEW things and get better?
Because he feels LUCKY?
Or because he has the will and the DRIVE to get better even when he is already good enough?
His work ethic and internal makeup gave him the drive to succeed when most others would have just given up! And his internal makeup is what is driving him to get even better when most others would say I’m good enough now I’ll just rest on my laurels!
The guys who have the proper internal makeup do thoise little things to contnue to get better and succeed even more!
The guys who throw a fastball 95+ without that makeup will sit back and let the fastball they think they have do all the work until such time as it stops doing the work and then will lose thier job because they didn’t do the work needed to maintain long term success even when the fastball left them!
Johan Santana has lost his velocity yet he is still pitching pretty good!
Thats because he had the internal makeup to not just sit back on his laurels and worked to better himself to the point that he doesn’t need that extra velocity to get by!
RA Dickey was drafted by Omar Minaya in Texas.
A guy like Dickey is always going to be a success in the MLB because what got him drafted was his internal makeup which is the same thing a team like the phillies are more concerned with than radar guns and over abundance of natural talent.
A smart guy, obviously highly intelligent and a THINKING man which is a better trait for a pitcher to have than any 95+ Fastball.
Most guys without the internal makeup of a Dickey would have given up and moved onto his day job by now.
But a guy with it will do anything to succeed and in Dickey’s case he learned to throw the hardest pitch anyone can throw and even taken it to another level no one else could ever imagine was achievable!
Go for guys with that internal makeup and you will not fail!
I think Minaya always did a decent job with the under-the-radar players. While he had some huge signings with a few all-stars, I always thought the mets had a pretty solid bullpen and a solid bench while he was GM.
I see Dickey as a part of those types of signings. guys that might be a bit overlooked by other teams, but Minaya had a knack of getting them.
It’s the big contracts that have been an issue with him. while I loved Beltran when he was on the mets, and I still love Santana on the mets, it’s the Bay, Perez, alou, castillo, etc signings that he’ll be remembered for.
I don’t think he gets enough credit for the under-the-radar signings either. Dickey was the best of them, but he also signed Endy Chavez, Fernando Tatis(comeback player of the year in 08), Jose Valentine, Easley, Takahashi, all on minor league contracts too and I might even missed a few guys as well. You can even throw getting Pagan back for nothing in there too.
While he did make a lot of signings that busted, he also did make a lot of under-the-radar moves that were solid and a lot of people forget that.
Good point, Vinny. I think in 2007, we had a few big injuries and one was to Easley. He was a very good pick up. People refuse to give credit to Alou, but Alou was a very good signing. He performed very well when he played. There’s an underlying theory Alou’s signing cost the Mets a chance to draft a very good player in the 2007 draft, hence the signing was considered “terrible” or “awful” in the eyes of some. Alou was a solid pickup for the team. In 2007, who would have thought Duaner Sanchez’ career as a very good setup man was over? In 2007, I’m sure no one thought that. Sports, especially baseball, is funny like that.
“There’s an underlying theory Alou’s signing cost the Mets a chance to draft a very good player in the 2007 draft, hence the signing was considered “terrible” or “awful” in the eyes of some.”
Yep and you know who we lost out on?
Wendel Fairley – One of the greats of the game if you believe anyone who complains about the Alou signing!
Omar made a concious decision…He didn’t know what would be there when we got on the clock. But he knew there wass not a dearth of talent available in the 1st and history has proved it. There were only 3 All Stars picked in the 1st and the supplemental that year.
Price
Wieters
Heyward
We were due to pick 29th that year!
Considering what was taken there and even around there he decided a KNOWN VET who was needed to push for a playoff was worth more than anything those picks would have gotten him.
And for a year it was, you can’t blame Omar for taking the second year after the good first one he had and then blame him for Alou getting hurt. Players get hurt all the time regardless of how old they are!
That’s if you know that Fairley is the guy we would’ve selected. Still on the board that went not long after Fairley was Travis D’Arnuad, Jordan Zimmerman, Freddie Freeman, Mike (Giancarlo) Stanton, Zack Cozart and others if you wanna keep going down to the 3rd round which I won’t because Omar passed on those guys anyway.
You’re also selling the 2007 draft short because of allstar appearances. Also drafted in the 1st round was Mike Moustakas, Ross Detwiler, Devin Mesoraco, Rick Porcello, JP Arencibia, Madison Bumgarner. There was not a dearth of talent in that 1st round at all. You put too much stock into allstar appearances.
That’s not the only issue with signing a guy like Alou.
We just missed the WS by 1 game. Our bullpen killed us. Our starting pitching was ancient, led by Pedro, Glavine and El Duque. 2 of which couldn’t even take the ball due to injury. We didn’t upgrade the rotation or the bullpen. We lost 3 key guys in the pen, Oliver, Bradford and Sanchez(injury) and replaced them with garbage.
So our big offseason Coup was a soon to be 41 year old LF who just missed a boatload of time the previous 2 years due to injury and was always injured when he was in his prime.
Signing Alou in itself wasn’t so much the problem it was the rest of the offseason for a team a Clams Ass away from getting to the WS that was a total diappointment.
And the reason why he caught flack was because everybody knew that SF was going to non tender him anyway so there was no need to rush to sign him and have to juggle around the 40 and risk losing a player on top of it all.
yeah so who are you taking there without the hindsight of who eventually became a good player that 15 other teams didn’t see when they DID have pick at that point in the draft?
You know who Omar wanted to take there?
NO ONE! Deemed no one worth taking there.
No one who would give much more than what Alou did which was to give him a shot at the playoffs!
You say we lost out on someone else…Nice assumption but no one good was taken with that pick and no one good was taken in the previous 15 picks or 15 picks after fairley that was worth a damn!
Which makes anyone we would have taken either a reach at the time or counted as a bust!
He made a decision based on what he saw there!
He saw nothing and the history of hidsight has bourne that out to be a correct decision!
It was a weak draft in the 1st round and Omar said I can get more this year than anytyhing I take will give me in 5 years….
It doesn’t work that way. If you want to say for sure the Mets would’ve taken Fairley, fine. Then he made an even bigger blunder by signing another gazillion dollar closer in K-Rod and that picked turned out to be Mike Trout. Heard of him? If not you will be hearing that name in the same breath as top 5 players in the game over the next decade. Since you assume they would’ve taken Fairley with that pick then you must assume they would’ve taken Trout with K-Rods pick. Besides you totally missed the entire point of my post and under rated the talent in the 1st round of that draft and every other round for that matter.
Then you go ahead and name the player they WOULD have taken if they had the pick and don’t use hindsight by picking some REACH or SURPRISE from the 2nd round that no one expected to be that good which is why they all passed on him in the 1st and supplemental rounds!
Thats your problem here.
Hindsight is the only way you can pick a winner with that pick now, no one ten picks before or 20 picks after got anyone worth having either!
But your complaining that we passed KNOWING nothing was there to take that was NOT a reach and would not have been overpaying 1st round money to a guy rated no better than 2nd or 3rd rounder at the time!