10
2012
Putting An Individual Award Over The Team’s Best Interest?
An article by 
Remember all the Hater-Ade that gushed out of Mets Nation when Jose Reyes took himself out of his last game of the 2011 season following a bunt single, so that he could preserve his lead in the batting race and win a batting title?
Some Mets fans were so turned off and fuming, that they decided to completely forget the other 1,049 games Jose Reyes played as a Met all because of that one last game. Reyes went from beloved Met, to a pariah in the blink of an eye. He was vilified unmercifully, especially when it was learned that Terry Collins was in on it and that they had worked this out before the game even started.
Today it was learned that the powers that be are now working out a way to ensure that R.A. Dickey gets those 20 wins and with it the 2012 NL Cy Young Award.
According to Adam Rubin, Terry Collins said that he reserves the right to use Dickey on three days’ rest at the very end of the season if an extra start or two would nudge him to 20 wins and perhaps the Cy Young Award.
Collins said he would be tempted to have Dickey pitch on short rest a couple of times at the end of the season if it increases the knuckleballer’s likelihood of winning the Cy Young Award — even after the manager received flak for abetting Jose Reyes’ batting title last season by pulling him after a leadoff bunt single in the final game last year.
Collins was asked about the perception fans will have about the motivation behind this.
“That truly is one of the real good questions I’ve been asked and I will tell you: R.A. Dickey does not want the perception that he’s pitching for the Cy Young Award. That’s not the perception he wants out there, by any stretch of the imagination.”
It’s not that different than what happened last season with Jose Reyes, where the player’s individual gain was put ahead of the team’s best interest. It was wrong then, and it seems wrong now.
But even if you disagree with me on that, you can’t argue that this means the team is ready to throw caution to the wind and risk injuring their team’s ace and number one starter just so he could win an individual award.
As it stands now, ESPN’s Cy Young Predictor has R.A. Dickey ranked at the No. 1 spot. (click to enlarge image)
Why not leave well enough alone and not risk tarnishing a magical season?
In this age of Twitter madness and the extreme Social Media blitz, the price the Mets could pay will be an all-out media crucifixion and more negative press for a team that already has too much of it.
Why would you risk injuring the one sure thing we have in the rotation for the 2013 season?
I implore Collins and Alderson not to make the short-sighted decision to overwork and abuse R.A. Dickey like we did with Tim Byrdak resulting in what could be the end of Byrdak’s baseball career.
Haven’t you learned your lesson yet?
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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Agreed. Also, when Dickey was asked to pitch on 3 days rest earlier this season after Johan’s no-hitter, he declined citing injury and messing his routine. Now he’s all of a sudden ok with it? Smells fishy to me.
You are absolutely right, Dickey did turn down pitching on three days rest when the team needed to give Johan extra rest and we needed a win. Forgot about that.
Wait a second here. When are these quotes from? I thought they squashed this idea this morning?
A few posts down you reported:
Updated Post 8/9
According to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, Terry Collins said he no longer plans to use R.A. Dickey on short rest through the remainder of the season.
Collins intends to use Jeremy Hefner in the rotation if he needs to give a starting pitcher extra rest, but will continue to use Dickey in his normal turn through the rotation.
WTF??? Did something change in the last 8 hours???
Joe D. — “Some Mets fans were so turned off and fuming, that they decided to completely forget the other 1,049 games Jose Reyes played as a Met all because of that one last game.”
No Joe, most of us didn’t forget Jose Reyes career up to his last game with the Mets. He was terrific and for that we are appreciative. What we remember is that Jose took it upon himself to not give his all in his last game. There is a moral component that Jose violated. He quit on us for his own personal glory. The Jose and the R.A. Dickey efforts are completely different. Jose QUIT. R.A. NEVER QUITS.
P.S.: Because of the risk of personal injury I oppose R.A. starting on short rest. But that is a separate consideration.
My feelings too, Des.
Jose was a quitter, not a competitor that last game and it his action was completely unprofessional. But that did not mean we still did not love him – it meant we were angry and very disappointed in him showing no guts with the title on the line.
If R.A. pitched extra games to win 20, he might lose them too and that would take away his chances of Cy Young Award consideration. But even if given the extra chances, it would mean he was going out there to compete and act like a winner.
All those who call him a quitter are bitter that he left without taking a hometown discount, that’s all.
Where are you when others on the team don’t run as hard down the line, or go all out to catch a sinking liner? Did you decry Al Leiter’s admission that he wasn’t committed to working an at bat just because he didn’t care about hitting? How about Mike Piazza’s lackluster effort to play 1st base because he “was a catcher”?
I would a little respect for Dickey if he were to go through with this knowing fully well he’d win by getting an unfair advantage over Cueto or Burnett. I dont think he will do it. But if he does, I doubt they would make him a Cy Young.
I would bet anything that they don’t go through with this. If they do it’s going to be a long winter.
You are completely wrong on this one Joe. Reyes came out of the game to diminish his chances of making outs and risk losing the batting title. If Dickey were to agree to pitch an extra game or two he might increase his chances for a cy young, like Jose could have, but he may also diminish them if he gets hammered in one or two of these starts. Jose chose to grab some pine, Dickey probably will not.
Why didnt Dickey pitch on 3 days rest to help the team win when we throwing Miguel Batista and Chris Schwinden out there? Where was he when we needed him and the season was on the brink?
Why not leave well enough alone and not risk tarnishing a magical season?
BECAUSE THESE ARE THE NEW YORK MESS!!!!
Not even close to the same thing! Jose Reyes quit on his team and let the fans and his teammates down for the purpose of individual awards. He took himself out of the lineup and Collins was wrong for going along with it. Another manager would have kicked Reyes’ butt right back onto that field.
Dickey isn’t quitting, he’s ramping up his workload and in fact when he pitches the Mets have a better chance to win.
Two totally different situations.
Reyes = Loser
Dickey = Winner
Do you know how dumb you people sound? Really Reyes got a base hit in his first at bat and took the last innings of a MEANINGLESS game off. The night before he hit two home runs and played 11 innings. Stop acting like jaded ex boyfriends or girlfriends. If you guys need a villain to blame another worthless season on it shouldn’t be Reyes …..
There are plenty of candidates this year led by Lord Sandy himself.
Jon — The game was so meaningless that Jose wanted to play. lol.
I agree with Jon 100%. I think its ridiculous that people are criticizing Reyes and calling him a quitter for coming out of that game. Do you think he would have come out, if the Mets were playing for something? NO FRIGGIN WAY! I can’t remember names, but I remember at least one occasion in the past where a player sat out the last game of the season to guarantee a batting title.
And, does everyone forget how Strahan won the single season sack record? Favre let him sack him in the 4th qtr of that final game. It was PLANNED.Just like Reyes and Collins planned to have him come out if he got a hit. The game was meaningless, EXCEPT for Reyes’ chance of winning the 1st ever Mets batting title. Do you really think the other players cared that he came out? I’m sure they wanted it for him as much as he did.
Cy Young talk may put a few fannies in the seats.
So we are risking injury to our ace pitcher in September just to win some meaningless individual award? If the Mets were still legitimately in the playoff picture I could maybe see it, but otherwise this is just plain dumb.
I will agree with any ideas that Terry Collins comes up with that may prevent me from sitting through another Chris Young outing like I saw on Wednesday night.
Mitch — Didn’t you say you left early? How’s that ‘sitting through?”
I was disgusted in the first inning, but I actually didn’t leave the game because of the Mets poor play…I still had to sit through it as I listened on the radio during my ride home from the stadium though
Totally different. Whether you like what Jose did or not, it’s not even comparable. Jose got his hit and stopped competing. Giving RA more starts means MORE work, not less. It’s not like he gets a W with each start he makes. He has to earn them and work for them. And the whole league used to pitch on that same amount of rest. Not even comparable.
They couldn’t be more different in terms of scenarios
Scenario A was a homegrown player with at minimum 50/50 shot it was his final game in front of home fans. Secured a batting title, and took himself out because a batting title will no doubt add to the value of a contract. A batting title cannot be won or lost until the next AB. He could have run the bases, played the field, played the game until his next AB.
Scenario B is a journeyman player who they are trying to get a Cy Young award for (Cy more valuable than batting title)
You can’t tell me playing MORE is the same as playing LESS to win an award. That doesn’t even make sense to me.
If Dickey says he doesn’t want to pitch again to secure a Cy Young then lets talk.
Something tells me he won’t be doing that though.
By the way, that Cy Predictor is pretty much why I don’t look at that page.
There is no way Clayton Kershaw gets less votes than at minimum 5 out of the 7 in your screenshot.
PS who is Mike Fiers on MIL? Never heard of him but he’s had an impressive 12 starts huh
I haven’t seen anything that would lead me to believe that RA, being the ultimate ambassador that he has been for Mets and Baseball this year would think of himself unless he was encouraged by team/TC and in the end I believe he would not want to do this unless the team had a chance to finish over .500.
What would be wrong with pitching RA against a team in contention, Bravos, Nats, to not help their playoff run? I would be ok with that again as long as RA/Team and teammates were with him.
Why not?
What has this man endured to be at this level at 37 years old to re-invent himself, struggle, learn, adjust, work hard and allow his faith to sustain him and not be able to try and win an award that would reflect on not just him but his team and Mets history?
What if next year his pitch doesn’t work or Mets don’t sign him?
Why not let him achieve personal glory in a lost year?
I say all things being equal as I stated above I wouldn’t have a problem with RA trying to win the Cy Young.
What if it meant him pitching another complete game; striking out 5 more batters; allowing no more walks or less than 2 earned runs?
Then what?
I am one of the biggest Jose supporters and will still be, when not against Mets, but didn’t like his coming out of game last year.
1. it doesnt matter what fans think about reyes. fans are wrong about everything. this site would improve if it were about baseball and not about fans.
2. dickey is a knuckleballer and his chances of injury are significantly lower.
also an all out “media crucifixion” is something nobody cares about except morons. the game is on the field. twitter doesnt create news. baseball happens on a field and not in the minds of the fans.
Martin — I’ve often enjoyed your comments in the past which go against the flow of others. The comment you’ve just made makes me think that this time you’re being purposely inane. Are you claiming that anyone who cares is a moron? If so, get off your white horse and live and breath the raw emotionalism about a great sport which ties fans and teams together. The game of baseball is certainly played on the field as you’ve said, but what makes Cooperstown fascinating is the exceptionalism which is captured for the ages. Only the great and near-great are honored. Have you forgotten the obvious?
i am saying that it is not relevant how the fans feel about anything. the mets could not afford to sign reyes. so be it. it dosent look like a terrible decision to me. i know people cared, but those people are stupid. why should i care what they say?
Again. Who cares?????? We play out the string every year now anyway. None of these games mean anything. If Dickey wants an extra start versus the Marlins or Phillies down stretch , then let him have it. The hate towards Reyes is mind boggling…..and if he re-signed with the Mets he would be getting unmatched love and cheers from thecfans regardless of what he did the last game of the season. So don’t say it was about that game….it is about him playing for the Marlins. Bernie Williams did the same thing as did Pete Rose to win batting titles. Derek Jeter sat out the last game to keep his average at .300 in 2008. Some how Yank fans have been mature enough to get over that”atrocity”
I am sure we will be getting another Reuben Tejada post soon…. I like him but it isinteresting we never talk about him missing 50 games with a ” strained quad”
Get over it guys – Reyes is gone, we spent the money on Rauch and Francisco and we are much worse off for it now and in the future.
Jon, there’s a few in here who hate him and look for any little excuse possible to bash the guy… It’s a shame because he was a model citizen and if anything, he took the only offer made as it was obvious the mets FO never even attempt to make an offer and just let him walk, and btw, didn’t even get a pick as they let the guy they picked for reyes go back to school because they didn’t wanna pay $660K extra… SMH
Blame reyes because most of them love Sandy alderson and will not dare to criticize the poor job he’s done in NY. Get used to a lot of hate for reyes from those people..
I do not agree with the notion that pitching an extra game is an unfair advantage. However, if they decided to shift the rotation to have Dickey pitch gainst soft teams and then give him the last game off because his nmbers were strong I would be against it. I like to see the Mets win and RA gives us the best shot so having him pitch n extra game just helps us win an extra game. As for the injury concern it is not as high with a knucklebller and RA has proven leery in the past of pitching if he thinks he’s too strained. No worries
Well, we have nothing else to look for… Might as well root for dickey to get the CY. This team is dull, is not exciting to watch, and they look as if they want the season to be over with tonight.. It’s a shame, because, we all knew the talent was not there, however, they all exceeded expectations, they all went out and proved a lot of doubters wrong, they all were overachieving, we the fans belived in them, but i guess it was not good enough for the GM of this team to believe in them and left the players and coach out in the dry. therefore we are looking at another losing season (the GM’s 8th straight) in queens…
Another thing, how can the ESPN CY predictor have hanrahan as a CY contender and not Craig Kimbrel???? i mean, he has been dominant to say the least, we all know he choked down the stretch last year, but so far he’s been awesome, 0-1 1.26 31 SVs only 2 BLs and has 75 K’s in 43 IP (15 K per 9 IP) and 0.65 WHip… I mean, give him some love ESPN Jeez..
Spin, spin, spin.
For the record, I’m against using Dickey right now on short rest.
I’d like to know how many of you crucifying TC right now for even entertaining this idea would have a change of opinion if this were Sep, we were a couple games out of first, and the options were use Dickey on short rest as opposed to Young or even Hefner?
Yes true, but if winning was really the priority, why did Dickey refuse to pitch on 3 days rest back in June or July when we were in the wild card lead and 2-3 games out of first? This isn’t about winning, this all about personal glory and that’s it.
Who said Dickey wants to now?
I’m not, I dont see any quotes from him. I guess we will find out before tonight’s game. But if he does have a change of heart let not pretend it will have anything to do with keeping the Mets in NL East race like srt suggested. If she thinks the Mets could be 1-2 games out of first, I have a bridge I want to sell her, or the inverse is she’s drowning in Mets koolaid.
That’s contradictory.
If it was all about personal glory, he would have taken as many starts as he could get.
Hefner has some upside and is under the Met’s control. Young is a rental. Lets audition the 2013 Mets.
This sin’t Curt Schilling with the bloody sock or Kirk Gibson limping around the bases. Dickey was against pitching on 3 days when he was asked and implored by Collins back in June to help the team. Collins said Dickey thought it would throw off his routine and didnt want to do it. Now that he needs 5 games for 20 wins he’s had a change of heart? I call bullshit on this.
Maybe they are just going for a Group discount on Torn Capsule surgery?
Lol!!!! That was actually pretty funny.
I’M SORRY;BUT I HARDLY SEE HOW EITHER CONDITION POSSIBLY WORK AGAINST THE “TEAM” CONCEPT
FIRST, AS TO REYES’ BUNT & DASH OTHER THAN KEEPING ANOTHER BASEBALL HONOR “BATTING TITLE” FROM BEING GRABBED BY A JUICER, I FAIL TO UNDERSTAND HOW HIS BEING AWOL FOR THE LAST 3 ABs OF THE 2011 SEASON POSSIBLY EFFECTS ANYONE OTHER THAN BRAUN IN A NEGATIVE FASHON BTW. IN CASE U HADN’T PAID ATTENTION FOR HIS FIRST 8-9 YRS JOSE REYES CAN NEVER BE MISTAKEN FOR TED WILLIAMS ON A 50 YR OLD TEAM WITH HARDLY ANY NON=PITCHING INDIVIDUAL HONORS HAVING A PLAYER ACTUALLY EARN A BATTING TITLE IS A CELEBRATORY OCCASION. ESPECIALLY WHEN THAT PLAYER WAS HOMEGROWN SINCE AGE 16
I WONDER IF ALL THOSE REYES HATERS AREALSO DENYING JOHAN’S NO HITTER BECAUSE OF UMP’S MISSED CALL OF BELTRAN’S “FOUL” HIT?
U WANT TO PRETEND PURISM? AT LEAST BE CONSISTANT!
MUCH MORE I’M DISTRESSED AT THE SELECTIVITY OF THESE COMPLAINERS WHO NO LONGER APPEAR AS DISCONCERTED AS THEY NEED TO BE BY THE WILPON TARGET OF A 50M PAYROLL FOR 2014!
If RA agrees to pitch on short rest, I’m sure he would do it to help the team win, NOT to pursue individual glory. After yesterday’s game, he put the team’s win over his personal stats. He is the definition of a class act. He is a team-first kind of guy. In this case, though, I wouldn’t want him to risk injury by altering his routine and pitching more often. Sure he doesn’t throw as hard as a traditional pitcher but baseball players are creatures of habit. You change that habit and bad things can happen.