Wow – excellent article! And I’m not saying that because I agree with you (but I do…) just look at the number of responses that prove you hit a raw nerve.

This is not about comparing Seaver with Dickey. And people who get hung up on that are missing the point IMHO.

If anyone were to take the Dickey trade as a one-off – they may have a point. We needed a stud catcher and this kid may be that someday.

However, it’s what sandy has already done to the team which made keeping Dickey irrelevant that is really the point here. The team is not going to compete next year with or without him. That is because Sandy has already gutted the team.

As I wrote yesterday, comparing what is going on now to the Mets ‘Dark Ages’ of 74 – 79 is fair. People want to compare Sandy with Cashen which is wrong. Cashen was given the worst team in baseball – Sandy was given a competitive but flawed team. Cashen made some tough decisions – Sandy is salary dumping. When you salary dump you will pick up prospects – but you are still salary dumping.

I agree that the worst part about this is how disingenuous Sandy has been during the process.

The only different opinion I have is that no one was worse than M. Donald Grant because he took over a team and destroyed it on his own. Sandy is simply Wilpon’s enabler.

Good job – good stuff – keep it up! Very courageous!

People point to the Mazzilli trade as if thats the trade that made us the champs in 86 when the truth is it was the trade for Niel Allen who no one thought was worth squat to anyone that got us Hernandez that made that team what it was….Brooks trade was the opposite of what has been proposed is the way to go here….We traded multiples for Carter that sealed the deal!

Mazilli at the time wasn’ the BEST player on the team at best you could say Brooks was…
And he was no longer the BEST player on the team at the time we traded him and kids for Carter….

Never once has the Mets built a winner by trading away it’s best players….
Every time we have done that we have wound up with a decade of “Oh Well there is always next year…” And that would last for half a decade or longer.

We traded Seaver and how long did it take to be a winner? NINE YEARS!
All that can be said as a plus for trading away all your best players is that while your sucking so efficiently you will collect a lot of top overall and top 10 draft picks like we did when Cashen got here which resulted in Gooden and Strawberry (top overall picks) being the only goodness we got from 5 Top 10 Picks!

But Cashen is a genius right?
Well if you think that then you had better review what he did to get us to 86….
It wasn’t by trading away out BEST players but by trading away guys who were no longer our best and by trading away kids with them to get the ONE player who actually filled a glaring hole and made the team BETTER not 4 years from now but right away!

You unleashed the Wrath of the Sand People (opening July 28th 2014 at a theater near you!)

I totally agree and what these folks seem to be missing in your post is that this approach is a self perpetuating cycle that never ends and never has that happy ending until somone gets hired to GM that says “ENOUGH” time to use some of the players we have on the field instead of the trade market…..

Just look at the last three years and at any given time of a trade ask yourself who was the best player on the team at the time and what did we do with him?

K-Rod the best Pen arm we had….Traded (and for pretty much nothing)

Beltran The heart and Power bat of this team….Traded for Wheeler (only trade that so far makes any sense)

Reyes probably the best player left on the team at the time having just won a Batting title, let go to get 2nd round COMP picks and to take a guy (Plawlecki) we couldn’t wait to be ready and had to trade our Cy Young pitcher away to get someone to take his spot.

Then Pagan was the best OF we had we traded him for two stiffs from the Giants that lets face facts we probably could have gotten in the Beltran trade by adding some kids to that package.

They signed Wright (which is a departyure from them but only because they know if he went tickets will have to be given away in order to get someone in the park to see them….

Now they trade Dickey to get the player who makes the Reyes Comp Pick a COMPLETE WASTE and got an A Ball Pitcher who might be good but no one predicts will be even close to a Cy Young guy. He is a Sinkerball Pitcher I predict will wind up in the pen, not the rotation.

Whats the next move? Davis, Duda, or Both? We are not going to win with them in the next 3 or 4 years either so might as well pack them off….

And it will continue with Harvey and Wheeler and we almost are already at the point where we consider trading Niese…one good year where you can get more than one kid and it’s Adios Muchacho!

When does it end?

When Sandy gets fired and a new GM comes in that decides having Kids is only worth it if you plan on actually using them on an MLB field and keep them on your team regardless of how good they are.

If you don’t keep your best players then your keeping your WORST players!

Sure you have a lot of Kids but the mantra will be WAIT 4 YEARS to see how good they are and then when those 4 years come we trade them in for another 4 years!

Vicious and self perpetuating cycle that never ends until someone comes in and says NO MORE STOCKPILING, time to use the kids we have and keep them if they are good!
And when they aren’t go and sign someone who can take the spot until a Kid is ready to take his place and alow you to trade that guy you signed for more kids.

A veteran player on a rebuilding team making too much money but signed to bring “credibility” to the team and fans to the park ?

Honestly, Jessep–YES.

It’s all speculation of course. Last year who could have predicted Dickey winning a C.Y.? But look at your proposed stats. Do you feel anyone else on the Mets staff would average a 308 ERA over the next 3 years? I dont

But, no, of course I wasnt comparing Dickey to Seaver. For the most part, what Dickey did statistically in 2012 was what Seaver did almost every year.

I wasnt comparing. However, as someone who was there in 77 and witnessed it first hand, there were some–in the media/press–in about 78, who were pleased with the trade. Sure, losing ‘the franchise’ was horrible. But we did get FOUR position players for ONE pitcher. That was the argument…for a while

My point is the recent history of those 2 franchises is slightly different than the Mets.

Of course, this troll has to say something. Why is he still here again? I can respect new members and opinions, whatever….but I have no respect for this child.

Let me give you an example of premature assumptions: Wasn’t it around or close to this time just last week when news of Sandy Alderson saying that he has money, but he isn’t gonna spend it or whatever? What happened? People went overboard. Days later, the Dickey to Toronto talks started happening and now the Mets have 2 top prospects, a kid in rookie ball that has potential, and a catcher.

BUT WAIT! There’s more!

The Mets have been looking for OF help, something many said they weren’t. Not gonna lie, whoever it is, hopefully it’s a step up from what the Mets have now. I want to see what happens before the start of ST to make my assessment.