What I don’t know because his story has brought lots of attention, positive type, to this franchise that counters the bad history with the Madoff scandal and the Wilpons questionable moves and signings.

RA, publicly, has been a positive on and off the field so I don’t see what the hold up.

Sign him to a 2 year extension between $20-$30 million or tear up the 2013 and make it a 3 year deal with similar money and then he can help stabilize the rotation next year and possibly in 2014 when Johan is gone.

The price or return on a trade does not change in any real measurable way merely because a free agent guy signs and is no longer available…

If they really felt they needed to up an offer they would have upped it to the Free Agent to get him, not some team that was the backup plan if they didn’t.

Teams have already decided wghat having Dickey is worth in Kids and players. Nothing is going to change that.

And it was always foolish to think you were going to get a lot of young talent for a 38 Year old, especially one who is only signed through this year!

Just Sign him and move on to the other things that need tending, If someone comes back to you who already rejected you then you can raise the price even more on him because he will now be signed through the next 3 years and is no longer a rental and a FA headache next season.

You’ll get no argument from me on that point.

‘Daily News Live John Harper just reported that the Met’s ownership is having a personal issue with Dickey that’s interferring with negotiations. Wney pressed further he said the infamous “some people in the know close to the situation” think Alderson wants to resign Dickey and onwership wants him gone.’

‘The basis was that they were a bit tired of Dickey’s self promotion and chattiness.’

Harper’s article:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/haper-mets-team-knuckle-pact-article-1.1215205

Dickey should just say “Lets reach an agreement” or “trade me already if you really are dangling me out there.” All he needs is Dickey a class act a “Renasissance Man” say “I had it here.” “Trade me.” Then his market drops when that word comes out.

I get that RA is 38 and a KB. But Guthrie has had exactly 1 winning season (7-5 in 2007) and has never had an ERA under 3.50, so this is a joke at best and more likely an insult.

# 1 Would re-signing Dickey to a team-friendly extension, say 2 extra years at 25 million plus the 5 million 2013 option and then turning around right away and trading Dickey to Texas encourage other players to (re-)sign with the Mets in the future ? Or would it be viewed as somewhat of a betrayel by the GM or ownership, sort of in terms of the Marlins trading Buehrle, Reyes & Co. less than a year after signing them (and at least they chose to sign there initially while Dickey would get sent somewhere while expecting to stay in NY with the Mets) ?

# 2 Could it be that the Mets value RA Dickey highly and know what it will take to extend him but feel that it´s smarter to play the market first before doing so ?

# 3 Would it be better to re-sign Dickey to an extension (say, to the deal mentioned above) now and stop trade discussions (for reasons stated in # 1 and # 2) or try to find out whether a team is willing to pay a high price for the NL Cy Young award winner ?

If you answer these questions honestly, you´ll realize that there really is no downside for the Mets in this:
Either they find a team that is willing to pay a high price for Dickey in a trade that should help the Mets longterm while hurting them in 2013. Or they don´t find such a team and either extend Dickey at some point before spring or enter the 2013 season with Dickey being unsigned beyond the end of the season. And then, if the Mets are doing well and Dickey is too, they can hold onto him and try to extend him as a free agent after 2013 or collect the draft picks by making him a qualifying offer. Or they can shop Dickey at the trade deadline and get a nice haul for him too in all likelihood.

In any case, if the worst case scenario is having the NL Cy Young award winner as your 2013 opening day starter, you´re in a good spot (in terms of this question).

It certainly wouldn´t make sense to give Dickey away to the next best bidder and trade him straight up for, say, Angels C Hank Conger just to get something for him. Especially not with a team like KC overpaying for a SP like Shields who isn´t more likely to win 18 games or throw 220 IP in 2013 than Dickey at this point.

Probably us fans take this more personal (as in not extending Dickey with a reasonable offer) than Dickey does. I heard his comments where he realizes baseball is a business. And it’s his job and livelihood.

You know as Mets fans we’re always waiting for that other shoe to drop…..