Today marks the seven year anniversary of the trade I’ve referred to as The Game Changer for the New York Mets. It was on this day in 2012, that Sandy Alderson dealt the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for a package that included top prospects Travis d’Arnaud, Noah Syndergaard and Wuilmer Becerra.

The Mets also received catcher John Buck in the deal, while young backstops Josh Tholeand Mike Nickeas headed up north.

Such deals always take years to truly measure which team came out on top, but at the time, there were only a scant few who didn’t see this blockbuster deal as huge win for the Mets and a franchise-altering moment.

Following a brutal 2012 MLB season in which the Blue Jays finished with just 73 wins, good for fourth place in the American League East, 22 games back of the New York Yankees, Toronto appeared to be lost in the wilderness. With just 19 wins during the months of August and September, the Jays appeared to be years away from competing for their first World Series title since winning back-to-back championships in 1992 and 1993.

Indeed, five straight fourth-place finishes had started to take its toll, with attendance continuing to drop precipitously in the wake of a 20-year playoff drought for Toronto.

Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos, feeling the pressure to quickly turn around the Jays fortunes, shook the baseball world with a November 2012 blockbuster trade with the Miami Marlins that brought All-Star shortstop and former Met Jose Reyes as well as Cy Young caliber pitchers Mark Buehrle and Josh Johnson to Toronto in exchange for young hurler Henderson Alvarez, infielders Yunel Escobar, Adeiny Hechavarria, and several other young prospects.

However, the Jays remained in desperate need of another big arm in the rotation, setting the stage for the deal for R.A. Dickey.

But much to the horror of Blue Jays fans and the quiet delight of Mets fans, Anthopoulos’ rapid two-month rebuild failed to produce wins, and Toronto finished dead last in the AL East. Dickey posted a 14-13 record with a 4.21 ERA, his worst numbers since becoming a full-time starter in 2010 – and a far cry from his final season with the Mets when he went 20-6 with a 2.73 ERA and led the league in strikeouts, complete games and shutouts.

Things got no better for Dickey and the Blue Jays in 2014. After posting a 21-9 record in May, the Jays flirted with the best record in baseball and were once again World Series betting favorites. But an 11-23 run in the five weeks prior to the All-Star Break once again doomed the Jays to a third-place finish, well out of contention.

From the Mets side of things, the deal began to produce promising results almost immediately as veteran catcher John Buck hit 15 homers and drove in 60, while guiding a young Matt Harvey to an All Star campaign and breaking in the young and exciting Zack Wheeler.

Top catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud made his MLB debut later that season and the Mets knew they were looking at their catcher of the future. They would parlay Buck along with Marlon Byrd and flip them to Pittsburgh for two more prospects, reliever Vic Black and  promising youngster Dilson Herrera as the Dickey trade transitions into the gift that keeps on giving.

In d’Arnaud the Mets had themselves a solid major league catcher with a wonderful line drive swing that produced some nice power, as well as an impressive defensive skill set highlighted by some of the best pitch framing in the game.

The problem with Travis d’Arnaud was an inability to stay healthy for a full season. The power was there as evidenced in 2014, his only full season, when he stroked 22 doubles and 13 home runs in 421 plate appearances. However, he would never see 400 PA again in his seven seasons with the Mets.

TDA was released in 2019 having compromised a .242/.304/.401 slash with 47 homers and 167 RBIs in 407 games as a Met. He latched on with the Tampa Bay Rays and went on to post the best numbers of his career. (Of course he did!) The free agent catcher recently signed with the Atlanta Braves.

The future appeared even brighter for Noah Syndergaard, whose rapid development had been incredible to watch. The 22-year old struggled with injury early on in 2014, pushing back his much anticipated major league debut. But scouts raved about the hard-throwing righty who was now hitting 100 mph with regularity in the PCL and emerged as one of baseball’s top ranked prospects overall and the No. 1 right-handed pitching prospect in the game.

In 2015, Syndergaard made his major league debut and he delivered big-time on all the promise and expectations that had preceded him. Syndergaard made 24 major league starts and finished the year with a 3.24 ERA, 3.25 FIP and a 1.041 WHIP in 150 innings with a 10.0 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9.

Syndergaard was oozing with confidence and carried himself with so much swagger that he had no qualms about buzzing one past the head of Alcides Escobar in the 2015 World Series and later admitting it was with full intent. The Royals flipped out and had blood in their eyes. But the young Thor responded by daring them to meet him 60 feet and 6 inches from the mound if they had a problem with it. Mets fans loved it.

By his third start of the 2016 season it was no longer the Big Two, but the Big Three as Syndergaard became part of the Mets’ dominating triumvirate along with fellow righthanders Harvey and Jacob deGrom. Syndergaard would go on to win 14 games and lead the majors with a 2.29 FIP while striking out 218 batters and earning an All Star nod.

Fast forward till today, and Syndergaard proved to be the steal of the deal, posting a 47-30 (.610) record in five seasons with a 3.31 ERA, 2.92 FIP, 1.161 WHIP, 9.7 K/9 and a total value of 14.1 bWAR.

The throw-in to the deal was a little known 17-year old outfield prospect named Wuilmer Becerra. This young talent is often the forgotten one, but after a breakthrough 2015 season he had scouts drooling over his five-tool skill set and his stock quickly vaulted to the top of every known prospect ranking.

Blessed with a powerful throwing arm, this exciting right fielder batted .290 last season with a .342 on-base percentage and .423 slugging while playing at the cavernous Grayson Stadium – the toughest hitting environment in minor league baseball. In 118 games for Single-A Savannah, Becerra stroked 27 doubles, three triples, nine home runs, scoring 67 runs, driving in 68 and stealing 16 bases.

Unfortunately, hampered by injuries including undergoing reconstructive shoulder surgery, Becerra’s star soon faded and at the end of the 2017 season, the New York Mets outrighted him.

Perhaps manager Terry Collins best described what a huge impact the R.A. Dickey trade had on the franchise when he said the following:

“The year R.A. won the Cy Young, we weren’t in the hunt,” Collins said. “But what he brought back has allowed us to be in the hunt and to move the franchise forward. He was a huge asset to the organization, a class act, and one of the great stories in all of baseball.”

Yes, Dickey was a great story. Who knew when Omar Minaya signed him off the scrapheap, what destiny had in store for the future of the New York Mets.

The day was December 17, 2012. And while the Dickey trade didn’t end up being as lopsided as it first appeared, the Mets did come out on top which was really nice for a change. LGM