Before Monday’s rainout, former Met and Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey was going to face off against current Met and Cy Young threat Noah Syndergaard. It would have been a fun start to watch because of how different the two pitchers are – one throwing 100 mph fastballs and the other throwing 80 mph knuckleballs – but also because they were once traded for one another.
After Dickey won the National League Cy Young Award with the Mets in 2012, Alderson traded him to the Toronto Blue Jays for Noah Syndergaard and Travis d’Arnaud, who was the centerpiece of the deal at the time. While many, myself included, see the Mets as winners of that deal, Dickey doesn’t see the Blue Jays as losers.
“I don’t think of it in term of wins and losses,” Dickey told Joseph Staszewski of the New York Post. “I think of it in terms of timing, what was the need at the time. Everybody knew Noah was going to be pretty good. It was just a matter of time.”
He is right as at the time, the Blue Jays needed a veteran innings-eater and the Mets needed some legitimate prospects. Both teams got exactly what they were looking for and both came away happy. While the Blue Jays are no longer benefitting from the deal, the Mets will continue to benefit from the acquisitions of their ace and starting catcher for some years still. As for Dickey himself, he isn’t sure what to expect coming back to Citi Field after all these years.
“I don’t have an expectation,” Dickey said. “But my hope is that it brings back good memories, that’s all.”
Dickey and the Braves will face off against Matt Harvey and the Mets on Thursday to close out the series. The Mets will unfortunately not face Bartolo Colon on this trip as Wednesday’s game will feature Julio Teheran against Noah Syndergaard.
