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November 12, 2016 16-17 Offseason David Berg

Braves preempt market on innings-eaters

Dickey and Colon

In case you missed the news, the Atlanta Braves just made two player acquisition moves. News broke on Thursday that they had signed R.A. Dickey and on Friday that they had signed Bartolo Colon.

I think it’s a huge whiff on the Mets’ part to not bring back Colon. Was the team unprepared to negotiate? Was the $12.5M price tag way too steep? Were the Mets somehow not interested in Bart’s services?

Dickey would have been a fine back-up plan, another low-ceiling, high-floor innings-eater. But the Braves gobbled him up first.

I don’t think I need to be particularly pessimistic about the Mets’ young starters’ health to predict that we’ll be seeing a lot of innings from pitchers worse than Colon in 2017.

Plus, as a fan, it’s going to be hard for me to root against Dickey and Colon the 5 or so times the Mets face them this year.

Oh, and also, a division rival just got better.

As a Mets fan, I’m not happy with these developments, not one bit. What’s your reaction?

David Berg has been following the Mets since 1990, and counts himself as a "die hard fan" -- the agonies have been numerous and arduous, but he's still watching every game he can, determined to "earn" the satisfaction when the Mets eventually win it all. In his non-spare time, David is a designer of graphics, web sites, and games. See his work at Shrike Design
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  1. david November 13, 2016 at 7:07 pm
    Smart move by Braves on paper. Big risk is one of them breaks down given their age, however, Dickey is low risk because he throws knuckleballs. I’d worry about Bart a little bit given the mileage and nature. If our young starters fall apart then Mets are in trouble regardless and Colon and Dickey would only plaster over the cracks so its not a big deal to me even though I like them both.

    Bigger issues remain, chief amongst them being Cespedes with 1st base and catcher close behind.

    • argonbunnies November 13, 2016 at 7:57 pm
      When Colon first signed with the Mets, some projections showed him as one of the most likely starters in baseball to get hurt (though not necessarily severely).

      3 healthy years later, I don’t think it’s an issue. He does what he does with incredible consistency.

      As for Dickey, until he got bumped from the Jays’ rotation in September, he was 4th in MLB in innings over the last 4 years. I see him as one of the surest health bets in the game. The main question with him is walks and homeruns.

      You might be right about the Mets needing more from the rotation than these two can provide… but man, I hope not. I hope the offense and defense and bullpen are good enough that the team could win with some back-end innings eaters. I really don’t think we’re going to get five aces.

      Agreed on Cespedes and catcher. As for 1B, I don’t think Duda’s any worse than what we’re likely to field in LF, SS, 3B, etc.

  2. DaveSchneck November 13, 2016 at 10:21 pm
    I enjoyed rooting for both Dickey and Colon in their Met days. While my preference is that they were out in the AL West, the proximity doesn’t concern me. If the Mets can’t best the Bravos in 2017, they certainly won’t be worthy of competing with the Cubs, Dodgers, and Nationals.
  3. Iz November 17, 2016 at 10:38 am
    Colon jumped at the Braves offer in a flash… Why? His agent told him nobody was going to come close to 12 mil per… And why would he come back to NYM for less money when some of the starters will be fine and Gselman and Lugo proved to be fine. He would have started the year as a long man and whoa what a way to finish his career right? And Dickey, one he left NYM with very bad taste in both sides mouth in case you have forgotten and his knuckle ball does very little anymore. The Toronto excuse is lame as he was bad or mediocre all year and got benched. The Braves have nothing and if you think two over the hill pitchers means much oh well, you think the Mets are 70 win team.
  4. DanB November 18, 2016 at 1:25 pm
    I didn’t think Dickey would volunteerly work for the Mets again. His highest value, in my opinion, is not as an innings eater because the more looks a batter gets, the easier it is to time the knuckleball. I think his true value is as a middle reliever. He could pitch every day and do two innings. Lefty/right match ups mean less. And if you have young hard throwing starters, his knuckler would be harder to time after three at bats against 95+ mph fastballs. The same could be said, in a way, about Colon.
    • argonbunnies November 18, 2016 at 7:27 pm
      I agree that Dickey would be awesome as a “once through the order tops” reliever. Then again, the same could probably be said for lots of middling starting pitchers…

      Dickey’s knuckleball, Colon’s moving two-seamer, Hellickson’s change-up, Eickhoff’s curveball… all tough to hit if you only face them once.

      Which is more valuable, that or the 222 innings (mostly about league average) Dickey averaged from 2012-2015? May depend on the team…

  5. Vilos November 19, 2016 at 12:24 pm
    I agree with IZ. Colón made the right move on accepting 12 m from the Braves. He wasnt going to get that much from SA plus he gets to start and trend toward his record. No brainer
    With respect to Dickey I haven’t seen him un awhile, but from what they say, that he can pitch endlessly without strain, because of the Bone and style and whstever, two o three innings, multiple days a week, sounds like a Maddon concept soon to be employed.
    Speaking about Maddon, I believe that his use of the roster was increíble. Mixing in all his players and different positions the whole season, was definately different. If you think about it, all lineups depends on health, and the baseball season is not precisely conceived to proyecto health. The best way to give the players a better chance of staying healthy is giving them days off. That is exactly what Maddon did.

    I dont know the stat but how many games did Flores get into for the first month? Grandy can still play and run. He proved it against SF. A platoon with Lagares plus an extra day here and there is perfect.
    Conforto needs to stay and play wether Ces comes back or not. Give Ces, grandy and bruce a day off a week, plus an extra day for either one, and its plenty of playing time.
    The Mets roster is set. They just have to bring Yo back and put in práctice and rest and play playbook that gives health and better chance.