The Blue Jays could consider trading R.A. Dickey, Jeff Blair of Sportsnet.ca and Sportsnet 590 tweets, citing a scout. Dickey has been a reliable part of the Jays’ rotation over the past three seasons, throwing over 200 innings in each, and the Jays exercised his $12MM option after the season. While Dickey is no longer the ace he was with the Mets, the 41-year-old knuckleballer remains effective in his old age, posting a 3.91 ERA last season.
With the additions of J.A. Happ and Jesse Chavez this offseason, though, the Jays have six potential starting pitchers (also including Marcus Stroman, Marco Estrada and Drew Hutchison), and they will also have to decide whether talented 23-year-old Aaron Sanchez has a future in the rotation. “It’s tough because, if he’s in the bullpen this year, it’s tough to turn him back into a starter because he’s really still developing his secondary pitches,” says manager John Gibbons (via Sportsnet’s Nick Ashbourne). Moving Dickey could give the Jays’ rotation a bit more flexibility while allowing them to add talent elsewhere, either through the trade itself or through spending the additional money they would have available with Dickey’s salary off the books.
BlueSkyLA
As catchers all over baseball shout in unison, “nooo not here!”
rangers1074884
He will not be a bad fit in Texas
mathiasak04182000
He’d be back with the team that originally drafted him
Philliesfan4life
My guess is between the Pirates or the Cubs
raiders
Pirates – maybe if the jays eat some money. Cubs – no way.
Philliesfan4life
He only has one year left don’t he?
poshjhelps
Why would the Jays need to eat money? A large part of Dickey’s value is that he’s very cheap.
pitnick
They’d need to eat money for a trade to the Pirates to work, I think is what’s meant. $12m is cheap to some teams, but not the Bucs. I’d imagine they don’t match up as a trade partner for that reason; Jays could trade elsewhere for free.
koff
Doubtful they’d eat money. More likely a swap of Dickey for Meloncon.
Mark 20
Dickey isnt expensive at 12m. Porcello is making 20m haha. Pitching is crazy expensive, Dickey makes the same as Happ. I dont think the jays would eat any money.
seamaholic 2
Cubs? Why?
Philliesfan4life
If they wanted to add another veteran rotation piece, but I think the pirates would be a better fit as a stop gap for Taillon and Glasnow. I see either one of them called up around june or july.
TJECK109
I think the Pirates should try to flip Melancon to the Nats in a deal for Gonzalez.
Philliesfan4life
I think they would prolly want an outfielder in return for him, My guess is that they want to trade Gio and then sign Chen from the reports I read.
lemieuxkarl66
They’re not going to trade Gio now since they got what they wanted for Storen.
lemieuxkarl66
No way on pirates either.
That wouldn’t even make any sense.
There’s plenty of 4ERA guys on the market without trading.
Pirates will sign either Latos or Lincecum
Philliesfan4life
Latos would be a better fit for the Pirates
davep-3
Latos is an immature clubhouse cancer with a spouse who is Anna Benson 2.0. When the Dodgers (who have experience with difficulty characters) can’t even stand him being around, you know he trouble. Pirates should pass on Latos.
Philliesfan4life
then maybe Ian Kennedy for the pirates
st1300b 2
Theydon’t give up draft picks
herecomethephillies2018
Fister makes perfect sense for the Buccos. Not quite sure what they’re waiting on…
Diablo 2
Well if they haven’t picked him up he isnt so perfeft for them now is he? His velocity has really dropped, he might not be the type of project they want.
lemieuxkarl66
Fister is a releiver at this point.
Agree Latos is a bad locker room guy.
Lincecum needs to throw first.
Mark Buerhle is the best fit, but there’s cheaper options.
classicmixup
No way
mookiessnarl
One year of Dickey could yield a descent reliever on the last year of his deal. He’s an automatic 200 ip every season and that isn’t bad for 12 million.
raiders
Not sure he was ever an “ace”. He had one great year….
rivera42
Very true. And boy did the Mets cash in on it.
Meow Meow
Imo he was pretty clearly an ace “with the Mets”, which is what the article said. That three season stint was fantastic for him.
Mark 20
Actually he had two years under a 3 era. and another year with a 3.28 era. So those are 3 really really good years. 2 years under a 4 era in the ALE as well. Truly underrated
mathiasak04182000
He also had 2.84 ERA in 2010 after a mid season call-up. He’s been decent with Toronto but his best years were with the Mets
poshjhelps
I have a feeling this a bit of a fabrication. It’s being reported by Blair, who says a SCOUT tells him an NL team is interested. Two things wrong with that:
1 – Blair is the one who’s been perpetuating all the Dickey getting moved rumours; rumours which he started himself.
2 – Why would a SCOUT know what the baseball ops guys are thinking in terms of acquiring MLB talent? Even if he’s an advance scout, it doesn’t make sense that he would get the baseball ops opinion on him. His job is to give THEM his opinion; not the other way around.
FrozenRopes
Ace, that’s comical. Let’s leave the ace title to those who deserve. Even Buerhle was never an ace. Reliable innings eater. As for value and team, pitcher friendly ballparks.
herecomethephillies2018
Ace is slang for the number ‘1’. It doesn’t have to mean ‘future Hall-of-Famer’. He was the ace of the Mets’ staff for 3 years. He might not have been better than most teams’ number one, or even their number two, but there’s no denying that he was the ace of that staff.
christian18cutshaw
Why don’t they just put Chavez or Hutchison in the bullpen and keep Dickey? They need all the pitching they can get. Best hitting team in the majors with no pitching won’t get you no where. If they were smart they would be putting both Chavez and Hutchison in the pen and trading for an ace while they have all these bats through their primes. They can contend all the want but this isn’t a world series capable team without a true ace or a solid rotation
koff
One could argue that the rotation of Stroman, Happ, Dickey, Estrada, and one of Hutch, Chavez, Sanchez is at least equalt to, if not better then the Royals rotation which started 2015. The idea that you need a true ace to win a world series is not accurate, nor is the idea that the Blue Jays don’t have a solid rotation.
thebare54
His 41 get some of the Cubs minor league guys that are blocked by young guys at the top level both team win like Canderla
tater777
white sox get him in a trade for 4th or 5th starter?? Navarro has caught him before.
Paul Miller
Navarro has never caught Dickey while he was in Toronto.
HibbardsHustler
Maybe a fit for a rebuilding team such as SD or Mariners. Him and Thole for a prospect or two could work.
madisonbumtoucher
Royals seem like a likely destination. DM just yesterday talked about his desire to find a guy wether in FA or trade that can get 200 innings.
Big ballpark and a great medical staff, which is appealing to old guys.
Idk what the return would be but maybe Hocheaver in the mix. Help the Jays pen.
bluejayseveryday
I wouldn’t mind trading Dickey. It’s the last year of his contract and even though he always pitches 200 innings, his starts can be really good or really bad. If the Jays can get a solid pitching prospect out of this, I would love it.
Dan LeBlanc
Pretty much a guaranteed 200 ip, with a, let’s say 4.00 era pitching in the Al East’s best hitters park locked down at 12mm per year…..Ross Atkins (or Mark Shapiro) would be foolish to even entertain trade inquiries for RA Dickey that don’t entirely re-stock the Jays minor league system or provide an everyday left handed bat for the middle of the order.
stormie
They’d be lucky to get one decent prospect for him. Talk of replenishing their farm or getting a middle of the order bat is just crazy talk. He has one year left at a salary that is not THAT friendly. In fact, it wasn’t even considered automatic that the Jays would even exercise that option. His K/9 took a huge dip last year, and hitter’s park or not, his FIP’s have been in the mid-4’s as a Blue Jay, which is hardly impressive. In fact, Drew Hutchison had a slightly better FIP than R.A last year.
Aoe3
It’s extremely difficult to catch Dickey’s knuckle-ball consistently… Only a few catchers in the entire league can do it.. So if Dickey does get traded, Josh Thole, his personal catcher who was with him since their Mets days will need to go as well… Hes light hitting, only but is an absolute master at catching the knuckler. For most teams that means 3 catchers..
Shocking that the Jays are considering trading Dickey.. He’s a great guy who helps the community a lot.. But it does make sense with Sanchez developing his secondary pitches.. Interesting to see where this goes.
Wolfy1980
I like Dickey, but if it means freeing up the roster spot that Thole eats up, I’m all for it. I just hope they’d replace him with a solid 4-5 starter.
kiermaier
I doubt anybody would trade for an overrated 41 year old starting pitcher
Paul Miller
A pitcher who consistently throws 200+ innings with a sub 4 ERA is hardly overrated.
lemieuxkarl66
I’d rather sign Buerhle.
Michael Macaulay-Birks
Lol
Michael Macaulay-Birks
Definitely an innings eater, and he wasn’t terrible last year, he could be a good stopgap for a team with a bunch of young pictures on the bubble
A'sfaninUK
I think he makes a lot of sense on Oakland, San Diego or a fallback option for Washington if they part with Gio but can’t get Chen.
whtstr314
Phillies, Chooch already knows how to catch him did it in the All Star Game, and can help mentor guys like Appel, Nola, and Eickhoff.
Angry Disgruntled Sox Fan
Blue Jays trying to undo AA’s bad trade? Back when Dickey was the best pitcher in baseball? LOL
A'sfaninUK
Would love to see the Rockies get him, just because it would be hilarious – he’s never actually pitched there either. We’d be seeing 3 foot drops on pitches and 600 foot home runs.
hojostache
HAHA….him at Coors…wow.
I love the guy (not just bc I’m a Mets fan, and not just bc it landed Travis & Syn) and hope he can pitch for a contender. TOR may have 6 starters right now, but guys get nicked up, so he’ll get plenty of innings there. I’m not sure I’d be quick to move him, unless someone is willing to take his contract. $12m for a #5/#6 is rough.
rivera42
Take his contract? The Jays picked up his option, so if they were looking to move him, it wouldn’t be because they are trying to dump his money on someone.
grantr
He is already pitching on a contender. The Jays had the best run differential in the league last year.
bpb232
Swap him with Michael Bourne, TOR gets an older Revere (essentially, not completely), ATL adds some reliable innings to their question mark of a rotation. Both old and overpaid, but could be useful.
A'sfaninUK
Dickey’s no-doubt 200 innings are worth way more than anything Bourn can do. ATL needs to add a good prospect to make that work.
Paul Miller
The Jays don’t need another outfielder, hence the reason why they traded one away.
bpb232
Maybe not, but I doubt they’d be getting any meaningful prospect back for Dickey. I’m thinking of it as more of a salary swap of two guys on the trading block, Bourne only owed 9M, Dickey 12M, that frees up a little room for TOR, even if they just DFA’d Bourne eventually.
gmenfan
You seem to be missing one key point … Dickey has value and Bourne has absolutely none. There’s literally no incentive for the Jays to make that deal. Even less so to trade a player for value for someone that they’d eventually just DFA.
PutMeinCoach88
What a terrible comment.
bpb232
Just spitballing, but I’m guessing they’ll probably end up keeping him
SixFlagsMagicPadres
If he does get traded, would that mean the team would have to take on josh thole as well, or sign someone who can catch him?
joew
If the Jays are just looking for salary relief.. To the pirates makes sense. With Cole, Liriano and Niese the only sure fire decent starters they could really use another ‘cheap’ starter who will probably get 190+ innings.
would rather a Latos, or fister but one year of him will leave room for one of the ‘studs’ to come up this year.
nrd1138
Have to say that A 41 Yr old having only a 3.91 ERA in the AL is not bad at all, probably better served in the NL where the ERA may dip slightly though.
slider32
Can’t see the Jays getting much for hi m at this point, what a bad trade they made to get him in the first place.
koff
While the trade does not look good today, an A ball pitcher and an oft injured albeit good catching prospect for a pitcher coming off three consecutive outstanding seasons, the third of which he won the Cy Young, should never be considered a bad trade. Syndegaard seems to have developed into Ace like potential, but could have easily ended up a late inning reliever.
myaccount
So they’re going to roll with Stroman and four 4th/5th starters?
shawnjohn
Lol. Exactly! Rolling the dice on too many reclamation projects is a recipe for disaster and trading dickey, who would be a #4 or 5 on any other team, but is a 2 in this rotation is dumb
stormie
Seems like they may want to get Sanchez and Osuna in the rotation ASAP, based on Atkins comments, so it makes sense to move Dickey and use the money saved to solidify the bullpen. Osuna and Sanchez at least have breakout potential in the rotation and could be much better than 4th/5th starters.
houseoflords44
Yes, Dickey isn’t an ace. He never was in Toronto. Still, he’s better than both Hutchison & Chavez. I’m uneasy about having one of those two guys in the rotation. Two would be a disaster. Hutchison had 1 wins last season, but that was largely due to run support. He had an ERA of 5.57 & couldn’t win on the road. Chavez struggled at times in Oakland & that’s a pitcher’s park. The Rogers Centre is anything but a pitcher’s park, If they trade Dickey, they have to get a starter in return. I don’t care ho could the Jays offense is, they aren’t winning in the AL East with Hutchison & Chavez in the rotation.
R.D.
Don’t be dumb Toronto. That’s the only source of 200 innings on this team. One advantage of having Jesse Chavez is that he’s an effective swingman, use him that way.
Foreveryankees
Dickey, third starter at best.
PutMeinCoach88
Won’t be surprised if Dickey stays with us. Don’t see us moving him unless they go with A.J. Jimenez as back up catcher and Thole goes in the same deal.
Not a fan of trading Dickey tbh. He’s going to be very valuable for the rotation this year. We need him I think. I actually think we have enough to be competitive again.
Roasted DNA
headline – Yankees could consider trading Mantle and Maris.
Diablo 2
Dickey,Santiago, Victor Alcantara+10M from Angels to the Rockies
Jays get a salary dump
Angels aquire Charlie Blackmon and Dj Lemahieu.
lol not to be taken seriously, jist sharing my thoughts.
tommyLA
I’d like to see the Dodgers pick up dickey with a year left. He wouldn’t draw a huge prospect haul and the amount owed isn’t an issue. He would fit well into their short term plans.
isolatedpower
If I’m the blue jays, I would keep him. Use him out of the pen a la Tim wakefield. That was a helluva change of pace. I know catching him is difficult but for 1 or 2 innings wouldn’t be the end of the world. Plus, I’m sure he can easily convert to a spot starter if called upon, something Toronto desperately needs, or if one of their other 5 starters isn’t getting it done.
If I’m the yankees, I would take a flier on dickey. They would sign up for 200 innings out of anyone at this point.
johnnymassive
Don’t the Giants make sense? Need some innings eaten and give Buster some time off behind the plate.
jayswethenorth
I wouldn’t mind seeing R A Dickey & Josh Thole go, as long as we can get Yovani Gallardo.
But maybe something a little impossible in my opinion. what do you guys thing?
.
jayswethenorth
or even Wei-Yin Chen
koff
I would think that if the Jays are willing to trade their only sure 200 IP rotation piece, they would have another starter lined up to bring in. They have been linked to Gallardo of late. The Blue Jays may feel better about giving up the pick this year given its placement in the round and the fact that they have Bautista, EE, Cecil, and Storen who could all conceivably be qualified and fetch compensation next year.