When the Mets signed 35-year-old knuckleballer R.A. Dickey to a minor league deal in December of 2009, it was met with the typical sneers of “World Series here we come.”
Dickey would start the 2010 season in Triple-A with the Buffalo Bisons and it got off to a rocky start. He allowed four runs on 12 baserunners with 4 2/3 innings in his first outing. That start would turn out to be one of his only stinkers of the 2010 season.
The right-hander pitched a complete game allowing only two runs in his next start, Dickey was off an running towards returning to the big leagues. His next two starts were eight innings of two-run ball.
On April 29, 2010, Dickey gave up a leadoff single to Fernando Perez. The Durham Bulls wouldn’t connect with the fluttering baseball as they went down 27 times in a row to end the game. Dickey’s final line with Josh Thole behind the plate:
9 innings, one hit, zero runs, zero walks, six strikeouts
Even more amazing was Dickey needing only 90 pitches (68 of them for strikes) to toss the complete game shutout.
The next outing Dickey went eight innings allowing two runs, his fourth straight start of at least eight innings. Two more starts -including another eight-inning outing- before the Mets saw what they needed from Dickey to bring him back to the majors.
Dickey made his Mets debut on May 19, when he allowed two runs in six innings against the Nationals. He would finish his amazin’ first season in New York with a 2.84 ERA in 174 1/3 innings. It was more of the same in 2011 for R.A. in Flushing, he posted a 3.28 ERA in 208 innings.
Then Dickey took the knuckler to another level, the 37-year-old was a National League All-Star and won the Cy Young award in 2012. He led the league with a 233 2/3 innings pitched, five complete games, three shutouts, and 230 strikeouts.
With Dickey having only one year left on his contract after the masterful season, Mets’ GM Sandy Alderson was looking to cash in on valuable asset.
Alderson was able to get four players from the Blue Jays for Dickey, two of the being promising prospects in catcher Travis d’Arnaud and right-hander pitcher Noah Syndergaard. Mets also got young outfield prospect Wuilmer Becerra and veteran catcher John Buck, with catchers Mike Nickeas and Josh Thole going to Toronto.
Dickey signed with no expectations, but ended up pitching one of the best three-season stretches in team history and gave Mets fans something to cheer about during an otherwise rough time.
