Who do you want to see on the pitching staff next year?

[JN]

because hes so inconsistent...and just old lol.

I'm not old, I'm 37!

Actually Dickey is older than 37, but he is a knuckleballer. Knuckleballers don't get old, they simply age gracefully.

Dickey is turning 41 this week. In the biggest game of his career and the reason he was brought in the first place, he laid a big fat egg in Game 4. Even thought he was good at times, but for what they gave up and the results they got- He was frankly a disappointment. The Jays traded two of their top prospects- Syndergaard and D'arnaud, along with a decent potential prospect in Wuilmer Becerra; and that trade will go down as one of the most lopsided trades in the favour of the Mets. Frankly, having him on this team is a burden, since Thole takes up a roster spot and it messes up Martin at times. It is time of this 41 year old Knuckler to pitch somewhere else next year. I would use his 12 M to sign another decent pitcher on a 3 year or 4 year deal to replace him. He should just go back to the NL in a pitcher friendly park for the betterment of his career.

If you look at history, a 41 year old knuckleballer who has had some level of success in the past year, will likely still have 3-4 more decent years. I would not expect much of a drop-off of what he did this next year,

Of course the sample size is low as so few knuckleballers have had success in their 40;s (Joe and Phil Neikro, Tim Wakefield, Hoyt Wilhelm) -- but the trend is if a knuckleballer can have some success at 40, he can probably extend it to close to 43 or more. For Phil and Wilhelm it was many more, for Tim Wakefield it was about 3 more years of medicore / decent pitching. Exception was Joe Niekro.

Although I agree with one of your points. Trying to manage a roster and schedule when you have a knuckleballer can be a total pain in the ass.

[StopitLeo]

If you look at history, a 41 year old knuckleballer who has had some level of success in the past year, will likely still have 3-4 more decent years. I would not expect much of a drop-off of what he did this next year,

Of course the sample size is low as so few knuckleballers have had success in their 40;s (Joe and Phil Neikro, Tim Wakefield, Hoyt Wilhelm) -- but the trend is if a knuckleballer can have some success at 40, he can probably extend it to close to 43 or more. For Phil and Wilhelm it was many more, for Tim Wakefield it was about 3 more years of medicore / decent pitching. Exception was Joe Niekro.

Although I agree with one of your points. Trying to manage a roster and schedule when you have a knuckleballer can be a total pain in the ass.

I do wonder if Dickey will be affected differently from those other guys because he relies on throwing a higher velocity knuckleball. He roughly throws a low 70s one and a high 70s one, which is quite different from typical knuckleballs that are in the mid 60s. I believe has had some periodic drops in velocity, which resulted in poorer effectiveness, during the season. So if he is only able to get his knuckleball working in the mid 70s will he be able to adjust to throwing a much slower one to complement it? Or does he drop down to throwing at a more traditional velocity?

[kayliecee]

1. Greinke
2. Stroman
3. Estrada
4. Osuna
5. ???

I would love to see us make a play for Greinke. He'll be cheaper than Price by virtue of being two years older and a righty. I could see him agreeing to something like $125 million over 5 years.

I've cooled off of Price. His playoff performance was vomit-inducing and handicapping ourselves with a 7 year $200+ million contract isn't very smart.

We definitely need at least one elite pitcher to go along with Stroman.

His WHIP in the post season was 1.07. You could argue it's not worth $200 million, but that's not vomit-inducing. If it is, then a WHIP of 1.34 (Stroman's) must be death-inducing. I'd like to see Price back, but I suspect he'll end up on the Cubs with his long-time manager.