[TitovFTW]

In comparison to Santana, Doc, Adrien Gonzalez and Gio Gonzalez

Dickey is under contract with the Jays for less time than those other players were under contract with their new teams, and that’s true. But remember that the bulk of the value from a long-term contract to a star comes toward the front. And though Dickey is 38, which everybody points out, I don’t think it’s fair to say that other 38-year-olds represent an appropriate peer group. Other knuckleballers don’t represent an appropriate peer group, either, since Dickey throws harder than all of them have, but this peer group is closer than the 38-year-olds peer group, and this peer group has aged tremendously well. Despite Dickey’s age, there are reasons to believe he could remain effective for quite some time yet.
So the Blue Jays are paying steeply, sure. But they’re paying for not one year of R.A. Dickey, but three years of him, and they aren’t giving up a true can’t-miss prospect. They get a lot better now, which is the whole point, and we haven’t even touched on the surplus value from Dickey’s phenomenally low 2013 salary. Based on recent history, the Jays don’t seem to be overpaying, and based on the current setting of things, this should be a hell of a season for baseball in Toronto.

Last season Dickey seemed to develop the ability to strike batters out, and that’s a tough thing to fake.

The main pieces going from the Blue Jays to the Mets for Dickey are d’Arnaud and Noah Syndergaard. A year ago, BA ranked d’Arnaud the #17 prospect overall, and then he hit well in Las Vegas, but you also hit well in Las Vegas, you hit well there without realizing you had even played, and d’Arnaud missed a big chunk of the season due to knee surgery. Knee surgery, for a catcher. In the upper levels he’s struck out three times as often as he’s walked. The point being that d’Arnaud is a good prospect with question marks. Syndergaard is very young and so far very successful, but he also hasn’t pitched above single-A. He’s a guy who currently scouts better than his odds, if that makes sense.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index...e-of-a-window/