RA Dickey has been the best pitcher on the New York Mets this season. In fact, he’s been the best pitcher in the National League, which he leads in wins, ERA, and WHIP. He’s the odds on favorite to start the All Star game and he’s the front runner for the Cy Young at this point. Normally, that would be the end of the story; Dickey is having a great year and the Mets are along for the ride. This is not a normal situation, however. Dickey is a knuckleballer and guys who rely on the knuckleball can usually throw more and more often than traditional pitchers because of the reduced strain on the arm. Though Dickey throws his knuckler harder than most anyone ever, he is no exception to this rule. In fact, rumors were floating around the last couple of days that Terry Collins, the manger of the Metropolitans, was contemplating using Dickey every 4th day as opposed to every fifth. Collins opted not to do this because of the chaos it would create for the rest of the starters. Terry is making a mistake; it’s time for the Mets to unleash RA Dickey.
The Mets have performed much better than expectected so far this year. They are currently 38-32 and 3 games behind the Washington Nationals for first place in the NL East. They’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain by pitching Dickey as often as possible.
Other than Dickey, the Mets starting rotation currently consists of Johan Santana, Dillon Gee, Jon Niese, and Chris Young (who seems to have replaced rookie Jeremy Hefner). I’ll be honest, other than Santana, there’s no one on that list I’m going out of my way to protect and coddle to the point that I wouldn’t mess with their routine a little bit. The Mets are 12-2 in games Dickey starts, and they’re 8-6 when Santana starts (though that’s really no fault of his). That means that they are 18-24 when anyone else starts. If anything, that number indicates that these other guys could use a little messing with their routine.
Here’s my proposal: The Mets should start RA Dickey every 4th day, Johan Santana every 5th day, and the best rested other guy every other day. If Dickey’s and Santana’s starts fall on the same day, let Johan throw to give RA the odd extra day of rest. It would look something like this:
Game 1: RA Dickey
Game 2: Johan Santana
Game 3: Jon Neise
Game 4: Dillon Gee
Game 5: Dickey
Game 6: Chris Young
Game 7: Santana
Game 8: Neise
Game 9: Dickey
Game 10: Gee
Game 11: Young
Game 12: Santana
Game 13: Dickey
Game 14: Neise
Game 15: Gee
Game 16: Young
Game 17: Santana (his start and Dickey’s line up)
Game 18: Dickey
The result of all this would be that over this hypothetical 18 game stretch, RA Dickey, the best pitcher, would throw 5 times, Johan Santana, the second best, would throw 4 times, all on regular rest, and the other guys would throw 3 times a piece. In this situation the 5th starter, Chris Young, throws on regular rest every time so if Collins wanted to put Neise or Gee in that spot, he would be able to do so. In this hypothetical situation Dickey throws on what would normally be considered “short-rest” in every start but his final start, where he gets an extra day. This isn’t a problem because of his knuckleball. He’s already said that he could do it and would be open to the idea.
The 3 non-Johan, non-Dickey starters would never throw on short rest in this scenario but may get a couple of extra days off along the way. This may allow them to be used out of the bullpen in some situations, strengthening that part of the team.
Overall, pitching Dickey on 3 days rest instead of 4 would maximize the Mets chance to win the most games without jeopardizing the health of anyone on the team. Terry Collins and the Mets should push their luck, they have no reason not to. It’s time to see just how good this team is and just how far they can ride Dickey.
And who knows, RA Dickey might be the next 30 game winner.
-Max Frankel
