R.A. Dickey struggled mightily with a 7.11 ERA in two postseason starts for the Toronto Blue Jays, but he apparently did enough during the last three seasons to convince his team to pick up the 2016 option on his contract.
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Dickey Reportedly Likely to Pitch for Blue Jays Next Season
Wednesday, Oct. 28
According to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, the Blue Jays will exercise the $12 million option on Dickey’s deal this offseason. The 2016 campaign would be Dickey’s fourth with the team.
He finished with a 3.91 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 126 strikeouts in 214.1 innings this season. That was his lowest strikeout total since the 2010 campaign, when he struck out 104 in 174.1 innings. That could perhaps be reason for concern since he turns 41 years old Thursday, but he is a knuckleball pitcher who theoretically doesn’t put as much force on his arm as someone who throws 95-plus mph fastballs.
Dickey is not that far removed from a tremendous 2012 season, when he won the National League Cy Young Award with the New York Mets with a 20-win season, 2.73 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and a career-high 230 strikeouts.
That campaign caught the Blue Jays’ attention, and they traded a package that included Travis d’Arnaud and Noah Syndergaard to New York to acquire the right-hander the following offseason.
Toronto likely wants to get as much as it can from Dickey given how much it gave up to secure his services, so it apparently plans on keeping him around in 2016.
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