Jays May Have Asked Mets For Wrong Guy

Jul 8, 2013; San Francisco, CA, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Matt Harvey (33) pitches against the San Francisco Giants during the fifth inning at ATThe following post is a shameless excuse for a Blue Jays blogger to talk about Matt Harvey and should in no way be seen as a diss to R.A. Dickey.

In the offseason the Toronto Blue Jays acquired the New York Mets best starting pitcher and reigning NL CY Young winner R.A. Dickey.

In order to get Dickey the Jays traded two of their top blue chip prospects Noah Syndaagaard and Travis D’Arnaud.

It’s safe to say Dickey hasn’t come as advertised. Almost all his numbers have declined from his past 3 seasons and more often than not he’s looked more like a 5th starter then an ace.

It’s easy to call for AA’s head for making that trade but it’s still way too early to call Dickey a bust. Dickey could just as easily get back to being an elite front line starting pitcher for the Jays in the 2nd half or in the 2 other years the Jays have him, assuming he doesn’t get traded.

But when the Jays talked to the Mets it probably wouldn’t have hurt to ask about the guy starting the all-star game for the National League tonight, Matt Harvey

The Mets only had Dickey under contract for 2013 and they still wanted a king’s ransom. Harvey doesn’t even hit arbitration until 2016. So the Mets may not have been so open to dealing him.

But this past offseason Harvey was still an unknown commodity. A rightfully highly regarded unknown commodity but an unknown commodity nonetheless. With 2013 being his first full season you’d have to imagine the Mets couldn’t have asked for that much.

But for a team rebuilding the Mets probably would have jumped at trading an unproven Harvey for a good return.

And heck even trading Syndaagaard and D’Arnaud for Harvey would have been worth it.

The Mets could have still traded Dickey and Harvey and really got a lot of impact talent back this offseason.

If you thought Jays fans were upset about giving up prospects for a 38 year old knuckleballer imagine how upset they would have been giving up prospects for a 24 year old without a full big league season under his belt.

The Jays would have been under a lot of scrutiny.

But holy cow it looks like a risk that would have been worth taking. Harvey has a 10.18 K/9 rate, a 2.35 ERA and has already put up a 4.2 WAR! Dickey put up a 4.5 WAR ALL of last season and he won the CY Young!

Cliff motherf**king Lee has only put up a 3.1 WAR this year!

If AA could have seen into the future the Jays could have had a young ace for many years to come and maybe even a stronger farm system right now.

PS. Don’t pretend like every time you see Matt Harvey pitching for the Mets the thought doesn’t cross your mind. I’m probably just the first Jays fan to bring it up.