Blue Jays R.A. Dickey underwent offseason knee surgery

Blue Jays veteran knuckler R.A. Dickey reportedly underwent knee surgery early in the offseason to repair the meniscus in his right knee

According to Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com, Blue Jays starter R.A. Dickey was dealing with a torn meniscus last season and underwent surgery at the end of the year.

Dickey’s recovery time has reportedly come and passed, and the 41-year-old is expected to open spring training without any further issue.

Dickey’s postseason performance fell short in the ALCS against the Kansas City Royals, lasting just 1.2 innings and allowing four earned runs on two deep flies, but another excellent late-season push brought his ERA below four (3.91) for the second consecutive season.

While a dip in his strikeout numbers is worrying, Dickey served up another 200+ innings for the Blue Jays and is expected to do the same in 2016. The important piece of information to take away from this is that the meniscus injury was in Dickey’s planting leg.

The knuckleball does not put the same strain on a pitcher’s upper body that a 98 MPH fastball might, but Dickey’s mound mechanics still include a high-effort push from his lower half.

Recapturing the “hard” knuckler had been a talking point for Dickey over the latter half of 2015, so there’s potential that getting his plant leg back to being pain-free and full strength could help to solidify his base.

I would expect that we’ll soon learn from Dickey the details of his injury, and how greatly it impacted him on the mound throughout Toronto’s playoff run.