Mets “Serious” About Trading R.A. Dickey?

As the Winter Meetings get into full swing on Monday, there are reports that the Mets could trade R.A. Dickey while they are down in Nashville. Well, not reports, actually — just a tweet from ESPN’s Jayson Stark.

Now, this is not really new — the Royals have been linked to Dickey for a couple of weeks now. But the fact that the meetings are on and someone obviously leaked this to Stark means something is going on.

Sandy Alderson claims he wants to sign Dickey to an extension, but there are reports that the two sides are far apart. If that is indeed the case, then trading their Cy Young award winner for some young, major league-ready talent makes perfect sense.

There are other reports (so many reports) that the Mets are thus far underwhelmed by the offers they are receiving which also makes sense because Dickey is 38 years old. The Mets should only trade Dickey if they can get at least one stud (preferably two) who can step into the lineup right now. If not, they should hold onto him.

It is no secret that the Mets desperately need a catcher. The names that keep popping up are J.P. Arencibia or Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Both would be upgrades over the current catching corps, but neither of these players are world-beaters. They provide power, and that’s about it, especially Arencibia. Saltalamacchia became even more available on Monday after the Red Sox signed Mike Napoli.

There is no way Alderson should trade R.A. Dickey or Jonathon Niese for either of these guys. In fact, there is no way Alderson should trade Niese at all. The Giants have proven once again that pitching wins championships. A starting rotation of Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler and Niese for years to come is a good place to begin towards building a champion.

The only reason to trade Niese would be if a can’t-miss prospect like Kansas City’s Wil Meyers is offered, but the Royals have not indicated that they will part with him, and rightly so.

Sandy Alderson has a lot of work to do this week. He has not yet proven that he is up to the task.