Rays Trade James Shield to Royals; R.A. Dickey Next to Go?

This should prove to be a very interesting week for the Mets and their chances of trading R.A. Dickey, following two major pitching moves over the weekend.

Late Sunday night the Rays traded James Shields and Wade Davis to the Royals for super prospect Wil Myers and three other prospects, including two highly-regarded pitchers. Add that to Zack Greinke signing with the Dodgers Saturday night, and Dickey is the last top pitcher left on the market.

There are reports the Rangers would turn to Dickey if they lost out on Greinke. The Mets reportedly want Mike Olt and Leonys Martin for Dickey. Mets Blog describes Olt and Martin as the second and third best prospects in the Rangers system. Both would likely be starters in a revamped Mets outfield.

The Mets could also place an international call to Toronto to see what the Blue Jays would offer, but it doesn’t appear the Jays have the caliber of major league ready prospects that Texas has.

I think the Mets would and should do that deal with Texas. Olt hit 28 homers in Triple-A last season and while he has played only three games in the outfield, he is said to be athletic enough to make the move. Martin hit .359 last season and is a center fielder. That is two-thirds of an outfield with a lot of promise for a 38-year-old pitcher, albeit a pitcher who just won the Cy Young award.

As far as the Rays-Royals trade, it seems like the Royals gave up a lot of young talent for two good, but not great pitchers, neither of whom can be considered an ace. And Greinke’s six-year, $147 million contract is just huge — at an average of $24.5 million per season, Greinke is the highest paid pitcher ever. It just shows how valuable good pitching is. Hopefully the Mets can capitalize on that with R.A. Dickey.