R.A. Dickey Tells His Side of Story

A day after his trade to the Blue Jays became official, R.A. Dickey held a conference call with reporters Tuesday to tell his side of the story of his failed contract negotiations with the Mets.

According to ESPNNewYork.com, Dickey said the Mets first offer to him was a low-ball two-year deal for $14 million. Dickey said he wasn’t insulted by the insulting offer.

“I think it might have been the equivalent of somebody offering $1 — ‘Let’s just get it going to see where we stand,'” Dickey said. “I didn’t necessarily take that first offer as a convincing slap in the face or anything. I wasn’t looking for a fight after that. I just thought that was an arbitrary offer that they made and, ‘Let’s get the ball rolling and we’ll see where we stand at the end of this thing.’ That’s how it’s done, so there wasn’t any acrimony to it.”

He said the Mets final offer was two years at $20 million. Dickey got $25 million from the Jays.

R.A. Dickey also apologized for speaking about the negotiations at the team’s Christmas party last week, which reportedly angered the Mets.

“At the Christmas party, I must admit to you, that I was unprepared for that informal press conference, if you will,” Dickey said. “I wasn’t aware I was going to be put in that position. So I didn’t have a conversation with anybody about what was going to happen. … I feel badly about using a time such as that to become emotional, and I want to apologize for that. That wasn’t the venue necessarily to do that in. Now I think my emotions and my feelings were warranted. At the same time, that was the wrong place to do that.”

Dickey also commented about a sleazy article by Ken Davidoff of the New York Post over the weekend which painted him as a man more concerned with himself than the team.

“My response is, ‘Go ask my teammates,'” Dickey said.

Without blaming the Mets, Dickey said it seemed like an orchestrated PR move.

“I didn’t quite understand the timing. And so because of the timing, if you put two and two together, it looks like there’s a force out there trying to sway a public perception. And that was just sad to me. I didn’t feel smeared necessarily, because I’m confident in who I am and the things I do and who I am as a human being.”

Finally, R.A. Dickey said he leaves New York and Mets fans with a heavy heart.

“I am sad. And I think it’s important for me to grieve that. I think it’s important for me to grieve leaving New York. I had a proverbial home there. I had a home among fans. I had a home in an organization. I had a lot of success there. And I think it’s important for me to be sad about that for a moment before I go on to the next feeling.”