Getty Images SUNDAY, 2:09 PM: The seven-player trade has been agreed to in principle. Bang it HERE for more.
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SATURDAY, 9:45 PM: Sherman says the trade, as it now stands, will send Dickey, Thole and a non-elite prospect to the Blue Jays for d’Arnaud, Syndergaard, Buck and a non-elite prospect. Sherman guesses that the swap might not be finalized until Monday.
6:58 PM: Adam Rubin of ESPN New York heard from an “in-the-know” source that a resolution might not happen on Saturday night. It seems likely that talks will trail into Sunday.
3:04 PM: Mike Puma of the New York Post reports that as of this morning, seven players were involved in the deal, including four coming to the Mets and three going to the Blue Jays.
Puma hears that the Jays want a catcher back and speculates that Josh Thole could be involved. He has a rapport with knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, so that would make sense. If that happens, it’s possible the Mets could take John Buck in the deal.
Andy McCullough of the Newark Star-Ledger hears that Blue Jays prospect right-handers Noah Syndergaard and Aaron Sanchez have also been discussed. Those are two impressive prospects, so this deal could get a little crazy.
2:54 PM: Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports reports that the Mets and Blue Jays are “inching toward the finish line” on the deal. Some players’ medicals have been reviewed and OK’d, but there’s still work to be done. R.A. Dickey and Travis d’Arnaud are the centerpieces of the deal, but still no word on the other players involved.
12:55 PM: CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reports that the Mets rejected a package of Gose and Arencibia. The two sides have since agreed on d’Arnaud as the center piece in a deal for Dickey, but they are currently trying to finalize the last piece. Assuming they can agree on the other players in the deal, it’s now thought that Dickey is willing to talk about an extension.
11:42 AM: Hold the phone. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that Anthony Gose is NOT part of the trade talks for R.A. Dickey. However, Travis d’Arnaud is.
11:19 AM: Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star reports that if the Blue Jays are to include d’Arnaud and Gose, they need to have Dickey signed to a two-year extension and receive a top prospect from the Mets.
9:30 AM: Andy Martino of the New York Daily News confirms that the Blue Jays are willing to offer d’Arnaud and Gose in a trade for Dickey. We’re still awaiting word on the other players involved.
8:15 PM: CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman hears that the Mets and Blue Jays have reached agreement on the players involved. No word yet on the full scope of the trade.
Meanwhile, Andy Martino of the New York Daily News reports that the Blue Jays have been looking at the medicals on Dickey since at least yesterday afternoon. It’s yet another indication that a deal is close to being finalized.
1:27 AM: Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports is reporting that the Mets and Blue Jays are “on the verge” of a trade that would send Dickey to Toronto and d’Arnaud to New York. The teams are currently looking at medicals, so it sounds pretty close.
As Rosenthal mentioned earlier, Passan hears that more players are involved in the deal.
11:55 PM, Friday: Rosenthal and his colleague, Jon Paul Morosi, are reporting on FOXSports.com that Gose is likely to be included in the deal while the Mets are also expected to receive either d’Arnaud or Arencibia. As Rosenthal noted earlier, if d’Arnaud is included, the deal is likely to be expanded.
11:36 PM: Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com confirms that d’Arnaud is “very much in play” in trade talks for Dickey. However, he notes that the deal would be bigger, with multiple pieces going both ways.
You may recall that the trade talks between the Marlins and Blue Jays began with Josh Johnson and morphed into something much larger. While it’s unlikely 12 players will be involved this time, it probably won’t be a simple swap.
10:30 PM: Andy Martino of the New York Daily News was told by “a person with direct knowledge of the discussions” that during the Winter Meetings, d’Arnaud was a “must have” for the Mets to do a trade with the Blue Jays. Toronto resisted at the time, but a person involved in the potential trade has expressed a “gut feeling” that d’Arnaud may be involved. Again, nothing confirmed.
Contrary to earlier reports, Martino hears that Dickey is willing to sign a contract extension if he’s traded to the Blue Jays. This could have a major impact on the return package.
8:00 PM: Jon Heyman of CBS Sports hears that the Mets may be getting prospect catcher Travis d’Arnaud back from the Blue Jays, though he cautions that the information is unconfirmed. However, he was discussed “heavily” in trade talks along with fellow catcher J.P. Arencibia.
6:07 PM: Anthony DiComo of MLB.com was told by “two people involved” to not expect resolution with Dickey tonight. Things could always change, but it appears he’ll remain with the Mets for at least one more day.
5:45 PM: FOX Sports’ Jon Paul Morosi reports that the Mets and Blue Jays have made progress on a possible trade involving Dickey. However, it’s not a done deal yet.
Also, updating a previous story by Joel Sherman, Andy Martino of the New York Daily News writes that reports suggesting Dickey wouldn’t sign a contract extension with the Jays are false.
4:29 PM: Jon Heyman is hearing that the players coming back from Toronto — assuming a deal can get done — are J.P. Arencibia and Anthony Gose, though that may just be speculation, as those two have been talked about in trades involving the Blue Jays for some time. And let’s keep in mind that this is all fluid and depend on Dickey being willing to sign an extension. We think. As we learned with the Shin-Soo Choo trade earlier this week, early reports may only be capturing part of the story.
Rosenthal says the Rangers are OUT on Dickey.
4:05 PM: Joel Sherman reports that the Mets and Blue Jays are far along in trade talks for Dickey — and a deal could be close — but that things are being held up by Dickey’s refusal to agree to sign a contract extension with Toronto. Now, he needn’t sign off on the trade — he has no no-trade protection — but obviously the Jays would be far more willing to give up real value to the Mets if they can lock up Dickey for what will, presumably, be three years instead of just 2013.
Updates, obviously, as warranted.
3:30 PM: In case you didn’t think that the Mets were serious about trading R.A. Dickey:
Sources: Intense trade talks yesterday regarding Dickey, with Texas, Toronto and, hey now, Baltimore being serious players.
— Andy Martino (@MartinoNYDN) December 14, 2012
The Rangers have been talked about as a possible trade partner with the Mets for a couple of days. The Jays and Orioles, not so much.
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- jaybird22seven - Dec 15, 2012 at 10:05 PM
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The Jays gave up to much !!!!
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- proudlycanadian - Dec 15, 2012 at 10:08 PM
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Not a done deal yet.
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- thebadguyswon - Dec 15, 2012 at 10:09 PM
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AA met his match with Sandy “The Assassin” Alderson.
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- cur68 - Dec 16, 2012 at 10:05 AM
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Easy does it with that. d’Arnaud & Syndergaard are not Wil Meyers…not even added together. They’re elite prospects. In no way should a Beaver Fan be happy to see them go BUT they have hardly got the return on investment that RA Dickey represents. No one but their families will turn up to watch those 2 kids play. Everybody that knows anything about baseball, and a whole bunch who don’t, will come to watch RA do his thing. In the end, RA adds more sure-thing value.
The Beav draft well and they acquire prospects shrewdly. They got the likes of d’Arnaud & Syndergaard before, they can do it agin. I’m betting by the time RA is ready to hang up the spurs AA will have 2 kids, if not more, ready to come up. In the mean time, the Beaver Farm is still looking good.
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- paperlions - Dec 16, 2012 at 11:40 AM
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Syndergaard could be described as a promising prospect, but if he’s elite, the Cardinals must have over 1/2 dozen elite prospects themselves…which to me is highly contrary to the definition of elite. It is like calling Gose elite….he is an elite defender, but the bat is severely lacking and no one knows if it will develop until it does or doesn’t…so…he’s promising. If the reports are true, it is a good return for NY, because all they are trading is 1 year of control at $5M….the Jays will have to pay for anything beyond that in dollars.
This is a win-win deal (if true), as the Jays are obviously trying to win now as they have gotten much older and more expensive…whereas the Mets are just admitting what everyone else has known for a while…that they need to build for the future and that they don’t have the cash flow to keep very many expensive players.
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- cur68 - Dec 16, 2012 at 11:56 AM
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“Elite” is a matter of opinion, not fact. Right now, the Mets consider them elite. The end.
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- buffalo65 - Dec 15, 2012 at 10:22 PM
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Small price to pay to be the best. The Jays have a young deep lineup. 2 hard throwing righties a junk ball knuckler and 2 lefties in the rotation and a deep talented pen. Should be good for 5 to 10 years of contention.
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- paint771 - Dec 15, 2012 at 10:30 PM
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Save Johnson and Dickey are gone after next year, if nothing changes, and there are still a lot of question marks with the pen and even with the lineup in spots.
Your optimism is appreciated however.
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- buffalo65 - Dec 15, 2012 at 10:23 PM
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That said, a good deal for the mets too. Maybe if all their kids pan out the Jays will see them in the series in a couple years. We should have a couple more rings by then.
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- paint771 - Dec 15, 2012 at 10:25 PM
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Starting to get pretty nervous now. This better not be a case of a GM feeling the heat on being over-committed for next year – that’s what makes for bad deals. Dickey, Thole and a non-elite prospect to the Blue Jays for d’Arnaud, Syndergaard, Buck and a non-elite prospect? If that’s three years of Dickey and maybe Parnell or a Flores or even Rodriguez type, then fair enough – I’ll take that. But for one year of Dickey and a throw-in? Even understanding that Syndergaard’s stock has fallen in the org and the cost of pitching has skyrocketed, that’s just not a good deal – although if you’re a Mets fan (and more power to you, non-Yankee NYC team), I hope you’re starting to get excited. Not like Dickey was going to do you much good next year anyway.
AA better know what he’s doing.
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- jjpileggi - Dec 15, 2012 at 11:27 PM
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This may be the Mets’ only chance to significantly reshape the team for a bit. The Wilpons are waiting for the roll off of the Bay and Santana contracts and may not re-invest the proceeds (given the Wilpons financial state) in new talent. We can look forward to Harvey, Wheeler, Niese, Gee, and Mejia with Wright, Davis and a whole lot of young guys as the bats.
John Pileggi
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- proudlycanadian - Dec 16, 2012 at 5:14 AM
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Still too early to know how accurate the stories coming out of New York are regarding the players in the trade. If Thole and Buck are in the trade, it is obvious that the Jays want someone who can catch the knuckleball. Buck would be pissed because he wanted to return to Toronto.
According to MLB.com, d’Arnaud is Toronto’s top prospect and Syndergaard is number 3. That would be a very good haul for a 38 year old Cy Young winner. The 20 year old Syndergaard is a long tall Texan who throws a a hard fastball with movement. Jays fans do not want to see him go. For the last couple of years we have been hearing about the trio of Sanchez, Syndergaard and Nicolino who were all drafted in the same year. Nicolino is now a Marlin, and Sanchez (Toronto’s #2 prospect) appears to be the only one left. Sanchez was born on Canada Day in 1992, so it is appropriate that he remains in the organization.
The Jays still have several talented young pitchers in their farm system. Ranked #4 is 19 year old lefty Daniel Norris, #6 is Roberto Osuna who will soon turn 18. #7 is Marcus Stroman who is 21. #8 is 18 year old Matthew Smoral. Of this group, the young Mexican, Osuna, is the one that excites scouts the most.
Will Dickey sign an extension? Probably! Will d’Arnaud stay healthy? Will Syndergaard reach his potential? It is a big gamble. Dickey will not worry about taxes in Toronto. They are comparable to NY.
Jays fans should also remember that in 2014, Drabek, and Hutchinson should be fully recovered from Tommy John surgery.
The rumored names seem like a big price to pay for Dickey; however, the prize the Jays are going for is the World Series.
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- paperlions - Dec 16, 2012 at 11:58 AM
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I would never rip a team for going for it when they are in position to do so, and Toronto is in such a position. Just remember, that no matter how good a team is…they have roughly a 1/8 chance of winning the WS once they make the playoffs (the real playoffs, after the stupid WC play-in game). Anything can happen in a short series.
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- buffalo65 - Dec 16, 2012 at 7:33 AM
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Dickey will sign, next year hitch or Drabek can replace
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- bigmeechy74 - Dec 16, 2012 at 12:14 PM
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Drabek isn’t good.
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- buffalo65 - Dec 16, 2012 at 7:34 AM
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Johnson. Young lineup. Young pen. Locked in rotation equals multiple years of contention.
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- soxfan1966 - Dec 16, 2012 at 10:27 AM
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Yet another potential Toronto overpayment, but Dickey gives Toronto a certain arm in their 2013 rotation — probably the only one.
Toronto is definitely in “win now” mode, but this flurry of offseason moves gives them a definite shot at finishing higher than 4th in the AL East if they can keep the rest of the pitching staff and half their lineup off the DL.
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- proudlycanadian - Dec 16, 2012 at 2:02 PM
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OK! It is a done deal provided the Jays can extend Dickey. They have a negotiating window that ends on Tuesday.
