RA Dickey

One of the opening weekend highlights of the ongoing TriBeCa Film Festival in New York was Saturday's outdoor screening of the new documentary Knuckleball!, which tells the stories of (to date) the last two professional pitchers to use the dancing, dazzling knuckleball as their primary weapon, Tim Wakefield and R.A. Dickey. 

The Mets have skipped arbitration with starting pitcher R.A. Dickey, and both sides have agreed to a two-year, $7.5 million deal.

This is a move that I advocated for earlier this year, and I feel that the Mets made a good decision. It was included as one of my top 10 moves that Sandy Alderson should consider for this offseason.

When a baseball franchise signs a 36-year-old pitcher who has a career record of 33-37 with a 4.70 ERA, it usually doesn’t qualify as making noise in the offseason. But, relatively speaking, this is the second-biggest splash the New York Mets have made since the end of last season.

With 2010 being "The Year of the Pitcher" it seemed high time someone threw together a list of the nastiest pitches from the season. 

This list isn't based on any statistical evidence, merely on my opinion and observations. 

Credit for my inspiration for this list goes to Joel Reuter who compiled a similar list in 2009.

Begin Slideshow

Throughout the offseason, some of the moves GM Sandy Alderson made were in attempt to bolster the Mets starting staff.  He's acquired pitchers Chris Capuano, and more recently, Chris Young.  Here's a look at what the Mets starting rotation might look like in the 2011 season.

1. Johan Santana (LHP)

“Every year players come out of nowhere to become success stories. Look no further than R.A. Dickey. He signed a minor-league deal last January, became a fixture in the starting rotation in May, and finished the season with 11 victories and a 2.84 ERA. I believe some of our offseason acquisitions can be this year’s version of R.A.”

New York Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson stated this in an e-mail to fans earlier today, and he could very well be projecting the future.

Was there a more surprising 2010 performance than R.A. Dickey’s?  Signed as a minor league free agent, he didn’t open the year in the Mets rotation.  By year’s end, however, he had entrenched himself as their most dependable starter.

As the 2010 Major League Baseball regular season begins to wind down, it is time to start to think about candidates for the annual awards.

After years of hitters dominating the league, this season has been all about the resurgence of the pitcher.  That is why this year's NL Cy Young race is filled with a lot of pitchers who have had great individual seasons.

Here are the top five candidates for the 2010 NL Cy Young award.

Begin Slideshow

Another baseball season is nearing its conclusion and for the fourth consecutive October, the New York Mets are absent.  With the front office sending out signs that the team will not make a big free agent splash this offseason, many fans are depressed.

Many have given up on the Mets' 2011 season already, but there are certain things that the team has in place that should keep fans optimistic.

Here are the top five reasons to believe that it will be different for the Mets in 2011.

When Johan Santana was brought to New York in the winter of 2008, it was with much fanfare that he would be the savior that brought the Mets some respectability after the collapse of 2007.

During Santana’s tenure as a Met so far, they have not won anything, in fact they are actually a worse performing team than they were in 2007.