As the Mets wrestle with the decision whether to lock up R.A. Dickey or trade him as part of a rebuilding process, one of the people who helped the knuckleballer revive his career believes Dickey’s 20-win season was no fluke.
“I think he’s going to be effective for a long, long time,” Orel Hershiser said. “What he knows about the knuckleball and what he can do with it is one of a kind. He’s learned how to control an uncontrollable pitch. No one else has done that.”
Hershiser was the Rangers’ pitching coach in 2005 when he, along with manager Buck Showalter and bullpen coach Mark Conner, convinced Dickey, then a struggling 30-year-old, to go to the knuckleball fulltime. But even Hershiser didn’t expect a season like Dickey had in 2012.
“At that time, you’re trying to save someone’s career,” Hershiser, now an analyst for ESPN, said yesterday by phone. “The conventional path was not working out. But you’d be crazy to imagine a Cy Young.”
Hershiser, who also won the award while with the Dodgers, is confident whoever winds up with Dickey will be pleased with the results despite the fact Dickey is 38.
“The guy is passionate, so you know the work ethic is there and you’re investing in his character,” Hershiser said. “He’s a good athlete and throws his knuckleball at a high velocity, so he can afford to lose some and still be effective.’’
And he only helped his resume last season.
“He pitched the whole year hurt [with an abdominal tear], so he’s tough,” Hershiser said. “He put up 20 wins on a so-so team, but he also did it with the pressure of knowing people were coming just to see him pitch. And he did it in New York, the hardest city in the world to perform in.”
Hershiser said an unorthodox knuckleball isn’t the only thing that makes Dickey unique.
“He’s also getting a chance to make a large amount of money, so it’s important for him to take as much advantage as he can of this time,” Hershiser said.
“It’s not like he’s 21 and still has a lot of years to pitch. He’s not going to waste it. With what he’s accomplished and what he’s been through, you know he’s never going to give up. He’s been to the bottom and now he’s at the top and he knows what that’s like.”
* Tim Byrdak agreed to a minor league deal with an invite to major league spring training yesterday. The southpaw was especially effective against lefties out of the bullpen last season, but is still recovering from surgery in September to repair a torn anterior capsule in his pitching shoulder. It’s the same procedure Johan Santana and Chris Young have undergone, so Byrdak figures to be a midseason replacement, at best.
The Mets also acquired infielder Brandon Hicks for cash in a trade with Oakland. The 27-year-old went 11-64 (.172) with the A’s last season.