The Atlanta Braves signed Bartolo Colon and R.A. Dickey while making a trade to acquire Jaime Garcia last offseason. There were multiple reasons. The team was hoping that the veteran trio would give them innings, keep them around .500 and buy time before the club was ready to move some of it’s younger pitchers into the rotation.
It didn’t work out with Colon who was let go and has only found a small amount of success since a late season pickup by the Twins. Garcia was inconsistent as he has been throughout his career but pitched well enough to be traded to those same Twins. Dickey on the other hand has performed about as well as the Braves could have hoped.
Dickey earned $7.5 million this season and pitched about as well as his last season in Toronto. He has already topped his inning totals from last season and the Braves hold a $8 million option on him for next season with a $500,000 buyout. Truth be told the Braves knew they were not getting the pitcher who won a Cy Young with the Mets in 2012 and while there was a chance he would outpace last years numbers those were the numbers John Coppolella was buying into.
With all that being said $8 million for a guy who is going to give you 180 innings, stay healthy and can share some insight of his career to a young group of pitchers does not seem all too outlandish. Yu Darvish and Jake Arrietta are names that some will try and toss around with the Braves but their price tag and where the Braves are in terms of competing are two reasons those deals are unlikely.
The lone reason that picking up Dickey’s option should give the Braves pause is his September numbers. In three starts he has failed to pitch past the fifth while being touched up for a 10.05 ERA, and a .367 average against.
Another question the Braves will need to address is Julio Teheran. Is he the pitcher who struggled for much of the season or is the he guy who has looked capable of being the number one since mid August?