In this absurd market for starting pitching, the Mets absolutely cannot afford to just sit on Dickey right now. I'm confident that Sandy can make a good trade, but if it comes down to us resigning him or taking a so-so deal, they have to take the deal unless they plan on spending money RIGHT NOW to make this team a contender this season. Dickey will probably still be able to pitch at a Cy Young level this season, and if they resign him and still have this "wait until 2014" mentality, they're wasting everyone's time.

The lineup right now has 3 AAA players (Thole, Baxter and Kirk), 2 mediocre hitters (Duda and Tejada), 1 solid hitter (Murphy) and 2 legitimate threats (Ike and Wright). Now I like Murphy, and I think he could be a decent piece on a contending team, but hes our THIRD BEST HITTER right now. A contender does not have ANY AAA players , and no matter how good the rotation is, this roster is not gonna cut it. The Giants had a pretty bad offense last year, but they didn't have any BLACK HOLES in the lineup, and the Mets have three automatic outs (not even counting the pitcher), and its more like 5 when Davis and Duda are slumping. And oh yeah, they need a completely new bullpen too....

If they want to show that they aren't bluffing about bringing Dickey back, they need to start spending and filling holes RIGHT NOW. If they keep playing games with potential trade partners and then end up with Dickey still not extended a month from now, we're gonna end up with an even worse roster than last year. They need to set a deadline (like NEXT WEEK at latest) for making a decision on Dickey. Then they need to start filling holes, and tell Texas and Toronto to either make us an offer we can't refuse or don't call. Or if their big free agent target is seriously Miguel Olivo, then they should just trade Dickey for Arencibia.

Rather than waiting for the market to increase Dickey's value, certainly the Mets could control market value by setting a deadline as you said.

It's about time this front office changes ITS culture to a more BULLISH one. This is NY, for God's sake!

My opinion differs from yours, I say EXTEND Dickey's contract. Send a positive message to the clubhouse, the fans, most of all Dickey, "We want you on this club, lets get it done"

Then Sandy and company can focus on plugging holes for the 2013 roster, then worry about making big moves for 2014. I believe we can compete in 2014 if we make the right moves. Trading Dickey just pushes the clock back. We can do this in 1 year by keeping Dickey and Niese.