The Toronto Blue Jays have made 17 trades with the New York Mets in their history.
On Jun. 19, they sent a minor leaguer named Troy Miller to the team in Queens for Jacob Barnes (for his first stint). The trade before that saw the Jays acquire Steven Matz for Josh Winckowski, Sean Reid-Foley, and Yennsy Díaz.
Before the 2019 trade deadline, they traded Marcus Stroman to the Mets for Anthony Kay and Simeon Woods Richardson, which got them José Berríos in turn. Even before the turn of the millennium, the two teams made big trades. For example, the Jays traded a young Jeff Kent to the Mets for David Cone. Another example is when the Jays re-acquired Tony Fernández for Darrin Jackson in 1993.
However, the trade we’ll look at in this edition of Throwback Thursday is the R.A Dickey trade on Dec. 17, 2012. On that day, the Jays traded prospects Travis d’Arnaud, Noah Syndergaard, and Wuilmer Becerra, as well as catcher John Buck, for R.A Dickey, Josh Thole, and Mike Nickeas.
Let’s take a look at the trade.

R.A. Dickey before the Blue Jays

Dickey was drafted 18th overall in the 1996 draft by the Texas Rangers. Back then, he threw the knuckleball, but it wasn’t his primary weapon. Dickey eventually made the big leagues in 2001, where he struggled for his first seven seasons from 2001 until 2009, posting a 5.43 ERA and a 5.19 FIP in 442.2 innings pitched.
Still with the Rangers in 2006, Dickey started to throw his knuckleball as his primary pitch, but eventually found his way to the Milwaukee Brewers in 2007 and also played with the Minnesota Twins and Seattle Mariners before ending up on the New York Mets.
Before the 2010 season, Dickey signed a minor-league deal with the Mets, where his career turned around. That season, the knuckleballer threw 174.1 innings with a 2.84 ERA and a 3.65 FIP. Dickey followed that up with a solid 2011 season, posting a 3.28 ERA and a 3.77 FIP in 208.2 innings pitched, but nothing prepared anyone for his 2012 season.
Dickey was dominant in 2012. That season, he had a 2.73 ERA and a 3.27 FIP in 233.2 innings pitched, along with a career-best 24.8 K% and a 5.8 BB%. Not only did he make his first and only All-Star game that season, but he was the National League strikeout leader and won his only Cy Young award.

Dickey’s time with the Blue Jays

Coming into the 2013 season, it had been 19 seasons since the Blue Jays last made the postseason, when they won back-to-back World Series. On Dec. 17, 2012, they traded prospects Noah Syndergaard and Travis d’Arnaud, as well as John Buck and Wuilmer Becerra, to the Mets for Dickey, his personal catcher Josh Thole, and Mike Nickeas. In this section, we’ll look at Dickey’s tenure with the Blue Jays.
This was just one of a few big moves that the then-general manager Alex Anthopoulos made leading into the 2013 season. How did it pan out? Well, it was a mixed bag.
Dickey was unable to pitch the way he did the season before in his first season with the Blue Jays, posting a 4.21 ERA and a 4.58 FIP in 224.2 innings pitched, with an 18.8 K% and a 7.5 BB%.
The knuckleballer returned to a sub-4.00 ERA in 2014, as he had a 3.71 ERA and a 4.34 FIP in 215.2 innings pitched with an 18.9 K% and an 8.1 BB%. This was his best season as a Blue Jay, but the team finally made the post-season in 2015. That season, Dickey had a 3.91 ERA and a 4.48 FIP in 214.1 innings pitched.
Dickey’s final season as a Blue Jay and his penultimate season was the 2016 season, where he posted a 4.46 ERA and a 5.03 FIP in 169.2 innings pitched. Dickey finished his career with the Atlanta Braves in 2017, where he had a 4.26 ERA and a 4.72 FIP in 190 innings pitched.
As a whole, Dickey pitched four seasons with the Blue Jays, where he had a 4.05 ERA and a 4.58 FIP in 824.1 innings pitched. For his career, Dickey finished with a 4.04 ERA and a 4.41 FIP in 2073.2 innings pitched.

What about the others in the trade

The Blue Jays sent four players to the Mets – Wuilmer Becerra, John Buck, Travis d’Arnaud, and Noah Syndergaard.
Becerra never pitched in the upper minors and most recently pitched in 2019-20 in the Venezuelan Winter League. Buck is notable as the Jays acquired him less than a month before in the massive trade with the Marlins that brought in Mark Buehrle.
Syndergaard, on the other hand, looked like an ace to begin his career. Through his first four seasons from 2015 until 2018, the Texas native had a 2.93 ERA and a 2.66 FIP in 518.1 innings pitched with a 27.1 K% and a 5.5 BB%. Syndergaard’s best season was in 2016, when he had a 2.60 ERA and a 2.29 FIP in 183.2 innings pitched, being named a National League All-Star. Since then, he’s bounced around the league and hasn’t pitched since 2023.
d’Arnaud is the only player still actively playing (Syndergaard hasn’t retired, he’s a free agent), as the catcher currently plays for the Los Angeles Angels. He showed signs of being a great catcher in 2015, as d’Arnaud posted a .268/.340/.485 slash line with 12 home runs in 268 plate appearances for a 130 wRC+ and a 3.4 fWAR, his second-best total. 
In 2022, d’Arnaud was on the Alex Anthopoulos-led Atlanta Braves, slashing .268/.319/.472 with 18 home runs in 426 plate appearances for a 121 wRC+ and a 3.9 fWAR. After two more seasons with the Braves, the 36-year-old signed with the Angels.
Sticking with catchers, Thole was Dickey’s personal catcher and stuck around with the Blue Jays until Dickey departed. With the Jays, Thole slashed .200/.275/.248 with two home runs in 473 plate appearances. Nickeas appeared in a game for the Jays in 2013 but never played another big league game after that.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.