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Will Dickey start in place of Johan on Opening Day?

posted on January 31st, 2012 at 2:00 pm

In response to a question about Johan Santana‘s status, and if RA Dickey could instead be the Opening Day starter, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo writes in his latest mailbag:

“No one knows exactly how ready Santana will be come Opening Day. … Collins has said on multiple occasions that he believes Santana is a true ace, hinting that if the left-hander is healthy, he will receive the Opening Day nod. And that makes sense. But if Santana is anything less than 100 percent come April, then I suspect you’re right: Dickey will indeed earn the assignment. Coming off a better and more consistent year than any other Mets pitcher, Dickey would really be the only choice at that point. He was the clear leader of this staff in Santana’s absence, and its best pitcher to boot.”

In 33 appearances for the Mets last season, Dickey was 8-13 with a 3.28 ERA in 207 innings pitched, during which he struck out 15 percent of the batters he faced.

Matthew Cerrone: I’ve heard from a few people close to the team that management is still not totally confident Santana will be ready for Opening Day. Of course, they could just be taking a careful approach and keeping expectations low until they see Johan on a mound, in a Spring game, pitching and recovering well. This is probably a wise way to do things, especially given his history with starting slowly. That said, DiComo is right, Dickey should and almost certainly will get the ball on Opening Day if Johan can’t go.

To read DiComo’s answers to questions about Jenrry Mejia, Andres Torres batting leadoff, Matt Harvey over Zack Wheeler and whether Justin Turner should start over Daniel Murphy, check out his latest mailbag here for MLB.com.