It is rare, but five Cy Young winners in the past started the next season on a different team. Despite having a contract for next season, the New York Mets are seriously considering trading R.A. Dickey if an agreement on an extension can’t be reached.

At 38, Dickey suddenly becomes one of the hottest commodities in baseball. He led the league in Innings played, strikeouts, complete games and shutouts. He finished with a 20-6 record and a 2.73 ERA, averaging 8.9 strikeouts per 9 innings. He was an All-Star for the first time in his 12 year career and eventually a Cy Young award winner.

Now, with “only” $5 million he’s making next year, there’s a good chance he’s going to get traded. The Mets don’t want to, but they can’t seem to be getting the kind of extension deal they want to happen. The Mets are now considering their options, with 7 or 8 teams interested in the right handed pitcher, with the Boston Red Sox probably serving as the biggest interest. However, the Mets want outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. and shortstop Xander Boegarts in exchange for the Cy Young Award winner, something people in Boston aren’t willing to give up on at the moment.

What we’ve tried to say to ourselves is that we have to get back difference-makers. It doesn’t have to be a catcher. It doesn’t have to be an outfielder. It doesn’t have to be anything. But it has to be a difference-maker. Because R.A. is a difference-maker. This is not about making a trade for four players from the Appalachian League.

You have to balance the quality of the player with the potential arrival date of the player, obviously. That’s something we’re trying to do. But it is important for us if we’re going to do something, and I want to emphasize, we may not, if we do something, we want whatever comes back to us to have an impact on us as soon as possible.

There are also other factors involved. It seems half the team in baseball are trying to get their hands on Zach Greinke, and the Mets have confirmed that the development in the Greinke situation may be a deciding factor in how they handle the future with Dicky and the trade possibilities.

Any time you’re looking at a market, you’re looking at options. The more options there are, the more supply, the lower the demand typically. Working in baseball as it typically does, Greinke will have an impact.

The Cleveland Indians are also a team looking for a starting pitcher, with Asdrubal Cabrera and Shin-Soo Choo as their trading chips. Trouble is they probably want more than just a starting pitcher for those two players, even if it’s just one of them on the trading block.