The title of R. A. Dickey’s memoir is “Wherever I Wind Up,” a nod to his dancing knuckleball and itinerant pitching career. He wrote the book before he won the National League Cy Young Award this year, a feat that should have answered the question of where his journey would lead.

Leave it to the Mets to botch something easy, like Luis Castillo dropping a pop-up with two outs in the ninth. When the best pitcher in the National League wants to stay with you for three more years, at a steep discount, you let him stay. Why is this so complicated?

By trading Dickey to the Toronto Blue Jays, pending the negotiation of a contract extension, the Mets essentially told their fans that they do not expect to contend for the next three years. The Mets have already staggered through four consecutive losing seasons, three shy of the franchise record. Now the wait to be relevant drags on.

Say this for General Manager Sandy Alderson: he has guts and conviction. When Alderson came to the Mets in October 2010, with Commissioner Bud Selig’s encouragement, he was charged with reviving a team bleeding cash and saddled with overpaid, decaying players. He was bound not by sentiment, only by a duty to make the team better for the future.