Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos said earlier this offseason that the inclusion of John Buck in the R.A. Dickey trade with the New York Mets was essential because his club needed to shed the catcher's $6 million salary.

The Mets claim that wasn't the case.

New York assistant general manager John Ricco said Tuesday that Buck was part of the trade package from the beginning and not a late throw-in.

Toronto wanted Josh Thole as a potential batterymate for Dickey. That meant the Mets were going to have to go out and get a catcher anyway until Travis d'Arnaud was deemed ready for the majors.

"There were multiple levels," Ricco said. "He mentioned that he wanted to make sure he had somebody to catch the knuckleball. So that was where the catching came in. And then we started thinking, 'Well, if we're going to trade them one or two catchers, because he asked for [Mike] Nickeas as well, it would be good to get a catcher back.' We know we're getting d'Arnaud. Buck was in it pretty much from the beginning. And then there was some talk about how do we work the dollars out.

"Sandy [Alderson] did most of the negotiations on how that all played out, but Buck was in the discussion pretty much from the beginning on the catching level and on the dollars level, because I think they mentioned pretty early on that they would have to move some of his money, if not all of it."