Rivera Carted Off the Field with a Knee Injury

6 Responses to Rivera Carted Off the Field with a Knee Injury

1. T.O. Chris says:

   May 3, 2012 at 9:40 pm

   I’ve always hated Mo shagging balls at this stage in his career, he could simply turn wrong and be gone a season. Hopefully Soriano and Robertson are ready to pick up the slack

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2. T.O. Chris says:

   May 3, 2012 at 11:48 pm

   Well it’s official, Rivera has a torn knee ligament. Not the way I wanted to see his career end, but end it has, now let’s hope Soriano can fill in. I’m sure some people will want Robertson to be handed the closer job but I’d rather they at least try Soriano first. He’s done that before and maybe being given the closers role will really motivate him in a way he hasn’t been since Tampa.

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   • Reggie C. says:

     May 4, 2012 at 12:10 am

     I’d prefer Robertson to put out the fires anyway so I do agree. I don’t think that’s how it’ll play out. Robertson has inarguably been the best non closer reliever in the majors for over a season.

     I really hope the AcL tear doesnt end MO’s career. Not like this …

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     • T.O. Chris says:

       May 4, 2012 at 12:18 am

       I don’t see how it doesn’t. A torn ACL means he won’t be able to pitch again until next year, if he’s already decided he wanted to retire after this season that would make it next to impossible to come back from. Guys like that retire because they are done with all the preperation that goes into playing the game, not because they are done with the games themselves. The amount of rehab he would have to do just to come back 70-80% for next year would be way more work than it would take simply to play another season under regular circumstances. Not to mention that you don’t come back 100%, or as close to it as you’ll ever get, until year 2 after the surgery. So he’d in theory be working that hard to be a fraction of what he was coming into this season.

       The only way this isn’t the end imo is if he wants to play another 2 years, which it didn’t even sound like he wanted to play next season let alone a full season after that. If he didn’t want to play at full health next year already it’d be hard to want to play at less than that.

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3. Duh Innings says:

   May 4, 2012 at 2:06 am

   If it’s any consolation:

   …then go to the 1994-96 Yankees for who closed games for them.

   Steve Farr posted a 2.19 ERA with 23 saves for a 71-win 1991 Yankees team then a 1.56 ERA with 30 saves for a 76-win 1992 Yankees team, and the 1993 Yankees still won 88 games despite their closer Farr posting a 4.21 ERA (he did collect 25 saves.) ‘Can’t find his success rate as Baseball Reference doesn’t record blown saves / save opportunities.

   The question is: Will D-Rob or whoever the closer is be closer to ’92 Farr or ’93 Farr? We have to hope ’92 Farr. Anyone who wants to run “Farr had far less pressure than the 2012 Yankees post-Mo closer will have, BS cuz I could run everyone expects whoever to fail or not be anywhere close to being as good as Mo and no one including the Yankees expects him to be, so he’ll go for broke pressure-free.

   Of course, the REAL question will be “How close will D-Rob be to being Mo?” to which the answer should be “Don’t even compare him to Mo.” Compare D-Rob to Farr and other guys not named Mariano Rivera as it’s unfair and pointless.

   Steve Howe, Bob Wickman, and Xavier Hernandez saved 15, 6, and 6 games respectively, with even a young Sterling Hitchcock and an old, done Jeff Reardon chipping in with 2 saves a piece for the 1994 Yanks who finished first albeit in a strike-shortened season despite having no definitive closer.

   Then came John Wetteland in 1995-96, so it’s not like the Yanks haven’t had competent closers before Mo, it’s just been a loooong time since we’ve seen someone else close. Yes, I know ’96 Wetteland had ’96 Mo, but we’re talking closers here, not setup men. If D-Rob does his job as the closer but Sori/Wade/whoever blow as setup men, that’s not on D-Rob.

   We have to realize that a guy doesn’t have to be Mo or even anywhere close to being Mo to get it done / help win it all. Remember Braden Looper? He was a 3.68 ERA with 28 saves closer for the team that beat the Yanks in the 2003 World Series then helped the 83-win St.Louis Cardinals win the 2006 World Series as middle reliever performing about the same (3.57 ERA.) Granted Looper was 9.82 ERA AWFUL in the ’03 WS and nondescript in the ’06 WS but he helped the Marlins and Cardinals get there.

   No one will (ever) be as good as or better than Mo, at least not in our lifetimes, that’s a given, but look at it like this:

   We get to see the Yankees’ life after Mo a little less than a year sooner than we expected and Mo go on the comeback trail for 2013 as I can’t see him retiring from this unless he absolutely can’t do it anymore. And who’s to say if he comes back in 2013 be it the first game after the All-Star Break or he last game of the season or whatever it doesn’t compel him to come back in 2014? Look at Jamie Moyer. ‘Dude took off a year then came back at age 49. Granted he took off not got knocked out for the season in a horrific, freakish way, but if he can come back at age 49, I think Mo could at a younger age (albeit an old one.) Mo has the mental fortitude and inner calm to.

   I’m gonna go out on a limb and say D-Rob (if he is made the closer) is better than all those aforementioned pre-Mo guys including ’93 Farr save Wetteland, he could be as good as Wettleland, and I think D-Rob, Sori, Wade, and maybe small doses of Aardsma and Chamberlain if they can come back are better than the ’94 Yankees closer by committee. The Yanks still have a better closer than Red Sox and I think D-Rob could be better than Andrew Bailey and certainly Alfredo Aceves. He already is cuz he’s pitching and Bailey isn’t.

   The Yanks could move Hughes to the pen and see if he can help out close games and perhaps he thrives considering he is a two-pitch pitcher.

   NO TRADING FOR A CLOSER!!! The Yanks don’t need one much less need teams holding the Yanks for ransom. They have a guy with closer experience in Soriano and D-Rob has been under Mo’s tutelage for over four years now, has seen The Best There Ever Was/Will Be do the job and I really think Mo has rubbed off on him cuz D-Rob has grown immensely as not only a pitcher but as a person e.g. D-Rob’s High Socks For Hope Foundation I donated $30 to. Practically speaking, D-Rob costs only $1.6M and would still cost $11.8M less than 2012 Mo even if his salary doubles for 2013 (Mo’s $15M for 2012 salary – D-Rob’s $3.2M salary for 2013 if he was paid that.) Again, they could have Hughes and possibly Aardsma and/or Chamberlain pitch in. Hopefully this makes the rest of the bullpen tougher and stronger.

   Mo will be back next year even if it means he comes back in July, August, or September, and you better believe he will be on the Yankees postseason roster at the deadline it has to be set if he comes back and doesn’t throw a single pitch in a regular season game before that deadline. Like someone / many have said, no way he goes out like this.

   If anything, the 2012 Yanks should not panic, they should go for broke as they have nothing to lose. Perhaps this will help them in some weird way. If they don’t make the postseason, win the wildcard game, or get past the first round they could say it’s cuz they lost Mo on May 3rd. That sounds like an excuse, but that’s a pretty damn valid one considering what Mo has done for the Yanks since 1996. They have to look at themselves as overpaid underdogs. I don’t ever want to hear “The Yanks buy championships” again shit if they don’t make the postseason or they lose the wildcard game because all the money in the world means jack when you don’t have a closer who can get it done or one who can like Mo.

   Whoever the Yankees closer is has to go for broke and be himself, pitcher-wise. He should not think “I’m not Mo” or “I’m not Mo, I’m me.”, he should think “I’M ME AND PROUD OF IT. I’M THE MAN. I WILL GET IT DONE.”, say that in the mirror before every game, then get it done, no “I’ll do my best” crap.

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4. Tom Zig says:

   May 4, 2012 at 2:18 am

   This is awful. What a terrible day.

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