River Avenue Blues

River Ave. Blues » Mariano Rivera » Page 36

Three years, $40 million in Mo’s “ballpark”

by 22 Comments

Mark Feinsand gives us a quick update on Mo and Posada. I found something particularly interesting:

Mariano Rivera also figures to test the market, as teams can begin talking money with all free agents on Tuesday. But unlike Posada, Rivera has sat down face-to-face with the Yankees, as the two sides expressed a mutual desire to continue their relationship. The Yankees have offered Rivera a three-year deal worth $40 million, which is in the closer’s ballpark.

If another club comes within $5 million of that offer, I’ll be shocked. Three years and $40 million? I think it’s kind of insulting that Mo hasn’t already accepted. No other team is going to pay $13.3 million per season for a 38-year-old closer who would be 41 at the end of the deal. Unless they’re run by lunatics and think that Mo’s 70 innings are going to get them over the hump.

Mo meets with Yanks

by 19 Comments

Mark Feinsand has the word: The Yankees met with Mariano Rivera and his agent today at Legends Field:

When asked if he was meeting with the Yankees, Rivera said, “Yeah. We have to see something.” Rivera declined further comment, telling reporters he would elaborate on his way out of the ballpark.

Rivera was one of five Yankees to file for free agency on Monday, the first day players were allowed to do so. The Yankees are expected to offer Rivera a three-year deal worth approximately $40 million.

No word on Mo’s comment after the meeting. But I think it would be tough for him to turn down that kind of deal.

Moving forward: Posada, Mo on the horizon

by 21 Comments

Now that A-Rod is gone, it’s time to assess the rest of the Yankees’ increasingly painful situation. We’ll go issue-by-issue, so that we don’t get inundated as we have in the past.

First up: Mo and Posada.

Supposedly, the Yankees are prepared to offer them both a boatload of money. However, the Yankees shouldn’t be opening the checkbook so hastily. They should consider the ramifications of locking up both vets to long-term deals.

Posada should get no more than a three-year deal. A fourth would be a deal-breaker for me. Now, many will think I’m nuts. The Yankees have these vast financial resources, and if they’re not using them on A-Rod, they might as well use them on Posada, right? Maybe.

Signing him to a four-year deal would mean he’d be paid probably $15 million per year through the age of 41. That doesn’t sound too attractive. But, as many have pointed out, the Yankees can afford a $15 million albatross, especially if he produces over the next two years (so that might be a $30 million albatross). Plus, having Jorge around to break in any future catcher — whether that be Pilittere, Cervelli, Romine, or Montero — would be invaluable.

The question, though, is whether you can make a $15 million player a part-time player, a la Joe Girardi when Jorge was breaking in. Or would the Yankees be forced to play Jorge full time — either by upper management not wanting to see its investment on the bench, or by a manager refusing to bench a veteran? That’s a question you must answer to some degree before offering Jorge more than three years.

Mo, on the other hand, I can see blowing the cash on. At this point in his career, I can’t think of a better person to have pitch the ninth inning. Why? Because I’m an enormous advocate of the “bullpen ace.” This isn’t a guy you save and deploy in the ninth inning. It’s the guy you bring into the seventh inning with runners on first and third and one out. He’s the guy who gets you out of big jams, so that you can get to the closer. Basically, it’s the same idea as the “bridge to Mo,” except the pitcher isn’t necessarily relegated to the 7th or 8th inning.

Problem: we don’t have that bullpen ace yet. But with Humberto Sanchez, J.B. Cox, and Mark Melancon coming back from elbow surgery, we might find that “bullpen ace” by 2009. Having Mo as the 9th inning at that point would be invaluable.

What do you guys think? Break the bank for Mo and Po? Or make reasonable offers (and by reasonable, I mean deals longer than one year in length) and if they don’t like it, let them walk?

Three years ago, Rivera sang a different tune

by 10 Comments

In the back of my mind, something about Mariano Rivera’s recent comments about his contract bugged me, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. But this morning, it dawned on me that Rivera has changed his position a bit on the Yankees over the last few years.

Three years ago, when he negotiated his current contract extension, Mariano Rivera had nothing but praise for the Yankees. In this article in The Times from 2004, Rivera expressed his desires to remain in pinstripes. ”I don’t need to [be a free agent],” he said. ”This is where my house is. I’d have to find another house. This has been home.”

This wasn’t the first time Rivera had expressed these feelings. In 2001, he basically said the same thing, and in both 2001 and 2004, he hinted that he would probably pitch only until 2007. Well, 2007 has finally rolled around, and Rivera is feeling restless. He is, for the first time in his career, inching toward free agency, and numerous other teams could use a Mariano Rivera in their bullpen. As Buster Olney might opine, Mariano Rivera is a good fit for many, many teams.

So I wonder what’s changed in three years. It’s possible that Rivera is using his own impending free agency as leverage to help Joe Torre. Rivera could have no intention of leaving the Yankees, the organization he’s been with since 1990. Or it could be something else.

Maybe Mo is tired of the speculation surrounding his effectiveness and his elbow. Maybe he’s tired of the three-ring circus in the Bronx. Maybe he was dismayed to see his friend Bernie Williams so unceremoniously dumped last year and wants the team to recognize and honor those who have contributed for a decade or more to a great run.

Either way, something about the Yankees has affected Rivera since he last re-upped with the team. Hopefully, that something won’t be a deal-breaker this time around.

Yanks replaying 2003 Andy Pettitte negotiations with Rivera

by 20 Comments

When Andy Pettitte left New York after 2003, two schools of though prevailed. The first was that the Yankees didn’t make much of an effort to sign him to a contract extension during 2003 because they assumed he would never leave New York. The second was that Pettitte’s elbow, long a cause for concern, had pushed the Yankees beyond the point where they would consider signing Pettitte, but the team didn’t want to insult him by saying so.

Now, four years later, a similar negotiation – or lack thereof – is under way in the Bronx between the Yankees, but the stakes are bigger. The contract in question does not belong to Andy Pettitte but rather to Mariano Rivera, the Yankees’ stalwart closer and future Hall of Famer.

Based on a few reports – such as this one from Bryan Hoch at MLB.com – Mariano Rivera claims that he will test free agency. But more damning is his indictment of the Yankees. Hoch writes:

Rivera said he was not sure if the Yankees were his first choice. He seemed stung by the fact that he and his agent, Fernando Cuza, campaigned the Yankees for a contract extension in Spring Training but were rebuffed. Now, Rivera said, the Yankees are just one of 30 teams who have a fair shot at his services for 2008 and probably 2009.

“I’m going to be open to hear all offers,” Rivera said. “The Yankees had their opportunity and didn’t do nothing with it. I’m going to wait.”

Now, while this may just be a negotiating tactic Rivera and Cuza are using to leverage the Yankees, it is more than a little disconcerting to hear Rivera issue such a statement. Again, the Yankees have backed themselves into a situation where they think they can easily re-sign Rivera and may end up losing out. A lot of competitive teams – the Phillies and Cubs come to mind – could use a reliever of Rivera’s caliber and could afford him too.

Furthremore, the Joe Torre job watch comes into play here too. According to reports from the clubhouse, Rivera said today that Joe’s return could affect where he ends up. In other words, if Torre comes back, Rivera may stay. If Torre goes, Rivera may at least test the free agency waters and give the Yankees and their fans a little scare.

We could debate for hours whether or not players should start dictating management and personnel issues to the media. But Joe Torre is a factor with Rivera, and his return is probably a factor in the Jorge Posada negotiations as well. Managerial loyalty is just life in baseball, and Rivera, who was entrusted by Joe to pitch high-leverage innings in 1996 after a disappointing 1995 rookie season, owes a lot to Torre.

I don’t know why the Yankees aren’t being more aggressive with Rivera. Despite his stellar numbers this year – 74 K and 12 BB in 71.1 IP – he wasn’t as dominant as he had been in the past. His location and velocity were off at numerous times during the season, and he didn’t seem to have it as often as he has in the past.

Maybe the Yankees are worried about the elbow that pushed Rivera out of service at the end of 2006. Maybe they see a reliever quietly losing his effectiveness. But no matter what, I think the Yankees need to re-sign Rivera. Unless they’re willing to move Joba into the closer role, Rivera should come back to the Yankees.

Their corps of potential closers – and there are a lot of them – are still a year or two away from the Bronx. By the time Rivera’s ready to retire, they should have an internal replacement or two waiting in the wings. But for now, the Yankees need the Sandman, and I would hate to see them blow these negotiations.

You can’t please all of the people all of the time

by 27 Comments

Briefly on tonight’s game: With a very shaky Kyle Farnsworth on the mound — you jinxed him, Mike — Torre turned to Mariano Rivera to get a one-out save. Rivera gave up an RBI to Aubrey Huff before striking out Melvin Mora, the potential tying run, to end the game. In the 9th, Torre had two choices: Use someone else in a four-run game to give Rivera the night off or go with the best available option to nail down the save.

If Torre goes with someone else and that someone else coughs up the lead, Torre gets roasted. If Torre goes with Rivera in a sheer sign of desperation and overuses his best reliever some more, Torre get roasted. So it’s a no-win situation in a game that adds another tally to the Yanks’ win column.

I pose the question to you then: What do you do in the 9th inning? Do you go with Rivera even after he threw 29 pitches the night before or do you turn the ball over to one of the other guys in the pen, say Ross Ohlendorf or Chris Britton, and hope they can retire someone from the bottom of the Orioles’ lineup without giving up four runs?

Rivera not available again tonight

by 9 Comments

According to reports from the Yankee clubhouse, Joe Torre will not use Mariano Rivera tonight. While the Yanks’ closer and manager insist that number 42 is a paragon of health, this certainly raises my eyebrows. Last year around now, Rivera missed a month with a mysterious elbow injury that started with a few days’ extra rest after a few ineffective appearances by the Sandman. Is history repeating itself?