Our Man Mo…
This morning, Diane linked to an article Pete Abe wrote about Mariano Rivera. Tyler Kepner also had a piece on Rivera yesterday. I liked this bit:
At 39, Rivera understands that he is close to the end of his career. The statistics do not show it, but his body told him so last season.
“Oh, the end is coming,” Rivera said. “Sooner or later, it’s going to come. That’s why I don’t worry about those things, because it’s going to come. Only God knows when it will come; I don’t. But whatever I have left, I will give you my best.”
I have conflicting feelings about PEDs and seem to change my mind on the subject every few days. Without getting into morality, it does strike me that players, especially older ones, who use drugs to gain an edge, are essentially trying to cheat nature, to cheat time. While I can understand this from a players point-of-view, there is something satisfying about watching a great athlete grow old, watching them compete with diminishing skills, especially when they have a few tricks left (like we saw last year with Mike Mussina).
For the past seven or eight years, I’ve spent more time than any reasonable person should concerned about the health and effectiveness of Mariano Rivera. He’s defied all of my concerns, and yet I’m a greedy Yankee fan at heart–I want more. Who knows how much he’s got left? No matter, I’ll enjoy each and every time I get to watch him pitch, grateful that I’ve been able to root for the kind of sustained greatness that doesn’t come around often, and certainly won’t last much longer.
What is this, 'I Am Legend'? Where is everyone??
As stupid as the saves recohttp://www.bronxbanterblog.com/wordpress/wp-login.php?action=logoutrd may be, I'd love to see Mo somehow stay around long enough to pass Hoffman. As we near the end of Trevor Hoffman's career, you hear the occasional whisper that Hoffman is in Mo's league. This is absurd, and I think Rivera passing Hoffman will end that silly argument once and for all.
Don't know what happened there.
[1] Funny!
To me, there is no present-day Yankee who has meant more to the team than Mo. Facing the end of his career represents a huge transition for the team. I am a hungry fan as well I even tolerate his occasional "goddiness."
http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/turns_out_craig_counsell?utm_source=a-section
Heh heh heh heh.
Speaking of having a few tricks left vis a vis Mo, one word: changeup.
Alex, you don't have to get into this, but I'm curious about your 'conflicting feelings' as to PEDs. Do you want to throw out the nature of what your conflict on the issue is? Is it something like William arguing 'they don't DO any/much good so what is the hysteria?' or are you more broadly conflicted as to 'let them do what they want vs it is cheating'...? Or ...?
I'm just as happy to start watching pitchers and Molinas and not try to have the Banter even more final on this, but I admit you got my interest. (And with ARod's press conference tomorrow we'll be back into it anyhow.)
All this begs the question: What's after Mo? We know no one can take his place, but someone has to try. There is only one obvious candidate, and in a season where you have a rock solid front half of the rotation and nearly 10 guys capable of filling the back half, why not make this the transition year? Like Mo once did for John Wettland...
Do the Yankees and Mo have one more contract in them when his current one expires? Hmmm.....
I don't think PM (Post Mo) needs to be worried about right now. There will be some closers coming up as free agents in the year he retires. Yankees will chase one of them. There's a chance they might find one from within, but given that this is New York, I doubt it. The current assumption is Joba is a starter, and there's no reason to mess around with that, unless injury/durability issues arise
[9] Actually, I think there are two candidates: Melancon and Bruney.
Obviously, there will never be another Mariano Rivera. (Well, 'never' is a long time, but you know.) But as much as we love him, the drop-off might not be too serious a blow to the team. Post-Jorge is what could be apocalyptic. As we saw last year.
I remember there was a segment of fans, after 2007 who said we should let Rivera walk because we had Kyle Farnsworth to close games.
Just seeing that picture of Mo makes me feel better about the game after all this A-Roid stuff. Thanks.
RI,
I'm not sold on Bruney at all. Last year was the first year in his career where he didn't walk a million people. I'd like to see him do that again before I have any confidence in him as closer.
[13] Me too :) I forget who said it but in 25 years when people look back at this Yankee era Mo is going to stand out as the Ruth/Gehrig/Joe D/Mantle/Reggie figure. Looking at his stats from last season..for as good as Papelbon was (and it pains me to say, he was fantastic, especially in the post-season), Mo's cruical stats were lower across the board..at 39yrs old!
I mean that sometimes it really bothers me to hear guys cheating and other times I just expect it and don't really know how to quantify what PEDS really do re: performance. Sometimes I except it, rationalize it, and other times I get annoyed by it all.
[12] ????
You're kidding, right?
No one said that! Who in the fuck would say that?
[14] I think Bruney turned a huge emotional corner last year and really grew up. But, we'll see...
No doubt, Bruney has closer potential. But I'd say he's at the prospect level as far as being a Yankee closer goes. And Melancon is infinitely farther off being a late-game guy.
And, again, they're bursting at the seams with high-potential starters.
The clincher is the way Joba goes after guys and gets pumped up with those big outs. He's got closer written all over him.
It's more of a throwback to the Goose than Mo. But every guy does it in his own way.
Aside from the Yankees using their deep pockets to fill two slots in the rotation and a bat in the middle of the lineup, I think the best offseason move belonged to the Mets. Having two closer-level guys in the bullpen makes a huge difference. When the Yanks were dominant, it was Mo and Wetteland. And there are lots of other examples. The one that comes to mind best is the Mariners in their turn-of-the-century heyday.
But I'm rambling. Joba should setup for Mo.
I've been fortunate to see a lot of great Yankees, but it's Mo I'll sit my grandchildren down to talk about.
In putting his athletic contribution in perspective, you can argue about comparisons. He's the Ruth, the Ford, the Mantle, whatever.
But in terms of character, he is this generation's Gehrig. A long time is going to pass before we all fully appreciate how blessed these years have been.