Despite all the hand wringing about Rivera this season, it's worth pointing out that the Yankees are 82-2 when leading after 8 innings this season. 1 down, 2 to go.
I don't think the Yankees would see it as a windfall. The fallout would be tremendous. The hand wringing is for good reason. If he blows the save and the Yankees win it anyway, that's not so comforting. The whole idea is to have an aura of invincibility in save situations.
Welcome back! Hope everything is good now. Gardner completely proved me wrong this year, and I couldn't be happier. I would still love to see Crawford in pinstripes, but Gardner is really a special talent. And ever since working with Kevin Long, Granderson has become a fantastic hitter. Not that he wasn't a good hitter before, but he couldn't hit lefties to save his own life. Now, he seems to have no problem hitting against anyone. I agree with Buster Olney. After last night (especially the passed ball) the Yankees are going to discuss the future of the catcher position and Jorge's future as a DH. I hope Montero is ready for the bigs! Obviously Rivera isn't young anymore, but on top of that, he pitched a lot of 4+ out saves this year. That's a lot to ask of him, greatness or not. Terrible call, but it breaks even for last year's awful call that went for the Yankees. No more excuses for the Twins. Are you sure about that? I thought Mo blew 3 saves? Or did we come back on one of them? While I agree that the mystique of Mo is significant, I agree with this statement a lot more.
A sweep would be nice, but I think we lose tonight. Take the next two with Hughes and CC. Maybe I'm biased because I have tickets to Sunday's game. Heh.
Mo only had five outings of more than one inning this season. Three of them came on or after August 21st, though. The little spate of blown saves started the day after he threw 2.0 innings in Texas on September 10th. It should be noted, though, last year, Mo had nine appearances of more than one inning. In 2008, he had fifteen. In 2007, he had twelve. In 2006, he had seventeen. Mo was babied this year compared to years past. As he probably should be. But they really weren't asking a lot of him, historically.
You might see both. Although I like Swisher a lot he seems like the kind of player Cashman would trade in a minute. Of course finding money to sign Crawford and Lee might be difficult unless they get Jeter to accept what he is worth instead of what he will want. They are still hurting from giving Posada that extra year. Without that they would be fine.
I'll go as far as to say there's not a snowball's chance in hell that Nick Swisher gets traded. They're not even going to look for the money to sign Crawford. The only way I can see the Yankees even speaking to him is if the Red Sox look like they're going to get him relatively cheaply, and that would only be to drive up the price. Jeter is going to get what he wants. Many people don't want to see that happen, but the vast majority of the "regular" fanbase would revolt if Jeter were "insulted" by an offer. I honestly don't think Posada's deal has any affect on anything the team does financially.
The thing is, there is almost zero market for Jeter anywhere else. Who's going to sign a 37-year-old, average-hitting SS with mediocre defense for multiple years above market value? What's he worth to, say, St. Louis? Or LA? 2/$24M, at most? He just made $180M on his recent contract. He's been amply compensated for his services, so it's not like he's been playing on a team discount. Offer him 3/$45M and he knows it's easily the best deal he's going to get out there. Will he be insulted enough to walk away from $20M more than what he'd get elsewhere? Hell, no.
obviously that's the goal, but part of the key to the Yankees winning the titles was Mariano and his invincibility give me a closer I don't have to worry about first. look at what goes into winning games, not simply who won.
I agree with this. Jeter is not a valuable player at this point, in my opinion. He has value to the Yankees because of his role as captain and leader, his role in the championships, and because fans would be furious if he left. I don't think anyone would pay him eight figures a year aside from the Yankees.
I think you're misunderstanding jonny. Of course we Yankees fans want Mo to appear invincible. Of course that mystique helps later when those same guys are facing similar situations. The point is though, if given the choice between Mariano continuing to seem untouchable or winning the game at all has to be made, you just be happy you won. And that is why Derek Jeter will get a contract he does not deserve.
Part of the key to the Yankees winning their titles was Mariano's ability to successfully close out games, not his ability to appear invincible. Mo's had bad patches before, going all the way back to 2000. People always wondered if he was done. At this point, I'll believe it when I see it. Whether fans will get angry or not is irrelevant. He's not going to go anywhere else because no one else will give him the money the Yankees will offer... but they're not going to offer it out of fear of upsetting the fan base. They'll offer it because he makes them money. And they make him money. It's win/win. If Cashman thought the organization was really better off without him (overall, not just on the field product), he'd say, "Peace out, Jeets," regardless of whether fans get upset.
