In his latest mailbag, Bryan Hoch discusses the legendary Mariano Rivera and ponders how much longer the Yankees’ 40-year old closer can continue mowing down hitters with his patented cutter. As we all know, immediately after capturing his latest World Series title, Rivera said he would like to pitch for another five years. With free agency on the horizon for Rivera, one wonders whether or not such a statement was true. The Yankees, in my opinion, won’t give him a five or four-year deal after the season is over, as he has shown signs of aging – his velocity is down – and such an investment would just be a financial liability, however, can you really argue with a three-year deal at this point? Performance-wise, you can’t. It’ll be interesting to see how Brian Cashman handles the re-signing – I think I am correct to assume that they will re-sign him – especially with relievers receiving fewer dollars in a depressed market.
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10 Responses to Re-signing Mo
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TIQ IQ
They can sign Mo to a 10 year $300M contract and I would be happy. Whatever Mo wants, Mo gets.
second the notion and motion, go mo….i think he takes 2 years with a player option for a third. he won’t pitch if he can’t perform on a top level, too classy a man
It’s simple: Give Mariano whatever he wants!
10, 20, 30, 50 million??
A Burger King in the bullpen??
Unlimited suply of ‘Xena’ and ‘Baywatch’ DVDs??
If Mo wants it, Mo gets it!
I actually disagree with the previous two posters. Not on the love of Mo. I just don’t agree with paying for a lifetime achievement award. According to Fangraphs, since 2002 he has been paid 77 million and worth 70. Sure, you need Mo. Yes, we all want him. That said, it’s not like the Yankees have given him minimum wage to this point. Sign him to a 2 year deal for 10 million a year AFTER he proves this year that he can continue dominating. I know this is blasphomey, and that I will probably get my head bitten off, but I just think we need to look at this objectively. Mariano has been outstanding. Mariano has been PAID outstanding. Another option I would do is give him 15 million a year on one year deals, and let him continue that way until he sucks.
I think I’m with you on this one, Jay. No need to give into Mo’s demands entirely. That’s just frivolous. It is true, though, that he might be able to continue pitching until he’s 45. His velocity was down but he made up for it by throwing the cutter almost exclusively in 2009. The movement on it is good enough to keep him in pinstripes for years. It’s best to be cautious, though, and go with shorter deals.
What he said.
2 years and 30ish mil sounds about right to me. You have to consider the market for his services, NOBODY else will come near that. I can’t even imagine another team bidding on him. He’s worth more to the Yanks than he is to anyone else.
Of course we don’t need to build a Burger King in th bullpen! lol
But c’mon… is he really gonna ask for much more than he makes now? Is he really gonna ask for a 5 year deal?
He might, but it’s just like Damon asking for 15 million: we all know it’s not for real.
Sign him to 2, maybe 3 years and just get the whole discussion over with.
LOL, obviously I knew you were being facetious. That said, there is no need to extend him as there is no reason to extend Jeter right now. If a career threatening injury occurs before the end of a contract, you thank your stars that it happened before you guaranteed millions more. I have no problem paying Mo, and as Chris said Mo’s cutter was almost his exclusive pitch. I just think a one year deal, or two for less then he got per year last year, is all you should do. Mo very well may be able to pitch until he is 50. The LIKELIHOOD though is not great, and a team never should have dead contract weight, whether it’s 1 million or 100 million. Obviously, this happens sometimes. With the possibility that they may be overpaying ARod and Jeter though in 3 or 4 years, and Posada next year possibly, every penny they can keep fluid is like gold.
*** I don’t THINK that all those contracts will be deadweight, but there is a chance it happens
Keep it year-to-year with Mo. When it goes … and it will go … Yankees fans do not want to be in the beginning/ middle of an expensive multi-yr deal.
That would be team-friendly, but Mo has been VERY tough to negotiate with over the years. Went FA last time around and made some tough comments about how the negotiations went. There won’t be any hometown discounts with Mo, he wants every dime he can get.
He certainly deserves it, but it’s not about that. It’s about what the market will bear for his services. If he actually left the Yanks, the best he could do would probably be around 2-25. Maybe. In this depressed market, even that might be generous.