Rivera Back to Yankees 3/45 million

[PeaveyFury]

Per ESPN, Rivera is expected to accept the Yankee's 3 year, $45 million dollar contract offer:

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3118286

[endaround]

The Yankees are trying to be the new Giants.

[Brian the Automator]

In fairness, Rivera's still a very solid reliever, but yeah, they overpaid for him. I wonder if the money would have been better spent on Coco. Of course, they would have had to give up their first rounder as well.

[Tbadder]

How can the Yankees be so stupid? Don't they realize this guy is getting ready to crash and burn. Seems like a huge waste of money. For the same dollars spread over an extra year they coulda had Cordero.

[Brewtacular]

No way the Yanks should have went after Coco. How would some of those meltdowns played in NYC? The media there would eat him apart. There is something to the notion of being able to play in NY.

[crewcrazy]

The difference between Cordero and Rivera is that Yankees fans have it in their heads that Rivera is the greatest closer of all-time, so whenever he blows a save, it's never his fault. The Yankees are basically trying to avoid ticking off their massive casual fanbase by keeping guys like Rivera and Posada after botching the Joe Torre situation so badly.

 

I don't think the Yankees are planning to use Rivera as their closer past this year, anyway. They could go to using Joba Chamberlain as a closer if need be, or just wait until Joe Nathan hits free agency next year and give him a huge contract.

[brettac1]

I would hope (though I'm not really a Yankees fan) that now Chamberlain will go into the rotation, where he belongs. The guy's got three pitches, it's a waste to use him in the pen in the future. They just had him there this season to limit his innings, but then he was great, so he suddenly came to be known as a closer of the future on ESPN, etc.

 

As far as I concerned, the Sox are wasting Papelbon, too. I can never understand the idea of taking a guy who can throw you 200+ excellent innings and saying "screw it, let's have him throw 55-60 instead!". It's one thing when a guy has one pitch like Rivera has, as opposed to having a full starter's repertoire like Chamberlain and Papelbon.

[Fatter than Joey]

The difference between Cordero and Rivera is that Yankees fans have it in their heads that Rivera is the greatest closer of all-time, so whenever he blows a save, it's never his fault. The Yankees are basically trying to avoid ticking off their massive casual fanbase by keeping guys like Rivera and Posada after botching the Joe Torre situation so badly.

 

This was my take as well -- the money really isn't the issue -- They will sell more Rivera jerseys than CoCo jerseys, etc. plus they know

Rivera can pitch in NY.

 

It sends a lot of warm fuzzies to their fanbase.

[Hammer]

I still wouldn't count the Yanks out as a destination for CoCo. They have the money, the bosses are pissed and their pitching was a big problem. It still makes sense...

[Brian the Automator]

Part of what goes into the value of the contract is Rivera ending his career in a Yankee uniform, and that's worth dollars, even if it doesn't translate into on-the-field success.

[twobrewers]

Part of what goes into the value of the contract is Rivera ending his career in a Yankee uniform, and that's worth dollars, even if it doesn't translate into on-the-field success.

Exactly. It was kind of an odd negotiation. The Yankees weren't really negotiating against anyone else. Noone else was going to pay 3/45 Million. (Or even moreso, add a 4th year and give up draft picks for Rivera!)

 

But just like Posada, Rivera is a "Yankee". They needed to keep him so he could finish his career there and become a Yankee icon. Signing and keeping players like Posada and Rivera for their entire career is part of what makes the Yankees the Yankees.

[Big Reed]

sometimes it's nice to see a team have some loyalty to it's players and also its fans. Rivera will be a hall of fame inductee. it's nice to see he will go in having played his entire career as a yankee. As far as money goes, Rivera wanted a 4 year contract and the yankees were able to sign him to only three. They saved $15 million which they will probably spend on somebody else.

 

Looking at Rivera's stats, it's hard to believe he had only 30 saves. he only had 74 Kos in 72 innings wit h a whopping a whopping 12 walks and his ERA balooned up to 3. 15! he even blew 4 saves, although 2 of those blown saves were in the first week of the season. And 2 people stole bases o n him, and he actually allowed 7 inherited runners on base to score. I guess he's entitled to one bad season.

 

Fortunately, the Yankees have Chamberlain to take over in 2 years.

[Brian the Automator]

Exactly. It was kind of an odd negotiation. The Yankees weren't really negotiating against anyone else. Noone else was going to pay 3/45 Million. (Or even moreso, add a 4th year and give up draft picks for Rivera!)

 

But just like Posada, Rivera is a "Yankee". They needed to keep him so he could finish his career there and become a Yankee icon. Signing and keeping players like Posada and Rivera for their entire career is part of what makes the Yankees the Yankees.

Worse yet, you don't want to run the risk that Rivera lands with some team for 5 years and goes into the HOF wearing another team's cap.

 

[TooLiveBrew]

Chamberlin's a SP, that's been the plan with him from day one. The Steinbrenners have said this down the stretch this past season and repeatedly in the offseason. He was in the bullpen because they desparately needed help in 2007, and the Yankees don't even know what "Pre-arbitration years" means.

 

Fwiw, iirc Papelbon was the one that wanted him pitching out of the bullpen.

[mothershipconnection]

I wonder if the money would have been better spent on Coco. Of course, they would have had to give up their first rounder as well.

 

But if they didn't sign Rivera they would have gotten a first rounder for letting him walk and potentially had either a wash or an upgrade by giving up their pick for Coco and getting a better one if a team with a better pick signed Rivera.