If the New York Yankees are a bank, then Mariano Rivera is a bank robber and Brian Cashman is a frightened hostage.
The Yankees have had a whopping 3 year, $45M offer on the table for about a week now. And still, Rivera is not backing down from his demands of a 4 year contract. This has to be killing Brian Cashman. Cashman has already offered Rivera an annual average salary that is about 33% higher than the next highest paid closer (Billy Wagner, at $10.75M). Surely he must have though that would bring Rivera back to the Bronx. But Rivera knows what he means to the Yankees. Outside of Derek Jeter, Rivera is the symbol of the late 90’s greatness. The Yankee homers that jumped on that bandwagon consider Rivera one of their leaders, and they will not accept his absence from the 2008 roster. And so, knowing that the Yankees can’t afford to lose him, Mariano Rivera continues to hold out and ask for that 4th year, at the age of 38. If he wins, and secures himself 4 years and upwards of $50M, it will be one of the greatest fleeces of this offseason for sure. Stay tuned…
Filed under: New York Yankees | Tagged: Brian Cashman, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera
I am very pleased that the Yankees are giving this type of money to one of the greatest closers of all time. No matter what role Rivera takes on the Yankees going forward, even if he is just riding the bench all 3 yrs, he deserves this simply because of what he has already done for the team and meant to baseball in general. This is a great player that has shown the loyalty and respect to spend his entire career with one team….qualities of professionalism many modern players lack.
Rivera needs to start passing that Purple around… he’s an incredible player, I hope his leadership can help pull the Yankees forward in the future.