SMILES AHEAD: It’s not any one thing that makes retiring closer Mariano Rivera the irreplaceable Yankee, writes columnist Joel Sherman, but rather a peerless blend of effectiveness, durability, implacable confidence and clubhouse steadiness for his successor to try to imitate. (
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TAMPA — He is the “irreplaceable” Yankee, yet Mariano Rivera was replaced pretty effectively last year.
Rafael Soriano delivered 42 saves and a 2.26 ERA and was arguably the second-best closer in the American League behind the Rays’ Fernando Rodney.
Yet, when Rivera announced he was retiring after this season, the sentiment repeated and repeated and repeated was there never will be another Rivera. And I think that is the correct representation.
Rivera might be replaceable in any single year. But, as Derek Jeter said, “good luck finding someone who can do it for 17 or 18 years. Maybe you will, but you know, good luck.”
What makes Rivera unique isn’t one season. One season is replaceable. It is all of the seasons. His ERA from 1996-99 was 1.95, from 2000-03 was 2.37, from 2004-07 was 2.05 and from 2008-12 was 1.72. And, of course, he is the greatest postseason performer ever.
He also is among the most durable relievers in history. His 14 seasons of 60 or more appearances is a record. He has 141 postseason innings on top of that — the equivalent of two more seasons.
But it is something harder to quantify that has differentiated Rivera from his peers, made him stand apart. Every team wants to get to its closer because it signifies a late lead. However, the Yankees’ entire psyche has been built around handing games to Rivera. As his catcher, coach and now manager, Joe Girardi says he has mentally ticked off how many outs until Enter Sandman.
That has been accentuated in the playoffs, where Rivera has 31 saves of four outs or more, including 14 saves and six wins when he pitches at least two innings.
But, if anything, Rivera’s presence and personality mean more when he actually blows a save. Failure can rattle a pitcher (especially in New York or the playoffs) then infect a whole team. However, when Rivera fails his self-assurance never wavers and, because of that, neither does the Yankees’. They don’t believe a failure on Monday has anything to do with Tuesday.
“Brad Lidge was my closer in Houston [from 2004-06],” Andy Pettitte said. “Brad Lidge was a great closer, but he could get shaken a little bit. This guy [Rivera] doesn’t get shaken.”
This is why I think it is kind of silly to imagine who is going to be the Yankees closer moving forward, to act like this is not only Rivera’s farewell but an audition for his replacement. Because the Yankees almost certainly will be like every other team — in a year-by-year proposition when it comes to the ninth inning.
Just look at the division for direction. Rivera led the Yankees in saves for 15 straight seasons from 1997-2011. Baltimore had 11 different relievers lead it in saves in the same span, Tampa Bay (which didn’t even exist until 1998) and Toronto both had 10 and Boston eight. So 40 men led AL East teams in saves from 1997-2011, Rivera for the Yankees and 39 others elsewhere.
“No one person is ever saving 600 [actually 608] in their career, 40 more in the playoffs [actually 42] and doing it with his calm and confidence where you have no idea if it is Game 1 of the season or Game 7 of the World Series,” Yankees bullpen coach Mike Harkey said. “That is why you don’t replace him. You only hope to find a stopgap.”
It will be interesting to see what category the Yankees favor even to begin the stopgap process. When it has come to succeeding dynastic pieces, to date, the Yankees have favored proven commodities. Girardi only had one year of managing experience when he took over for Joe Torre, but he had been the NL Manager of the Year for the Marlins and had coached and played in New York under Torre.
Johnny Damon succeeded Bernie Williams, Russell Martin followed Jorge Posada and Jason Giambi took over for Tino Martinez. Soriano had 90 saves, including an AL-high 45 in 2010, before filling in last year. Joel Hanrahan and Rodney are slated to be free agents after the season, as examples of experienced possibilities.
But also remember Rivera was John Wetteland’s setup man before ascending, so perhaps that puts David Robertson or Joba Chamberlain in play. Or maybe the Yankees will turn to a kid like fastball-changeup specialist Jose Ramirez if his slider never develops enough for him to start — Rivera was a failed starter, after all. A youngster may get more leeway from the “Rivera wouldn’t have blown that save” crowd.
“All I know is it has to be someone who is good,” pitching coach Larry Rothschild said. “Because you are replacing an icon. You are replacing someone who has done things in the game that may never be done again. You are replacing someone who is basically irreplaceable.”