Take a step back. Don’t look in the present, where Mariano Rivera is hurt and Derek Jeter is spending the early season challenging .400. Don’t project forward what either fact might mean to this Yankees season.
No, take that step back. Look at the big picture. Think perspective.
Consider those two guys walked into the Yankees’ lives just about simultaneously, both getting their major league cups of coffee in 1995 and becoming cornerstones of a dynasty a year later.
No, really, think about it. The all-time saves leader and the shortstop — a guy who has us again, at the least, contemplating if he can take a run at 4,000 hits and Pete Rose — arrived in the same place at the same time. We are talking about arguably two of the best 50 players ever? The chances of them debuting within six days of each other for the same team are, what, one in a million? Two million? More?
Now let’s make it more unfathomable. That 1995 season also was the debut campaign for Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada. They are not obvious Hall of Famers like Rivera and Jeter, but Pettitte and Posada are borderline guys who are going to make voters think.
Which makes me think: Has any organization in any sport ever premiered four players in one season as good as the 1995 Yankees did with Rivera, Jeter, Pettitte and Posada? My email address is at the bottom of this column. Really, I would love to hear your thoughts.
My thought is that more than George Steinbrenner’s wallet or demanding ways or any other element, the quick rise and enduring brilliance of that quartet was the engine of a Yankees dynasty. We are talking two middle-of-the-diamond difference-makers, a top-of-the-rotation lefty and the greatest closer ever. Really, take a step back and think about that.
Because it was one of my first thoughts this week when Rivera crumpled at Kauffman Stadium. I stepped back from the troubling images happening in real time and the problems ahead for the Yankees and marveled at what a long, amazing run it has been. Rivera and Jeter both showed up in May 1995 and there they were, still together — still great — in May 2012. Well, until now, when maybe we have seen the last of Rivera.
Honoring his indomitable persona, Rivera has pledged to return from his torn ACL to pitch again, but probably not until next year. Here are some thoughts as he exits, at least for a little while:
* If Rivera does not make it back, he will be up for the Hall of Fame in the Class of 2018. At this moment no one has been voted in unanimously. The record is 98.84 percent of the vote by Tom Seaver. Maybe someone between now and Rivera’s eligibility who was unquestionably great and not associated with steroids — someone like, say, Greg Maddux — will break Seaver’s record or go in unanimously.
My hunch is there always will be a contrarian or two who will not allow a unanimous vote. But, at this moment, there is no reason not to unanimously put in Rivera, the greatest closer in history and, arguably, the greatest postseason performer ever.
* Joba Chamberlain’s spring training trampoline mishap now looms as a larger
issue. He was throwing so well in spring in his recovery from Tommy John surgery that the Yankees believed he definitely would help the bullpen no later than June 1, though Chamberlain believed he could be ready a lot sooner than that.
At that point, it felt like overkill. But with Rivera down, it would be easier to slide Rafael Soriano and David Robertson to the eighth and ninth innings if Chamberlain were around to pitch the seventh.
So this also puts a spotlight anew on the decision that led to Chamberlain fracturing his right ankle. Chamberlain defiantly said he did not question his choices, citing being a good dad to his 5-year-old, Karter. But it is possible to be a good dad without amping up the risk, especially when your body is your livelihood, and especially when you are rehabbing from an elbow injury. In retrospect, that decision is hurting the Yankees more than initially thought.
* Soriano controls a $13 million player option for next year. If he were to get an opportunity to close in Rivera’s stead and thrive, it could move him and his agent, Scott Boras, to at least contemplate going into the market to try to get a long-term deal.
Robertson also is in an interesting position to impact his long-term
finances. He is making $1.6 million this year after being eligible for arbitration for the first time. Obviously, his payday next year will be much higher if he is a successful closer rather than a setup man — even if he were to return to be Rivera’s setup man again next year.
He can be a free agent after the 2014 season. One way the Yankees envisioned honoring their vow to get under the $189 million luxury tax threshold in 2014 was to have Rivera, who makes $15 million annually, retire before then. But if Robertson can handle closing, do the Yankees pro-actively try to sign him to a multi-year deal to: a) control a pitcher they want long term; and b) keep the annual value of his contract lower for luxury-tax purposes?
* Conversely, the spate of 2012 closer injuries could convince the Yankees that long-term dollars for that job is not money well spent. Before Rivera’s injury, Ryan Madson, Joakim Soria and Brian Wilson already were lost for the season — all needing Tommy John surgery. Andrew Bailey, Kyle Farnsworth and Drew Storen have yet to pitch this year and have no set date for return, and Sergio Santos is now on the disabled list as well. Meanwhile, Heath Bell has been atrocious since being signed for three-years at $27 million by Miami, and Carlos Marmol and Jordan Walden also have been futile.
* What is represented by 57 games, 81 1⁄3 innings, 304 batters and 1,140 pitches? That would be the amounts produced by Rivera since he last gave up a postseason homer. Jay Payton hit a 1-1 pitch in Game 2 of the 2000 World Series for a three-run homer that drew the Mets within 6-5. Rivera struck out the next batter, Kurt Abbott, on three pitches to seal the game.
Those were the first three of the 1,140 pitches since that Rivera delivered. That covers more than a decade without yielding another postseason homer under the most pressure and against the best opponents that the sport has to offer.
If this is, indeed, the end for Rivera, just chalk up that 57-game streak with DiMaggio’s 56-game streak as almost certain never to be broken.
joel.sherman@nypost.com