The news about Mariano Rivera's season-ending ACL injury is obviously a few days old by now, but that doesn't change the fact that not having that bullpen gate swing open to the strains of "Enter Sandman" will require a little bit of an adjustment. There are also some decisions that have to be made regarding the Yankees' bullpen in his absence.
The biggest of those decisions is obviously who's going to close in Mariano's stead. The two obvious choices were David Robertson and Rafael Soriano. Joe Girardi has tabbed Robertson for the role, at least for now. Robertson has been one of the most dominant relievers in all of baseball since the start of last season. He made the All-Star team last season, and he has a whopping ERA of 0.00 this season, and struck out the side in his debut as closer last night. It's not like picking him is a "bad" decision. But I think it's the wrong one.
The reason why the Yankees got Rafael Soriano was to serve as a "backup" closer to Mariano. In other words, they wanted an insurance policy in case something unthinkable like this actually happened. You didn't bring him in to pitch the eighth for David Robertson. You brought him in to pitch the eighth for Mariano Rivera. But more to the point, Rafael Soriano has experience as a closer. Pitching the ninth inning doesn't phase him in the slightest. Doing it in the AL East won't phase him in the slightest. At least it didn't when he had 45 saves for a Tampa Bay team that won the division in 2010.
Having Soriano pitch the ninth solves the other potential problem I see with having Robertson close. Who pitches the seventh? It wasn't uncommon to see Robertson get more than three outs before handing the ball to Rivera. By taking Robertson out of the eighth-inning role, you're also taking him out of those seventh-inning situations. Now who's going to get you out of those jams? Joba's out until at least the All-Star Break, and he can't be trusted anyway.
One solution that's been suggested is Phil Hughes. I actually like that one. Hughes succeeded in a relief role during the 2009 World Championship season. They need to open up a spot in the rotation when Andy Pettitte comes back, and I think moving Hughes into that setup role will kill two birds with one stone. Don't be surprised to see them get a reliever at the deadline, though. If not sooner.
While it sucks that Mariano is out for the year, I've decided I'm going to try and find a silver lining. In fact, I've found two. The first is that this means Mariano's definitely not going to retire now. Like most people, I was under the assumption that he was going to retire after this season. Not anymore. We all knew that immediately. And it took Mariano less than a day to confirm it. The career of the greatest closer in history isn't going to end with him grabbing his knee in agony on the warning track in Kansas City. No. It's going to end the way it should. With him walking out to the Yankee Stadium mound and picking up one last save by striking out the final batter with that unhittable cutter.
This unthinkable situation will also help prepare us for when Mariano actually does retire. It's a little preview of 2014, when he won't be around and the Yankees will have to figure out the ninth inning. Who knows? Maybe David Robertson will succeed as the Yankees' closer this season. If he does, the trial and error that inevitably would come with the process of finding Mariano's successor would be eliminated. That would actually make all of us a little more comfortable, so in that respect, Mariano's injury might actually be some sort of blessing in disguise (although, I think we can all agree that we'd rather figure it out later).
Obviously this situation isn't ideal. The sight of Mariano Rivera rolling on the ground in agony is about the worst image any Yankees fan can imagine. Well, that nightmare is currently our reality. But it's not the end of the world, either. Did the Yankees' chances of winning the World Series take a hit? Absolutely. Does it mean they can't win it? Absolutely not. The Road to October just got a lot bendier, though. That's for sure.
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