Mariano Rivera To Test The Market

As you know, Joe Torre's rejection of the Yankees' weak offer may influence the thinking of Mariano Rivera.  The Journal News' Peter Abraham has more on that angle:

Just spoke to somebody I know who is tight with Mariano Rivera. He said that Mo is more determined than ever to test the market after the developments of today.  Mo’s comment: “The Yankees are one of 30 teams now.”

Hank Steinbrenner has insisted Joba Chamberlain spend 2008 as a starter, heightening the Yankees' need to make the best offer to Rivera.  Ultimately I think they will.  The guess from Jon Heyman was two years, $26MM plus an option year for 2010 for Rivera.  He could probably get three years guaranteed on the open market.

Rivera doesn't think he could bear to put on a Red Sox uniform, so maybe the Yankees are one of 29 teams.  The Phillies plan to get in the mix for Rivera for sure.

Comments

[ErroRod1985]

Money talks in everything, and we all know the Red Sox possess plenty of money and plenty of resources to make a run at him if they want too. I don't doubt one bit that he'll test the market, and that he'll find a new team. When he was struggling the last couple years early, Torre stuck behind him, and maybe now its his turn to repay him. Who knows, but as a Sox fan, I'm pretty psyched to see what the Yanks do.

[greenbaydude1232]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Rivera end up where ever Joe Torre does.

[Muggerd]

Reds pony up some cash this offseason and need some bullpen help. Who knows.

[SierraM]

This is great news! With Torre gone the Yankees just blew their chances of keeping Rivera. I hope Boston makes a run at him and turns Papelbon into a starter. He is just being wasted as a closer just like Joba will be next year.

[kab21]

If this is an indication of the players unhappiness with the decision I am very interested to see how the rest of the Yankees FA's react. I don't think there is any way to replace Rivera, Posada, AROD, Pettite and Clemens on the FA market. Obviously not all of them will leave, but it's not like the Yankees have a deep farm system and the FA market isn't that deep. Very interesting.

[bjsguess]

I wouldn't be surprised if they all left. My predictions:

Clemens won't pitch in the AL East again. If he pitches again it will be in Houston.

Pettite may retire or if he still wants to play will hit the FA market. He could pull a multiyear deal at his current salary no problem.

Posada is going to get serious cash from some club that has money but with no one to spend it on. I'm picking the Mets here.

[quintjs]

Reasons why Rivera won't sign with Boston

1. He doesn't want to
2. Papelbon is the closer, he wants to close, he hasn't used his other pitches in years, and dramitically lost velocity of his fastball in the 4th inning last spring
3. Boston has a pretty good bullpen as is
4. Papelbon makes the bullpen far better
5. Boston has SP. Beckett, Matsuzaka, Wakefield, Lester, Buchholz, possibly Schilling, then FA/Trade.
6. Boston doesn't exactly have the money, this years payroll was 143, which was a big increase over last year because Schilling, Lowell, Clement etc were coming off the books, Boston's ideal payroll isn't more than its current amount, its less.

[TheHall]

I love Rivera but if hes afraid to play for another manager in new york then he can take a walk

[Teetz]

I don't think he's afraid, just pissed that they gave a lowball offer to a Hall of Fame manager and ran him out of town.

[Larsen101]

I am one of the biggest Yankee Haters around but I give respect when I see it and when I heard The Yanks gave a 5 million dollar contract to Joe I thought that was pretty low and if Mo doesnt want to pitch for no one but joe then get off his back

[04Forever]

most of the players that got the team through the awful first half might leave, this could be the end of an era for the yankees, nevermind the fact that torre is gone, how the hell can they replace a manager that got a team to the playoff for 12 straight years, this looks like a bleak time for yankee fans

[Braves1029]

I don't think that Torre left cause they low balled him. Thought of it more like you guys threaten my job after what I've done for this team, thank you and go f*ck yourself.

[Sunny Reiser]

Maybe, just maybe it's time for the Yankees to let all the FA's go and put a new foundation in place for the coming years. Why not? The time is right to reduce the payroll and allow some big-ticket veterans to ride on out of town. Why not?

There's a whole slew of young pitching about to arrive, and others like Tabata & Brett Gardner not too far away. it could happen...

[andagh]

Forget this Rivera will leave Yankees because Torre left stuff. All four players: Rivera, Posada, ARod, Pettite will stay with the Yankees if the Yankees pony up the cash. If the Yankees lowball them like they did to Torre, well, then they'll be gone. And that would imply that Steinbrenner's boys are more interested in the bottom line than winning.

[SierraM]

With Joe gone, the old guards will soon follow suit. I expect Rivera, Petite, and Arod to all be wearing different uniforms next year. They screwed Joe with a low ball contract, and refused to talk extentions with either Rivera or Posada. Now they have the hammer and will make Cashman look like a fool when they sign elsewhere.

[Yu Hsing Chen]

Seriously, no, the only guy with a serious chance of leaveing is A-rod who isn't really a Yankee "old guard" as one put it. Andy may also choose to leave though he did say he would like to exercise his option before Joe was not extended.

And seriously, 5M is still by far the largets contract for any manager in baseball, paycut? sure, but an "insult" is over the top purely from the money stand point, though i have a feeling that some in the Yankee FO did't bring it out the best way they could.

It is still all about the money and the Yankees can throw it like no tomorrow. Clemens won't be back sure.

My guess:

A-rod: may or may not extend, it's hard to say. i'm confident that the Yankees (and no one else) will not give him what Boras said, that's just insane, but he will be a 30M man .

Posada: most likely sign s 2 to 3 year deal worth a lot. won't be the best bang for the buck but considering the possible replacements are probably very worthwhile.

Mo: will resign. 2 to 3 year, 13M per

[SierraM]

I'm sorry, but if you don't think the contract is a joke then you're just buying into Randy Levine's Yankee propaganda.

Why should Torre accept a deal that included a World Series clause? Torre managed to turn a flawed and injured Yankee team in to a playoff contender. The man is a class act, a good manager, and his players know it.

I'm fairly sure the sackless front office knew his firing would create a tsunami sized backlash. That's why they tried to pin this on Torre. I'm glad most people aren't buying it.

Yankee arrogance kept them from extending Rivera and Posada when they had the chance. Torre's firing will be the final nail in the coffin. The Yankee coffers won't save them from their front office blunders. Many teams in baseball have surplus cash. I'm sure they can spend enough to match or surpass any offer Cashman can throw.

In the end, the Torre situation has given the players another reason to jump ship.

[nrmax88]

"I'm sorry, but if you don't think the contract is a joke then you're just buying into Randy Levine's Yankee propaganda."

Aman.

Hmmmm. Offering a 30 percent paycut after 12 straight seasons of 90 win ball and october baseball. Giving him lame duck status, easily enabling them to fire him midseason after a rough start, makes Don's transition easier. Offered him escalators for winning playoff series, as if this will somehow make them try harder. The whole thing is a big joke, and I am embarrassed for Yankee fans. The funny thing is, most of them dont realize that running Torre out of town is a bad thing, or they dont realize Torre was run out of town. I am going to thouroughly enjoy watching Mr Donnie Baseball try to manage those 15 humongous ego's, and then the Yankee fan will be missing Torre.