Are They Too Old?

"What? No! I'm not too old for this job. I am too senile for it though."
While looking around at various blogs, to see just how many Yankee fans were overreacting to the Yankees terrible start to the season, I ran across a question that many Yankees fans have heard time and time again... "are they too old?" My immediate reaction was "no", but I decided to do a bit of research to see if I was right.

Instead of looking at the whole team, I wanted to concentrate on the regular position players. First of all, pitchers can be serviceable longer than position players. I mean, just look at the fact that Jamie Moyer is back in MLB at age 49. Heck, right here on the Yanks Andy Pettitte, who will turn 40 in June, is trying to make a comeback. So I'm skipping over the fact that Hiroki Kuroda turned 37 in February, and Freddy Garcia will be 36 in October. On that note, I'm also not counting the bench. These guys aren't looked at to play many innings anyway, so I see no reason to worry about them being older. On top of that, nobody on the bench is signed beyond this season either.

Derek Jeter is getting up there at age 37 (turns 38 in June), but his performance this season doesn't concern me. When it comes to Derek I'm more concerned about the last/next two years of his contract (assuming he takes the player option for 2014), especially being the starting shortstop. Derek's had a healthy career through 2010 (averaging 152 games/year during 15 full seasons), but after 131 games in 2011 (he only DHed in 10 of those games), how long before he'll need to DH or sit the bench for 50 or so games?

The only other player whose age concerns me is Alex Rodriguez. Alex is currently 36 years old (37 in July), which isn't exactly "ancient". But seeing as how he missed 63 games last season, mainly due to knee surgery in July, I tend to think he's more apt to play in 137 games a season like he did in 2010, rather than 158 games like he did in 2007. Actually, even 137 games a season could be pushing it, as that'll likely be the maximum number of games he appears in this season. Just imagine how many games he'll play per season at ages 39-41... the last three seasons he's under contract.

After those two we have Mark Teixeira, who'll turn 32 in a few days. I'm not worried about him at all at this point. He's averaged 157 games played the last three seasons, and I expect that to continue for a couple more years. Even in the last two seasons of his contract I think he can play in 130+ games a year. Of course it helps that he's a first basemen, and first basemen don't have to endure the rigors of the other 7 positions on the diamond.

The rest of the regular position players are either on a one year deals (Raul Ibanez), or are 31 or less. And they all could be out the door within the next year or two.

But how do they compare to other teams? To find out I made a spreadsheet using the Yankees and five other "top" teams in the American League. By "top" I mean the teams favored to be in the postseason this year. I only used the AL due to them having the DH, which can skew team's average ages when compared to National League rosters, as many DHs (like Raul Ibanez, David Ortiz, and Michael Young) are older players that shouldn't be playing the field anymore (*cough*Ibanez*cough*).

*For argument's sake I used Raul Ibanez instead of Andruw Jones at DH, since Raul is older. Not to mention that Raul will likely get more plate appearances than Andruw, seeing as how there are more right-handed pitchers in MLB, and that's who Raul is going to face.

So the Yankees, when compared to other "top" AL teams, are the oldest. I was hoping that it would turn out they weren't the oldest, and I could rub it in the faces of people that like to talk about the "aging Yankees". But I proved myself wrong, and instead must continue putting up with the comments. Although, I don't think it should be a big concern at all. After all, the Yankees are still favored by many to not only make the playoffs again, but to win the whole thing. We'll see if I'm singing a new tune come 2015, or if Brian Cashman can install some youth into the lineup.

Series Wrap - @ Rays 3/6 - 3/8

Well it wasn't a good start to the season. Game 1 ended with a 7-6 Yankee loss after CC Sabathia's poor start (6IP, 8H, 5ER, 3BB, 7K, 2HR), and a blown save by Mariano Rivera (.1IP, 3H, 2ER, 2BB, 1K). Curtis Granderson failed to reach base after going 0-5 with two strikeouts. Yankee fans did get a bit of a surprise when Raul Ibanez hit a 3-run home run, while Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez had two hits apiece.

Game 2 didn't go any better. Hiroki Kuroda gave the team another poor start (5.2IP, 8H, 4ER, 4BB, 2K, 1HR), followed by a poor relief effort by Clay Rapada (.2IP, 2H, 2ER, 2BB, 0K). Mark Teixeira failed to give the offense anything, going 0-4 with a strikeout, leaving 4 men on base. Granderson bounced back from a hitless Game 1, hitting a single and a triple, while Derek Jeter added on two singles. Nick Swisher hit a 3-run HR in the 9th, but the comeback fell short as the team lost 8-6.

Phil Hughes didn't pitch poorly in the third and final game of the series, putting up a line of 4.2IP, 5H, 2ER, 2BB, 5K. But the offense could only muster 3 hits (all doubles), leaving 11 men on base, thanks to a very well-pitched game by Jeremy Hellickson (8.2IP, 0ER, 3H, 4BB, 4K). All of which led to a 3-0 loss, leaving the Yankees winless so far in 2012.


Jake Taylor Award*
Alex Rodriguez - 3/10, 2 Runs, 4 Walks, 2 Doubles

Gentry Award*
Mark Teixeira - 0/9, 1 Run, 3 Walks, 4 Strikeouts, 8 Left On Base

Rick Vaughn Award*
Cory Wade - 2.2IP, 1 Hit, 0 Earned Runs, 5 Strikeouts, 0 Walks

Kelner Award*
Hiroki Kuroda - 5.2IP, 8 Hits, 4 Earned Runs, 4 Walks, 2 Strikeouts

Next Series
@ Baltimore Orioles 4/9-4/11
Click here to talk about the series at the Daily Sports Pages Yankees forum.
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*The awards are named after one of the best baseball movies of all time... Major League.

Jake Taylor Award - Awarded to the most valuable position player in the series. Named after the hard-nose veteran catcher that, despite making the league minimum, was the heart and soul of the 1989 American League East winning Cleveland Indians.

Gentry Award - Awarded to the least valuable position player in the series. Named after the very first man cut from the 1989 Cleveland Indians, #47 Gentry. A man so insignificant he wasn't even given a first name.

Rick Vaughn - Awarded to the best pitcher in the series. This one is, of course, named after the "Wild Thing". The man that made Clu Haywood look silly in the division deciding game.

Kelner Award - Awarded to the worst pitcher in the series. Named after the Opening Day starter for the '89 Indians. Not a good game for Mr. Kelner, as Indians' announcer Harry Doyle famously quipped "thank God" after Kelner left the game. And yet another bad player without a first name.

Meet A Prospect : David Robertson Edition

As we continue our special edition Meet A Prospect posts I decided to choose David Robertson as our next player to look back on. I was skeptical to do so because, unlike everyone else that I chose, David does not have nearly the MLB experience and sample size as the others to prove or disprove the scouting report. David Robertson is a guy that came out of no where though as far as Yankees prospects go, is a great guy with his High Socks for Hope foundation, and most importantly follows us @GreedyStripes on twitter so I decided to include him anyway... Enjoy.

David Robertson, better known as Houdini to most Yankees fans and teammates, was born in Birmingham Alabama on April 9th 1985 so Happy Birthday to you a little early from The Greedy Pinstripes!!! David started  at short stop and pitcher in High School at Central Tuscaloosa High Shcool where he started his first three years at school.  There he helped his team win back to back area titles as well as back to back 6A State Playoff appearances. In his Senior year his high school was split into three smaller schools and David was sent to Paul W. Bryant High School where he led his Stampede team to an Area title and a 5A State Playoff appearance. That is one hell of a high school career if you ask me.

David then attended the University of Alabama for college and as a freshmen in 2005 he led the South Eastern Conference (SEC) with a .183 Batting average against (BAA) with a team high 32 games played, 3 of them being as a starting pitcher.  That season he was named Freshman All SEC team and Freshmen All American by Baseball America.  His success did not stop there as he led the Crimson Tide to a 25th SEC title in his sophmore season appearing in 29 games and led all of the SEC with 10 saves. David Robertson was 21 years old after that season so that made him eligible for the MLB First Year Player draft after his sophmore season and not after his junior season like most college players. The Yankees ended up drafting him in the 17th round of that draft in 2006. That season he also played in the Cape Cod league in summer ball and ended up winning the Cape Cod League MVP. The Yankees signed him in August of 2006 .

In college Robertson threw very hard while easily and comfortable sitting in the 94-95 mph range. He now obviously sits in the low 90's with what is described as a "natural" cutter. Robertson, surprisingly not that you can tell by his stats, actually struggled with his control while in college. Control is something that he has definitively not struggled with in his major league career. In college, and it is still true today, he had a fastball that he could not throw straight to save his life thus making it a "natural" cutter to go along with a plus curve ball and a plus slider.

David Robertson, albeit in a short sample size, has had a very good start to his career. Being called up in 2008 from Scranton (twice) he did not take advantage of the experience, being sent down the first time after compiling a 6.31 ERA. In 2009 he was called up again from AAA after a Xavier Nady injury shut him down but was sent down the very next day to make room for Juan Miranda. Finally in May of 2009 Robertson was called up, and stayed up, after a Brian Bruney injury. The 2009 playoffs is where he received his name of "Houdini" as he came into two separate situation with multiple runners on, once in each of the ALDS and ALCS, and did not allow a single run to score.

David Robertson was named an American League all star in 2011, replacing David Price, and finished that season with an astounding 100 strike outs as the Yankees set up man.He also received one vote, probably from his mother, in the AL CY Young and AL MVP award voting in 2011.  David Robertson, in my opinion, is the heir apparent to Yankees closer Mariano Rivera. All the best to him and his family and especially to his foundation the High Socks for Hope, which I recommend everyone checking out. Basically he set it up to help members of his home town in Alabama recover from the tornado strikes in 2011 and even donated $100 for every strike out that he got in 2011.

That is it. Our special edition posts of Meet A Prospect is over. I hope you enjoyed, I hope you shared the posts, and most of all I hope you learned something. Thank you everyone for reading.

Happy Easter Yankees Fans

Your treat for this Easter will be the Yankees finishing their opening series against the Rays down at Tropicana Field at 1:05 pm ET on the YES network. Phil Hughes will "need" to be our "savior" and "rise above" all the shifts and that good stuff to stop the bleeding for these Yankees fans who are already thinking that the sky is falling. Here are the lineups for the Yanks today.

Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Nick Swisher DH
Raul Ibanez RF
Brett Gardner LF
Chris Stewart C

Yankees @ Rays 4/7/12

UPDATE:

Let's not mince words, Hiroki Kuroda looked like the NL only pitcher that a lot of people labeled him when we signed him. I , being one of the more level headed and patient Yankees fans, do not think that this is the case I simply chalk this up as a bad start. When CC can have a bad start then I am more then happy to give Kuroda a bad start because he is coming to a new league, a new state, a new team, new batters, etc. CC knows the Yankees, knows the fans, knows the Rays, and knows the league very well. Kuroda ended up allowed six runs, four of them earned, in 5.2 IP and seemed to struggle with control and polish. He was definitely not the Kuroda that we saw all spring long but I think it will come with time , adjustment, and the such. 

Nick Swisher hit a three run home run in the ninth with two outs to make it interesting but ARod grounded out , as the tying run, to end the game. DAMN THE SHIFTS is all I have to say. 

The sky is falling in New York because how quickly we forget the last two times that the Yankees started out 0-2 to start the season were 1998 (114 win campaign) and 2009 (103 win campaign) and both seasons ended in a World Series victory. If that is what it takes to win the ring then I never wanna win on Opening Day ever again.

These same two teams play again tomorrow, Easter Sunday, at 1:05 pm ET on YES with Phil Hughes making the start for the Yankees to "stop the bleeding."

Hiroki Kuroda and the Yankees face off against David Price and the Tampa Bay Rays tonight at 7:05 pm ET at Tropicana Field. The game will be broadcasted on the YES network and on MLB Extra Innings which is still free all weekend long. Here is your lineup

Derek Jeter DH
Nick Swisher RF
Robinson Cano 2B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Curtis Granderson CF
Andruw Jones LF
Russell Martin C
Eduardo Nunez SS

RHP Hiroki Kuroda

Interesting lineup changes with Gardner sitting against David Price who, let's face it, kills left handed hitting. 

Meet A Prospect : CC Sabathia Edition

The Yankees signed free agent starting pitcher CC Sabathia now four seasons ago to a seven year, $161 million dollar deal. This past offseason the Yankees decided to extend CC, before he used an opt out clause that was written into his contract, for one more year at $25 million with a option of another $25 million (vesting option) for the 2017 season. He was not always the big work horse that the Yankees fans have been asking Brian Cashman for though...

CC Sabathia was born in Vallejo California in 1980. CC, as a teen, lettered in baseball, basketball, and football at Vallejo High School. Also CC played summer baseball in the MLB Youth program Rebuilding Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI). As a senior in high school he posted a 6-0 record with a 0.77 ERA with 82 K's in 46 IP to earn the top prospect honors coming out of North Carolina for the upcoming draft for the 1998 Season. 

As a freshman in high school he already started to draw the attention of many scouts and of his peers, mainly because he was 6'3", breaking over 90 mph, and already growing a beard. Even as good and dominant as he was as a pitcher though CC still thought of himself as a hitter. Mainly playing Left Field and First Base when he was not pitching CC batted in the middle of the order for the team and was easily the team's best slugger. 

Sabathia was drafted in the first round 20th overall in that 1998 draft by the Cleveland Indians and ended up signing a $1.3 million bonus. In 2000 he was selected to be on the United States Olympic team but did not make an appearance on the gold medal winning team because he ended up being called up by the Cleveland Indians after winning the 2000 Minor League Player Of The Year award for the Indians. In that 2000 season, with AA Akron, he was part of the futures game down in Atlanta and was named the Indians #1 Prospect. He also was named the #2 prospect in all of the Eastern League, which is quite the accomplishment. 

In the minor leagues CC Sabathia, much like the way he pitches in the majors, was a pretty straight forward kind of pitcher. CC brings the heat with fastball after fastball mixing in an average sweeping curve and a changeup. He has a deceptive, yet easy, motion  that allows him to throw in the 92-95 mph range and allows the ball to explode out of his hand. CC has always been a good athlete, especially at his size, and I am sure him being a tight end in high school has a lot to do with that. CC was never afraid to field his own position and was surprisingly good at it. The biggest concern for CC was his weight and his maturity, which he seems to have mastered. 

 In 2001 CC Sabathia was the majors youngest player and still ended up winning 17 games and finished second in the AL Rookie of the Year award behind Ichiro Suzuki. CC has done okay as a major league player with 5 all star appearances, 1 cy young award, and a world series ring in 2009 with the Yankees. He has also stayed close to his roots in Vallejo California and they have paid him back, honoring him with 1/27 as "CC Sabathia Day" and renaming their baseball field after him. 

Be sure to check in tomorrow when our next, and final,  special edition of Meet A Prospect is featuring Yankees All Star set up man, Houdini, David Robertson. 

Yankees @ Rays -- Opening Day

Hello Yankees fans and welcome to Opening Day 2012!

This season the Yankees opened the season on the road against the Tampa Bay Rays. CC Sabathia was on the mound making his fourth consecutive Opening Day start as a Yankee and faced Rays "old man" James Shields.

Carlos Pena started the season off well hitting a grand slam in the bottom of the first inning to put the Rays up 4-0 on CC Sabathia. The Yankees offense would wake up after that with a Raul Ibanez rbi ground out in the top of the 2nd for a 4-1 Rays lead. Mark Teixeira later scored on a wild pitch also in the second inning to chip away and make it a 4-2 lead for the Rays. The chipping away continued when Nick Swisher reached on a fielders choice and allowed Robinson Cano to score to make the score 4-3 Rays in the top of the 3rd. Later in the inning new comer Raul Ibanez hit a three run home run to make the Yankees have their first lead of the season at 6-4. Evan Longoria , in the bottom of the 3rd, hit a solo home run to bring it closer at 6-5.

David Robertson showed why his nick name is "Houdini" as he allowed two hits in the bottom of the 8th to have runners at first and third with nobody out and a one run lead. After 3 consecutive K's, and a thank you card sent to Jose Molina for missing a bunt sign and Joe Maddon for calling such a foolish call, and the Yankees we're out of the inning unscathed.  First off why do you suicide squeeze in that situation when a double play ball, sacrifice fly, etc gets the run home? Then why do you proceed to call a two strike bunt attempt? Again, thank you Joe Maddon and thank you Jose Molina.

The Yankees went quietly in the ninth inning which allowed the Sandman, Mariano Rivera to enter the 9th inning in possibly his final opening day. After a single to lead off the 9th and an RBI triple by Ben Zobrist Mariano Rivera logged his first blown save of the season. IBB to Evan Longoria and Luke Scott loads the bases to set up a force anywhere. After an interesting move of taking Swisher out and putting Eduardo Nunez in to bring in a 5th infielder Mariano Rivera struck out Sean Rodriguez on a full count cutter right down the middle. Carlos Pena hits a walk off single to start this season the way last season ended with the Rays celebrating after a walk off victory.

Hard way to start the season.

Meet A Prospect : Robinson Cano Edition

Robinson Cano , entering his age 29 season, has 7 seasons as a Yankees 2B and a major leaguer under his belt... but it was not always like that. As many of you already know the Yankees offered Robinson Cano in a bunch of trades before he was finally called up in the 2005 season. We will touch on that later but for now let's Meet A Prospect.


Robinson Cano, son of Houston Astro's Jose Cano, was signed 11 years ago as an amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic as a short stop.  At the time the deal was not even considered a head scratcher because it was so off the radar that no one even noticed. The first mention that I could find of Cano was in 2001 when his NYPL Staten Island Yankees faced the Brooklyn Cyclones in the playoffs.

The disrespect, whether warranted or not, did not stop there as Baseball America never included him in their top 100 prospect list and labeled him as "less then glowing."Cano, to his defense, did make the 2003 All Star Futures Game after a nice season in AA Trenton and was the 2004 Yankees minor league player of the year.  The Yankees must not have held him in high regard though  because Cano was rumored to be in about every single trade the Yankees made or tried to make for the better part of a decade.

The list of guys that the Yankees tried to trade Cano for started when the Yankees tried to land Ken Griffey Jr in 2003, although an injury ended his 2003 season prematurely which made the deal not go through.

That next offseason, after Aaron Boone blew out his knee playing basketball, Cano was offered in a proposed three team deal that would have sent Cano to Chicago and eventually would have landed Troy Glaus in New York but the deal fell through. That is obviously great news because a few months later the Yankees acquired current Yankee 3B Alex Rodriguez, maybe you have heard of him?

Speaking of A Rod , the Yankees traded Alfonso Soriano and a prospect list to Texas for them to choose from for A Rod that season and Robinson Cano was on that list. The Rangers, as we know, chose Joaquin Arias instead of Cano.

In 2004 Cano's name was thrown around in every trade rumor including a potential trade with Kansas City's Center Fielder Carlos Beltran. The Yankees even moved Cano to 3B to showcase his talent there by request of the Kansas City scouts. He was also scouted heavily and offered up to Seattle for either current Yankee Freddy Garcia or Jamie Moyer. That same season the Yankees were offering Cano to the Atlanta Braves for SP Russ Ortiz but they were all obviously rejected or fell through thankfully.

Cano was also rumored to be offered up to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Randy Johnson as well at the trade deadline in 2004.  When the Yankees eventually made the trade in the offseason of the 2005 season we all thought Cano's days were finally numbered as a Yankee but thanks to Navarro, Javier Vazquez, and Brad Halsey the Yankees managed to keep Cano... again.

Finally the Yankees brought up Cano in May of 2005 after a failed Tony Womack experiment and immediately the scouts were praising his abilities. Replacing the talk of his lack of defense or his patience at the plate were talks of a smooth and compact swing that would eventually turn doubles into home runs, lots of them. Not that all his success that would follow kept him out of trade talk as the Yankees talked about trading him in 2010, midst a down season, for Dodgers CF Matt Kemp.

Robinson Cano's career, as to now, has been a very successful one. He is one of the fan favorites and faces of the Yankees franchise, and for good reason. He put on an absolute show in 2011's Home Run Derby on his way to winning it. He also won MLB.com's 2005 rookie of the year and This Year In Baseball's rookie of the year after he broke onto the scene with the comeback kid Yankees team that season. In 2007 he had his minor league number, number 17, retired by the Yankees Class High A affiliate Staten Island Yankees. Three all star teams, many silver sluggers, multiple player of the month awards, a world series ring,  and a gold glove in 2010 later it is scary to say that he is really entering his prime.

Check in tomorrow for our next installment of a special Meet A Prospect featuring Yankees ace CC Sabathia.

My Top 5 Least Favorite Players in MLB

Yesterday was a pretty good day. Jose Valverde blew his first save attempt of 2012, after being a perfect 49 for 49 in 2011, but the Tigers ended up scoring in the bottom of the 9th to beat the Red Sox.

Speaking of Valverde, he is most definitely not among my favorite baseball players. His antics on the mound make me want to punch a dolphin (and dolphins are awesome). Watching him makes me understand why some people make a big deal out of the antics of other players. I'm all for getting excited about getting through some big situations, but it seemed like Valverde would flip out for no good reason. Not that no Yankees ever did such a thing.

Anyway, it got me thinking... who are my least favorite MLB players? There are plenty of players I'm not a fan of, but these are easily my top 5. In fact, they may be the only 5 I actually hate in MLB.

5. Dallas Braden - I'm just a silly blogger instead of a player, so I wasn't aware of the whole "don't touch the pitcher's mound" thing that Braden was so up-in-arms about a couple years ago. Alex Rodriguez was on 1B and ran around to 3B during a Robinson Cano foul ball, and upon returning to 1B he stepped on the pitcher's mound. Dallas Braden went off on ARod, and a fight almost ensued. Look, even if the "touching the mound" thing was totally real, what was up witht elling CSN Bay Area (regional sports network) "we don't do much talking in the 209". What the hell does that mean? Answer reporter questions and leave the gangsta talk to somebody else.

4. Brian Wilson - Frankly... the beard is stupid. Jason Giambi once grew a moustache to the delight of Yankees fans, but first of all... moustaches are awesome. Wilson's beard looks like there's a colony of termites living within it. Hell, the guy even did a commercials for MLB Always Epic that showed various things living inside his beard. And then there were the Taco Bell commercials. Look, I'm all for a guy having a personality (I love Nick Swisher), but his act was a little much for me.

3. AJ Pierzynski - A player getting booed by fans is nothing new. A lot of times fans will boo players from opposing teams just because they're on the opposing team. But when a guy's teammates call a him a "cancer", then it's time to take notice and not just disregard all the bad things said. The guy carries himself like a total jerk. I equate him to the guys from the Jersey Shore. I don't even watch that show, but I've seen their pictures, and the pictures alone make me hate them.

2. Kevin Youkilis - Honestly, he doesn't seem like a bad guy. But he has two big strikes against him... 1) he plays for the Red Sox, and 2) that batting stance just ticks me off. The "Red Sox" thing alone would be okay, as I actually really like David Ortiz (this commercial kicks ass). But when I see him come to bat against the Yankees, and he holds the bat with his left hand, while barely making contact with his right hand using his index finger and thumb, I want to throw my remote at the television. Other than that I got nothing. He's a good player.

1. Jonathan Papelbon - Let me start by showing you this picture...


First of all, it's not that he tilts his head down and looks just under the brim of his hat, like he's trying to convince us he's some kind of bad-ass instead of the little non-threatening white boy that he is. It's the mouth open thing. What is that all about? He looks so... dumb. And then there's the second half of that photo. Do an image search on Jonathan Papelbon and you'll see that face the vast majority of the time. Whether it's game 32 or game 162, whether it's a regular season game or a playoff game, whether he had a 3 run lead against the bottom of the opposing team's lineup or the bases load against the heart of the order, you see that reaction. It's pathetic. Get excited over the big spots, but Paps needs to chill out. On top of that he reminds me of this...


The best thing I can say about the guy is at least he's playing for Philadelphia now.

Meet A Prospect : Mariano Rivera Edition

Mariano Rivera, maybe you have heard of him? The greatest closer of all time, the all time saves leader, the all time this the all time that.The guy that has made a living throwing one pitch at one speed for what seems like forever. Really all you have to say is... Mariano Rivera. Enjoy us meeting the Yankees prospect Mariano Rivera all over again. Although I cannot help but laugh at this Bowman rookie card, maybe he is a mortal after all? Anyway... enjoy!

Mariano was signed by the Yankees in 1990 as an amateur free agent out of Panama. He did not break into the majors until 1995, barely losing his rookie status pitching 67 IP (you lose rookie status after pitching 50 IP in one season). Mariano started our as a starting pitcher and he struggled mightily at it. Later in the 1995 season he was converted to a reliever. In 1996 he became John Wetteland's set up man on the Yankees World Series team, thus allowing them to let Wetteland walk via free agency and make Mariano their closer for good in 1997. 

Mariano Rivera was born November 29th of 1969 in Panama City, Panama. Growing up in Panama in a fishing community he was always considered to be poor. When they played baseball Mariano would substitute milk cartons for gloves and tree branches for bats, among other things. They also wrapped their baseballs with electrical tape and shredded fishing net to keep the ball in play for longer and for decorations. Mariano said he used make shift equipment until he was 12 years old when his father bought him his first baseball glove. 

Mariano Rivera thought of baseball as a hobby and did not even play baseball at all in high school. Instead he thought of himself as a potential soccer player but an ankle injury stopped that early in his high school career. He graduated high school at age 16 and worked on a shrimp and fishing boat with his father until he was 19 years old after he had to escape a sinking ship. 

In 1988 Rivera started to play for a local baseball amateur team as a short stop and caught the attention of Yankees scouts, who did not see him as a potential long term short stop. The next year, 1989, his team was so horrible he volunteered to try out pitching to fill innings. He excelled at the position and two weeks later he was at a try out for the Yankees in Panama City with Yankees scout Chico Heron. While at this try out Rivera, with no pitching experience or training, was only throwing 85-87 mph but showed nice mechanics and a smooth delivery to go with his athleticism. Rivera obviously did enough to impress Yankees scouts as the Yankees offered him a $3,000 signing bonus to sign a free agent contract with us in 1990. 

Being considered nothing more then a "fringe " prospect in 1990 he came to the Gulf Coast League (GCL) and, while speaking no english and being away from his home for the first time in his life, allowed 1 run in 52 IP and a 0.17 ERA in his professional debut season. That is not a typo... 0.17 ERA in 52 IP with no formal pitching experience or training. He also threw a seven inning no hitter on the final day of that season to put himself on the radar in the Yankees system. 

In 1992, as a starter for AA, Mariano Rivera was working on a slider and tore his ulnar collateral ligament which usually requires Tommy John Surgery. The doctor that was lined up to do his surgery told him that his ligament did not need repaired and the surgery was not necessary. His rehab on this was at the same time the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins were allowed to draft players for their own expansion teams. While Mariano Rivera was left unprotected by the Yankees neither team took a chance on him while he was rehabbing. If you need more proof that there is a God, please keep reading lol. When he came back in 1993 he eventually went back to A ball as a starter and caught the eye of official scorer Ogi Overman who was not impressed. He was quoted as saying "(he) was on a one way trip out to nowhere."

In 1995 Baseball America named Mariano the Yankees 9th best prospect in the system, even after struggling in AAA Columbus with an era north of 5. He eventually got his call up to the majors in May of 1995 replacing an injured Jimmy Key in the starting rotation for the Yankees staff. In that season he was almost traded to the Detroit Tigers for David Wells but then Yankees GM Gene Michaels called off the trade when he saw Mariano's velocity jump 6 mph to 95-96 mph in one start. Rivera has always thanked and praised God as the only explanation for his drastic improvement. After pitching 5.1 IP of scoreless baseball in the ALDS against the Seattle Mariners Mariano was moved to the Yankees bullpen for good. The rest is history...

 Mariano Rivera, Super Mariano, Sandman, God, whatever you want to call him as long as you respect him. Mariano Rivera is far and away the greatest closer of all time and some might say the greatest Yankee of all time, which gives me chill bumps just thinking about. Mariano Rivera had 5 World Series rings, 12 all star teams, received MVP votes in 9 different seasons, 6 seasons he received votes in the CY Young award, 5 Rolaids Relief Awards, an ALCS MVP award in 2003, a World Series MVP in 1999, and a Babe Ruth award. Entering the 2012 season he has the most saves of all time, 603, and a flurry of other stats that he sits at the top of that if I had the rest of the year to type out I would. That is not even mentioning his stellar, and unbelievable at times,  post season stats including 42 post season saves. Mariano Rivera is the best, what else can you say? First ballot hall of famer after he finally decides to hang up his cutter. 

Mariano Rivera also is a charitable man working with many Christian community groups through the Mariano Rivera Foundation. I , as always, recommend checking them out! 

Tune in tomorrow when we check out Yankees All Star 2B Robinson Cano in our next edition of Meet A Prospect Special Edition.