Breaking News: Mariano Rivera Tears ACL, Career Likely Over

[klunderbunker]

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/sto...ankees-torn-acl-according-manager-joe-girardi

He was shagging flies before the game and his knee went out. He was carted off and taken to a hospital for an MRI. Rivera had said this was going to be his last season and he's out for the year. He's pretty easily the greatest closer ever and it's a shame he has to go out like this.

Thoughts?

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

My thoughts: "Oh fuck."


That's a really horrible way to go out. ACL is not an easy rehab, so if this was his last year, I doubt that he would want to rehab to point of being able to play next year. This is just another in a long string of Yankee pitching woes. When will the bleeding stop for the pinstripes?

 

[Harthan]

Yeah, I think this has to be it for Rivera. He made a lot of overtures toward retiring at the end of the year and it really seems like with a rough injury like this it has to be it. It's a darn shame for him to go out like this, and I'd love to see some kind of comeback, but rehabbing an ACL at his age isn't easy, and if he was already thinking about retirement...just doesn't seem likely.

Really no way to spin his career other than the best closer ever, and he'll be missed by the game. The Yankees, meanwhile, are in rough shape. Their pitching is, frankly, in shambles. They have an ace, a few good guys, then nothing in the back and a bullpen that keeps taking hits. At this rate they're definitely going to have to pick something up on the trade market to stop the bleeding.

 

[Davi323]

What a terrible way to end a career. I think this is going to inspire him to play one more season, just for the simple reasoning that he doesn't want shagging fly balls to be the way that his MLB career ends. He wants to go out pitching, on his own terms. If he decides this is it, it's a damn shame. No way for a Hall of Fame pitcher to retire.

 

[Stormtrooper]

I was out at the time, and unable to watch the game. My ESPN ScoreCenter app for my phone told me what happened, and I literally thought I was about to puke. Then reports were being inconclusive saying he "twisted his knee" (thus helping me get through my church choir rehearsal without vomiting) until after the game, when the torn ACL was confirmed (again making me sick to my stomach until The Avengers started at midnight).

He is the single greatest relief pitcher of all time. It's borderline unfair to him for his career to end like this. He is one of the few players left that deserves a season-long farewell tour, where he gets recognized in every ballpark (which there's a 99% chance that would happen, even in Fenway).

Then this happened:
https://twitter.com/#!/MarianoRivera/status/198516555208863744

Thank you fans, friends and family for your prayers, well wishes and support. I will be ok. I will be back.

"I'm coming back. Write it down in big letters. I'm not going out like this." - Mariano Rivera to reporters today.

http://www.yesnetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120504&content_id=30370968&oid=36019


He's coming back. This is a difficult rehab, but it isn't an arm issue, so it's very conceivable that he can come back for 2013.

 

[Skairipa Matrix]

this is just really sad and a horrible way for the career of the best closer of all-time's career to end im a big redsox fan but i really hope mo does play again but i think this was gonna be his last season and hes just gonna end up hanging up his pinstripes and calling it a hall of fame career all i know is its only a matter of time till hes in cooperstown giving his speech

 

[CH David]

On one hand you've got what was said to be the final year of his career. On the other hand, you've got an injury possibly ending it.

I can't help but think Rivera will come back next season. Even before the tweet I didn't think this would be the end. Likely because I forgot this was his possibly his last season, but still. It will be a long and grueling process that he will have to tough out, but if he can get through it, I definitely think he will come back for one more year, and hopefully go out in his final game saving it. Yes, I envision great players ending it on their own terms, leave me alone.

 

[The Champ]

I know people are saying that it's going to be hard for him to come back from this at his age, and it's certainly a valid point, but then you have to take Mariano Rivera's track record into account. This guy has a history of seeming inhuman at times, including with injuries (or rather, the lack thereof for most of his career) and based on that, his pride, and how much love he has for his team, I think he's going to work his ass off to get back.

I don't blame him at all for not wanting to go out in such a sad and unfitting way, and it speaks to the type of person he is that he wants to finish things out strong, and trying to help his team win.

Until then, it will be interesting to see David Roberton's development this year, because even though he'll obviously be back as the setup man upon Rivera's return, it will be nice for the Yankees to know that they have a capable replacement for 2014 and onwards if he succeeds.

 

[Rayne]

As a Red Sox fan, I feel awful about this. If it wasn't for Mariano Rivera's absolutely atrocious relief pitching in games 4 and 5 of the 2004 ALCS, the Sox would have never gone on to win the World Series that year.

You never like to see a guy get hurt, especially one who pitches so poorly in Boston. Hope this isn't a career ender.

 

[The Champ]

I get that Red Sox fans are always going to brag about 2004, but are we really going to sit here and judge Mariano's worth as a pitcher based on a couple of bad games?

That's a complete discredit to the numerous times in the postseason that he's come on and gotten the job done. I mean come on, the guy has a .70 postseason ERA, and 42 October saves, that's pretty damn good by any standards. Yes, he fucked up in 2001 and 2004 and both of those possibly cost the Yankees a championship, but he also played a huge role in getting the Yankees five other championships, ones that they might NOT have gotten without him.

And the idea of, "I hope he gets better, but only so he can blow another save in Boston" is a quite arrogant way of looking at things.

 

[Stormtrooper]

I get that Red Sox fans are always going to brag about 2004, but are we really going to sit here and judge Mariano's worth as a pitcher based on a couple of bad games?

That's a complete discredit to the numerous times in the postseason that he's come on and gotten the job done. I mean come on, the guy has a .70 postseason ERA, and 42 October saves, that's pretty damn good by any standards. Yes, he fucked up in 2001 and 2004 and both of those possibly cost the Yankees a championship, but he also played a huge role in getting the Yankees five other championships, ones that they might NOT have gotten without him.

And the idea of, "I hope he gets better, but only so he can blow another save in Boston" is a quite arrogant way of looking at things.

He didn't even really pitch bad in 2004. He blew one save where he came in with the tying run on third (game 5), and game 4 he allowed a baserunner who then stole a base and scored on a single. He didn't get hit hard or anything.

And his career numbers at Fenway are good (just like his career numbers everywhere else for that matter).

The Yankees would not have won a World Series without Mariano Rivera. Not a single one. Especially 2009 and 1996. In 09 he was the only closer in the postseason to not lose a game/blow a save. In 1996 he was the 7th AND 8th inning guy and had a very valid case to win the Cy Young award (him and Andy Pettitte ended up splitting the votes and it went to some undeserving guy on the Blue Jays Pat Hentgen).

Either way, it doesn't matter. He's coming back in 2013 and he'll end up retiring the way he deserves to, which is standing on the mound closing out a game, preferably in the World Series. Then 5 years later he is given his rightful place in Cooperstown.



I heard someone bring up this point a few days ago on the radio, and I want to ask everyone else here. After Mariano retires (not right away, but eventually), do you think MLB SHOULD rename the relief pitcher award after him? And do you think MLB WILL name the relief pitcher award after him?

 

[Dr. Stinger A. Zoidberg]

He didn't even really pitch bad in 2004. He blew one save where he came in with the tying run on third (game 5), and game 4 he allowed a baserunner who then stole a base and scored on a single. He didn't get hit hard or anything.

And his career numbers at Fenway are good (just like his career numbers everywhere else for that matter).

The Yankees would not have won a World Series without Mariano Rivera. Not a single one. Especially 2009 and 1996. In 09 he was the only closer in the postseason to not lose a game/blow a save. In 1996 he was the 7th AND 8th inning guy and had a very valid case to win the Cy Young award (him and Andy Pettitte ended up splitting the votes and it went to some undeserving guy on the Blue Jays Pat Hentgen).

Either way, it doesn't matter. He's coming back in 2013 and he'll end up retiring the way he deserves to, which is standing on the mound closing out a game, preferably in the World Series. Then 5 years later he is given his rightful place in Cooperstown.



I heard someone bring up this point a few days ago on the radio, and I want to ask everyone else here. After Mariano retires (not right away, but eventually), do you think MLB SHOULD rename the relief pitcher award after him? And do you think MLB WILL name the relief pitcher award after him?

Hold on now, ST. I think you're going a bit too far by saying the Yankees wouldn't have won a single World Series without Mo. While he was an integral part of every single one of those teams, he was not the saving grace. Take a look at 1998 for example against the Padres. Only one of the four games played ended in less than a three run deficit, and that was game three when the Yankees won 5-4. Other scores were 9-6, 9-3, and 3-0. While those are indeed save situations, you have to credit the Yankees starting pitching and hitting more than Mo. Without them, the Yankees wouldn't have won the 98 WS. While Mo has been a very important part of every WS team, he isn't the reason that they won all of them.