Closers. Hah.

I am writing this entry in large part because I am not watching any more NBA games and I have suddenly a wealth of free time.

Once upon a time, the stars of the league were tall, fast, smooth, and could jump out of a building. Now, they are tiny, old, and look like this. Not sure exactly when this happened but alas.

I am in a truculent mood. So ornery is my mood, in fact, I have decided to ponder the sacrilegious: Mariano Rivera is overrated.

Most of you have stopped reading by now, and are already excoriating me in the comments section, but that’s okay, I’ll just talk to myself for a little while.

First, it must be remembered that “overrated” doesn’t mean “not spectacular”. Rivera is clearly one of the better one-inning pitchers ever. But I both question the notion that a one-inning pitcher as used currently is all that important, and I question the notion that Rivera is this lights-out-automatic-end-the-game-now closer.

In the regular season, Rivera has been very very good. But Trevor Hoffman has been better, and no one has ever heard of him. Why? His team never gets to the playoffs. This isn’t really his fault but let’s assume that the playoffs do define one’s career.

Has Rivera really been untouchable in the playoffs? I would say no. Let’s forget the ’96 season for a second because my grand finale (read: soliloquy) will end up there. But since then, Rivera:

Blew the 1997 playoffs for the Yankees.

Blew the 2001 World Series for the Yankees.

Most atrociously of all, was almost entirely responsible for the debacle that was 2004. don’t talk about A-Rod or Sheffield or Jeter not hitting in game 6. Those guys got the team to a 3-0 series lead with a 2-run lead in the 8th inning of game 4.

This is where the lights out automatic end the game now closer is supposed to take you to the World Series. Rivera blew it.

Then, in game 5, they got him another lead.

He blew it.

This isn’t exactly the soul crushing pitcher you hear about.

And this ignores, for the moment, that in the regular season, Rivera basically stinks against the most important team the Yankees play: the Red Sox. His save percentage against the nefarious Bostonians is a pathetic number to behold. So pathetic I will not even hurt your eyes by posting it online. And have you ever noticed how every hitter in the Red Sox line-up has a Ty Cobb-like average against Mo?

I loathe admitting it, but when the “greatest Yankee pitcher of all time” sucks against the Red Sox, he isn’t the greatest Yankee pitcher of all time.

Some of this may be piling on, given Rivera’s sub-par (or above par, if we are going to make any sense at all) season thus far. But the truth is that he has a ridiculously simple job: come in with nobody on, and get 3 (sometimes 6) people out. Even if we give him sole credit for the Yankees winning 3 World Series in a row (and that would be stupid) he was pretty solely responsible for them losing several World Series that the rest of the team had put them in a position to win. Lights out automatic? I think not.

In 1996, he was not the “closer” (a ridiculous term that has stunted baseball’s strategic growth beyond belief). He was just a reliever brought in when the going got tough for a starter or other reliever. And he was nearly unhittable. John Wetteland got the MVP for getting three guys out with nobody on in the ninth a few times, but Rivera was the guy who got three guys out with runners at the corners. That was important. That was baseball.

Closers have become such pampered babies that I think they have lost a little bit of the mettle that makes them effective in the first place. Remember: no one starts a closer. They almost always begin their careers as set up men. Set up men have to the actual dirty work. Ramiro Mendoza was probably as important as Rivera from 98-00. Rivera was once the guy who came in when the going got rough, not when the scoreboard said “9th”. I don’t necessarily postulate that closing makes them lose their nerves, but heck, maybe it does.

The reality is this: Rivera has stayed incredibly healthy throughout his career, and has been on a winning team every single season in his career. He always has a ton of saves because there are always a ton of games to save. He also has good “numbers” in the postseason but the only moments I remember Rivera for in the postseason are: ’96 when he wasn’t a “closer”, ’97 when he blew it, 2001 when he blew it, and 2004 when he blew it (twice). This is unfair as a closer is often remembered more for his mistakes than his successes. But in a game where scoring a run in an inning is REALLY REALLY hard (much less two or even three, which also count as “save situations”), the greatest Yankee pitcher of all time probably shouldn’t be a 50/50 proposition in the playoffs, right?

(Editors note: none of this should be interpreted as an attempt to detract from Rivera’s rightful place as one of the great Yankee pitchers. He is very very good at getting three outs with nobody on. Not so much against the Red Sox, or in game sevens of the World Series, but whatever. The point is: don’t you long for the days when he came in when they needed him? He is most likely not up to that anymore--his ERA right now is lower than Wang’s, which is about the only good thing you can say--but there is someone on the Yankees who is. His name rhymes with Doba Schmamberlain, and he can throw the ball 100mph. Time to wake up, Joe).