Mariano Rivera deserves both Cy Young & MVP but won't win for 11th year--Joel Sherman

'Rivera is doing this for an 11th straight year, and for an 11th straight year

• he will not win a Cy Young or MVP, though there is no doubt he is both the Cy Young and MVP of the last 11 years.'

says Hall of Fame director Joel Sherman in his NY Post column today.

• Sherman has achieved enough in his career that he has the courage to speak the truth about Rivera. However, apparently not enough to take the next necessary step. Which obviously would be very bad for the BBWAA.
• Joel has BEEN A VOTING MEMBER OF BBWAA FOR A LONG TIME. KNOWING WHAT he KNOWs and just wrote about, WHY HAS HE NOT SAID OR DONE SOMETHING ABOUT THIS BEFORE?

• WE HAVEN'T EVEN HAD THIS YEAR'S CROP, BUT Joel says Rivera will LOSE AGAIN. Joel, you appear to be an accessory, which is almost as bad as a criminal.

Detroit Manager JIM LEYLAND from the same article in today's NY Post ON RIVERA:

• "This guy has had the most impact of any player in recent history.
• My vote would have gone to Mariano Rivera for MVP of baseball [for this period]. I know a lot of guys hit 40-50 homers. But ... damn, you bring Mariano Rivera out of the bullpen, that is a big edge."

Sherman's article:

"SOMEDAY, YANKEES WILL HAVE TO REPLACE IRREPLACEABLE MO"

NY Post, September 1, 2006 --' THE BULLPEN door opened Wednesday night and so did a scary window into the Yankee future. Scott Proctor, not Mariano Rivera, emerged and a Yankees' lead disappeared.

• It was yet another reminder that some time soon "Enter Sandman" only will be played on Old-Timer's Day at Yankee Stadium and someone else will have to replace the most irreplaceable Yankee of them all.

It is Rivera, not Joe Torre or even Derek Jeter, whose cleats will be the toughest to fill.

• Only then will we fully comprehend that this elite run the Yanks have been on for a decade-plus has started at the end.

"You can't replace him," GM Brian Cashman said. "You are not going to replace the all-time greatest at something. It is going to be about how much you can cushion the blow."

• The issue became pertinent again yesterday, because the Yankees closer had to go for an MRI, which to the Yanks chagrin does not stand for Mariano Rivera Invincible. He has been feeling pain near his right elbow and, for what he described as "peace of mind," he underwent a more thorough test.

The results were negative for any structural damage, an incalculable positive for these Yankees, who cannot get near the Canyon of Heroes without him. The problem, the team said, is muscular. Rivera was deemed healthy enough that when the bullpen door opened yesterday afternoon, less than 24 hours after Proctor's meltdown, it was Rivera who entered.

• Like Proctor, Rivera got into trouble with a two-run lead and three outs to get. Proctor did not know how to get out of trouble.

Rivera did by doing what he always does: He broke bats and hearts.

• After Magglio Ordonez doubled to bring the tying run to the plate with no outs, Rivera splintered Carlos Guillen's bat to induce a slow grounder to third, though the switch-hitter was batting righty to avoid having his bat broken. Sean Casey dribbled a ball to the mound. Brandon Inge broke his bat fouling off a 96-mph fastball the pitch before rolling a ball that Jorge Posada turned into the final out. Rivera conserved his best fastballs until he was in difficulty. But they were there to evoke

three meek grounders, a good sign.

What happens, though, when they are not? With a big division lead, the Yanks can limit Rivera to one inning and perhaps find a week of September rest to prep for October, when the wraps will come off because, as Rivera says, "in October, you have to do what you have to do."

• But Rivera is 35. He already has remained dominant in a job normally less friendly to the aging than supermodel.

• He has been so good that, I think, he actually is underappreciated. He has not only been the best closer ever.

• He has been the best closer ever while employed in the American League and in the Steroid Era.

• He has been better in the playoffs than the regular season.

And he has done this not in Kansas City or Houston, but in New York. He has handled this smorgasbord of pressure impeccably.

• Will his successor? Consider that Detroit beat the Yanks twice in seven tries this year; the games Rivera was not available, but Kyle Farnsworth and Proctor were.

Now consider that Rivera is doing this for an 11th straight year, and for an 11th straight year

• he will not win a Cy Young or MVP, though there is no doubt

• he is both the Cy Young and MVP of the last 11 years.

"When you see the Yankees take the field in the ninth inning, they have their chest out and feel the game is over," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "That is a hell of a feeling.

• This guy has had the most impact of any player in recent history.

My vote would have gone to Mariano Rivera for MVP of baseball [for this period]. I know a lot of guys hit 40-50 homers. But ... damn, you bring Mariano Rivera out of the bullpen, that is a big edge."

• The Yanks had that edge again yesterday, won another game because of it.

• How much longer can they expect this baseball miracle?"

article by Joel Sherman, "Someday, Yankees Will have to Replace Irreplaceable Mo,"NY Post, Sept. 1, 2006

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon