Mariano Rivera has been the go-to closer for the Yankees for nearly ten years now, and it looks like he’ll be around for a bit longer:
It looks like Yankees fans won’t have to get used to a bunch of new faces after all.
As Alex Rodriguez and the team nears a new deal, Mariano Rivera told the Yankees on Monday that he will accept their three-year, $45 million contract offer.
Earlier this month, the Yankees agreed with longtime catcher Jorge Posada on a four-year, $52.4 million deal.
“We’ve got everybody back,” Yankees senior vice president Hank Steinbrenner said Monday. “It’s good to have both Jorgie and him back.”
Rivera’s deal, which ESPN.com’s Buster Olney first reported as official, is pending a physical.
Rivera had been holding out for an additional year but, but a source who had spoken with both the team and Rivera’s agent, Fernando Cuza, told ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark that the deal will not contain any option for a fourth season.
The contract makes Rivera the highest-paid closer in baseball history. The Mets’ Billy Wagner had been tops with an average annual salary of $10.75 million, and the Blue Jays gave B.J. Ryan the highest total contract for a reliever at $47 million, but that deal was over five years.
Within the life of the deal, Rivera should pass Lee Smith for second on the all-time saves list. In 13 years with the Yankees, the right-hander has 443 saves, 35 behind Smith. The Padres’ Trevor Hoffman is the all-time leader with 524 saves.
This is good mostly because, for the moment, the Yankees don’t really have another closer they can go to, and the rest of the bullpen is still in flux. With Rivera still around, they’ll have time to develop Joba Chamberlin or someone else into what they will need them to be.
