As reported by Ben Nicholas-Smith of mlbtraderumors.com, Rivera is reportedly seeking a 3-year deal with a $3 million pay raise which would pay him $18 million per. This is according to a tweet posted by Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan. The Yankees, however, are looking to offer him a one-year deal, but there have been no reports from their side on a price tag.
This could signal another drawn out negotiation between the Yankees and a member of the "Core Four"; we don't even need to go into the Jeter negotiations. What is interesting to note, however, is that unlike Jeter, Mo has a lot more leverage to bring to the bargaining table. He remains the absolute best closer in baseball; he continues to post an ERA of less than 2.00 and 30+ saves every year; he continues to dominate and break his own records in the postseason and, show no wear-and-tear for a player who turns 41 in a week.
No way to know right now if the Yankees are willing to play hardball with Mo as they are with Jeter. I'll just assume that perhaps in the next day or so, any "subliminal" statements made by Cashman will tell us all we need to know. I do believe though that the Yankees might be willing to heed more to Mo's demands than Jeter's, simply because they know that there is no other closer available that even comes close to replacing him on the team. Winning a World Series is always the goal; how hard would it be to win without "The Sandman"?
No comments:
Post a Comment