Rooting For One Mo Year

I'm not a fan of the New York Yankees.  In fact, the way they carelessly spend money and constantly win the AL East (at the expense of smaller market clubs like Tampa Bay, Toronto and Baltimore) makes me actively dislike them.  I'm also not a huge fan of Closers.  As a proponent of advanced statistics, I prefer to believe that a manager would be best suited choosing his pitcher based on a combination of game factors - inning, opposing batter(s), field conditions, etc. - rather than just throwing a guy out there because it's the ninth inning.  All of this being said, I think Mariano Rivera's freak season-ending ACL injury is a huge blow to Major League Baseball.  As excited as I am about the prospect of the Yankees struggling in his absence, I truly hope that Mo comes back at a high level for the 2013 season.

Rivera was hurt on the warning track, not on the mound.

In the past, I've gone on and on about how many athletes continue to play well past their primes, damaging their legacies and hurting their teams.  Ken Griffey Jr., for example, was extremely washed up by the time he returned to Seattle for the 2009 and 2010 seasons, and his numbers reflected it - he hit .214 in 117 games in '09 and .184 in 33 games during his final year.  Had "The Kid" retired after, say, the 2008 season (during which he was traded mid-season from the Reds to the White Sox), he could have avoided these final two sub-par years and done the Mariners a favor in the process.  Instead, he tried to hang on way past his prime, forced Seattle to delay its youth movement in the outfield and tarnished his still-Hall-of-Fame-worthy career.

While there are tons of guys like Griffey who stay in the game too long, I still want to see star players leave on their own terms.  When one of my all-time favorite players, Chipper Jones, struggled through his injury-riddled 2010 campaign, many baseball fans were calling for him to hang up his spikes for good.  Chipper knew, however, that he still had some gas left in the tank, and wanted to retire because he was ready, not because injuries forced him out.  Chipper returned for 2011, was reasonably productive (.275 with 18 homers in 126 games), and has had a great start to 2012, which he has already announced will be his final season.  Assuming he stays reasonably healthy this year, Chipper should have a solid farewell campaign and will walk away from baseball at his own pace.

As for Rivera, I'm glad to hear that he plans to follow in Jones' footsteps and return for the 2013 season (and possibly beyond).  As much as I hate to admit it, Rivera is one of (if not the) greatest relief pitchers in baseball history, and was still pitching well in 2012 prior to his freak accident.  When a star player starts to lose his skills, I believe that it's his responsibility to go out before he hits rock bottom.  When he knows he can still play and injuries have limited his performance (Peyton Manning, anyone?), however, I'll always be pulling for that guy to get back on the field for one last go at it.  Ideally, Rivera will use the rest of this season to rest, get healthy and remember why he loves the game of baseball so much.