MLB: Big Z's Gotta Get Paid; Rivera too

Carlos Zambrano is a grown man and can say what he wants to the media and I was not surprised when I read that he used the media as a conduit to express him desire for a long term extension with the Cubs before the season. Basically Zambrano, whose contract is up at the end of the 2007 season and who figures to use Barry Zito's contract as leverage, told the Cubs to sign him to an extension before opening day or he's leaving them after the season.

On the surface, this was a smart move by Zambrano. Call the Cubs out in the media. He wants that contract signed before he gets a chance to injure himself or have a subpar season. And there is one move here for the Cubs: acquiese. If they don't sign him they have to not only deal with a disgruntled ace but they have to explain their sudden frugality as they've already stuffed millions into that team this off season.

Yup, everything was going well for Mr. Zambrano until... well, remember those Leon commercials for Budweiser? Not only did he refer to himself in the THIRD PERSON, but he also said, ""[Cubs general manager] Jim [Hendry] spent a lot of money. I hope he has more for 'Big Z.'" BIG Z? So instead of looking like the stud pitcher who deserved $100+ million he looked like a "cut the check", "gotta feed my children", "I'm Terrell Owens" spoiled professional athlete. Not helping your case, Carlos.


I agree. They were going to have to give him this money. Where do athletes learn to shoot themselves in the foot? Public perception plays a role in big contract negotiations, well, except in the case of JD Drew.

But this Zambrano development isn't even the big extension story in baseball. The story that Rivera and the Yankees haven't agreed on where he'll spend the rest of his career should be troubling to all Yankee fans, and be a breath of fresh air to all other fans.

Saj, I pose this question to you. In the last ten to twelve years, has there been a more meaningful, important, high impact player in baseball than Mariano Rivera?


That's a difficult question with no right answer but I'm going go ahead and say that no, there has not been a more meaningful, important, high impact player than Rivera. But there's an obvious caveat there. Closers have an objectively lower value than position players or even starting pitchers. So you can say that Manny Ramirez's 140 to 160 games a year were, in aggregate, more valuable than Mariano Rivera's 80 to 100 innings. But when you consider how much better Rivera was than the average closer, how long he performed at such a high level, and the psychological effect he had on opposing teams (i.e. "shortening the game") he occupies a special space in the last ten years of baseball (and I'm intentionally ignoring Barry Bonds here).

He was even more important in the playoffs, for the perennially playoff-bound Yankees, where bullpens shrink to just the few guys you can trust and maybe even a starter or two. Plus he gave up that stolen base to Dave Roberts in the 2004 ALCS which, for me, was very meaningful and important.


We seem to be on the same page. Would you agree that, if Mariano Rivera played for another team, the Yankees would not have won four championships?

How can I make such a claim? Well, in the six season from 1996 through 2001, whether he worked the 8th or 9th innings, the only times the Yankees did not win the World Series was when Mariano blew a save. When he didn't blow a save they were undefeated in postseason series'. The Alomar homerun in 97 and the LuGon single in 2001 were his only postseason blown saves in that timespan, and the Yankees lost both those series.

Therefore, if the Yankees 90's dynasty had any other closer - you know, the closers all the other perennial postseason teams had (Braves, Seattle, Mets, etc.) that continually blew saves - then the Yankees would not have been a dynasty at all, but rather like all the other perennial contenders, winning one (1998), maybe two championships. To conclude otherwise would be foolhardy, as closers played such an important role in playoff games, much more than in the regular season.

Mariano Rivera affected more World Series than any other player of the last twelve years - not Manny Ramirez, not Barry Bonds, not even Derek Jeter's overrated postseason play (look at the stats, Yankee fans, and including close &late) was as important as Mariano Rivera. And since the yearly objective of almost all players and teams is to win the World Series, Rivera can count himself as the most meaningful, important, high impact player in the last decade.