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Mancave06 Salute To You Mr. Rivera
Mariano Rivera has solidfied himself as the greatest reliever of all-time. He picked up his 602nd save today, the most all-time in baseball. In honor of his feat, here is a link to a friend of the ManCave06 and fellow brother, Andre Fields, and his excellent piece on one of the best pitchers of all time
The ManCave06! 
The closer role is overrated! lol
Why do you feel the closer role is overrated? I am interested to hear your argument.
Let me 1st start by saying this is not a shot directed towards Rivera but to the closer position as a whole.
The closer on a team is much like a role player to me. Their success is all based upon the team success – much like a kicker for a football team or a 6th man on a basketball team. We still say, he was the best kicker of his time or even the best 6th man to play the game but years later that is all lost. If I were Trevor Hoffman, Lee Smith or any other great relievers of our time, I would be excited that the news of this milestones brings my name up in the papers again, but honestly…who really remembers these cats once their careers are over?
But b/c Rivera plays for the greatest baseball franchise his name won’t become dust but will be praised as one of the Yankee greats.
Needless to say, the closer position is a role needed by franchises to win. But at the same time, I feel that that role comes in a dime a dozen. Just as a kicker goes down or a 6th man, another will be found. It may take a few years to find a great one and it may take a lifetime to find one with the durability as Rivera and the other greats, but it’s a position where you don’t have to have an elite player to win a pennant. Why? Only because your closer may face at tops 4 batters in a game. I’d place more value in middle relievers than I would with a closer, simply because they are the “set-up men”. They’re the ones that have to keep the game in tact when the starter gets burned for a huge inning and out by the 3rd inning or trying to preserve the lead in middle of the 6 inning for the closer to come in in the 9th.
So my hats off to Rivera for maintaining his clutch gene for the 16 seasons with the Yankees and having been blessed with is the opportunity to play for a winning franchise over that tenure. Not many teams can win year in and year out like the Yankees, so he definitely has been placed in a great position to succeed. But if it wasn’t him, it would have probably been about 10 others players over the course of that 16 years that would have been just as productive, just not with his longevity.
oh okay. I can agree with your argument. I feel that the role of the closer in on the decline. After Mo, who is really a dominate and consistent closer? You made excellent points bro. Respect.
I will say this as a devil’s advocate…how many teams in the last 5 years had a bullpen by committee? You look at Brian Wilson, Rivera, Lidge (didn’t blow a save that entire year), Papelbon…you have to go back to the Cards to find a closer by committee and that’s because LaRussa is crazy. As a 1990s Orioles fan, watching Armando Benitez and Arthur Rhodes, made me value a consistent and trustworthy closer