Mariano Rivera Tears ACL: Claim Robertson, Celebrate w/ “Sandman”
The roller coaster ride of this sporting week continued on Thursday. The first story coming out of the morning was Terrell Suggs’ Achilles’ injury that was first reported to have occurred as part of a basketball game. Suggs later addressed the media and spoke of the injury occurring during shuttle drills. The Baltimore Sun’s and Mike Preston has Terrell Suggs’ Q&A about his Achilles’ injury .
But the day wasn’t over. Word broke on Thursday night that the venerable closer of the New York Yankees, Mariano Rivera, had sustained a knee injury while shagging fly balls during batting practice. The deluge of Tweets was overwhelming and sent the Twitter-verse into a tailspin as it was confirmed that Rivera had, indeed, sustained a torn right ACL. The career of the future Hall of Famer and quintessential closer, the standard by which the position has been measured for the better part of 20 years, may have thrown his last pitch.
Think about the turnover and instability of the closer slot. Nearly half of major league teams have turned over the job because of injuries and ineffectiveness, and we’re not out of the FIRST WEEK OF MAY! Carlos Marmol has all but lost the job in Chicago, and Ozzie Guillen has intimated that Heath Bell’s contract may not save him in Miami.
It’s a mad world, to be sure. For now, let’s focus on the Yankees and celebrate Rivera’s entrance music.
David Robertson likely becomes the team’s closer following Rivera’s injury. He has yet to allow an earned run this season in 11 innings pitched while striking out 18 batters. Robertson has allowed seven hits and three walks (0.91 WHIP).
Rafael Soriano might also be worth a speculative play in the event that Joe Girardi turns this into a quasi-committee in the short-term.
