Quote:
Originally Posted by the 'stache
Let me ask you all this. You have a great pitching prospect. What would you rather have him turn out to be:
1.) A dominant starter.
2.) A dominant closer.
Calling Rivera a "failed starter" might be a tad misleading if he only got a small amount of starts at the Major League level. But I ask myself, "why?" Did the Yankees have such a dominant starting rotation that they could afford to put Rivera in the bullpen?
If he's one of the greatest pitchers ever, wouldn't he be more valuable to the Yankees as a starter? You know he's going to get the ball 32+ times a year. A closer, you have no guarantee he'll even pitch. If the rotation and/or middle relievers are not doing well, Mariano is sitting in the pen watching the game.
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This is clearly not accurate because as we've seen since Rivera, plenty of teams have hemmed and hawed over what to do: Joba Chamberlain comes to mind, as does the Yankees current closer Aroldis Chapman.
They were even talking about this debate when David Price came up.