By Aaron Rutkoff
With a devastating injury to Yankees' closer Mariano Rivera Thursday night, the team lost for the season — and perhaps permanently — baseball's all-time saves leader.
As WSJ's Dan Barbarisi reported, the freak injury in Kansas City wrecked Rivera's right knee in a pre-game routine repeated countless times since his Yankees career began in 1996: chasing down fly balls during batting practice.
This time, his foot caught in the space where the grass ended and the warning track began. His knee turned and buckled. The greatest reliever in baseball history crumpled to the ground, writhing in pain.
"I got myself between the grass and the dirt and I couldn't pull my leg up and twisted my knee. ACL. Torn. Broken. Meniscus, also," Rivera said.
Without their Hall of Fame closer, the Yankees could turn relief pitcher David Robertson. He is one of several candidates touted as a replacement over the years following the 42-year-old Rivera's eventual retirement, and he's spent four years learning from the great. Plus, before the current season he appeared to have a key endorsement:
Yankees manager Joe Girardi knows the burden that comes with replacing a legend, taking over from Joe Torre after the longtime manager left in 2007.
Girardi said that if and when Rivera does retire, he thinks Robertson has the makeup to step into that role.
"I do, I do. Because he seems to be able to turn the page well. He seems to be able to bounce back. A lot of times his stuff is better the next day. So I do think he has that ability," Girardi said.
Robertson thrives under pressure. His teammates have taken to calling him Houdini, for his ability to get out of jams, and no one doubts him in the clutch.
"The harder the situation is, the more my focus goes up," Robertson said.
His best escapes were often punctuated with a ferocious fist pump, standard fare for a high-energy 26-year-old.
"When the crowd roars, it's tough to control it—you can feel adrenaline coursing through your body," he said.
Robertson's gaudy strikeout totals from the 2011 season helped cement his closer-in-waiting status, and he's been solid so far in 2012. (He's also a tremendous competitor at board games.) Another option is Rafael Soriano, who has settled into his bullpen role after a shaky start with the team.
Whoever inherits the job held for so long by Rivera obviously has big shoes to fill: the man is, after all, widely considered the greatest closer in baseball history. A look back at the replacements for other great closers suggests that newcomers tend to struggle.
During spring training, WSJ columnist Jason Gay looked at the signs that Rivera was getting ready to walk away and argued the he "belongs in the Big Conversation, about the greatest to ever play the game." He also penned an appreciation for Rivera's calm demeanor when the closer notched his 602nd save and set baseball's all-time record (a milestone, incidentally, that will probably be very hard to surpass).
Finally, here's a look past the eye-popping saves record at other statistics that bolster the case that Rivera is arguably among the best overall pitchers in baseball history.
