TAMPA, Fla. – The New York Yankees finally closed a long-term
contract with their closer.
Mariano Rivera became the highest-paid relief pitcher in
baseball, agreeing Friday to a $39.99 million, four-year contract
with the Yankees.
|  | | With this deal, Mariano Rivera became the game's highest paid reliever. |
"He's earned it by the way he's pitched. He's the best around
right now," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "If he hasn't been
our MVP, he's one of them. It's really hard to win without a
closer."
Rivera, who made $7.25 million last season, gets an $8 million
signing bonus payable over four years, $7.15 million this season,
$7.45 million in 2002, $8.5 million in 2003 and $8.89 million in
2004.
"It was a relief," the slender 31-year-old right-hander said.
"Not that I was thinking about it 100 percent, it was in the back
of my mind. I came here for one reason, to get ready for spring
training and try to have another good year. Now, it's much better
and it's over."
With a nasty cutter, Rivera is virtually automatic in saving
games.
"Show me one team that won that didn't have a closer,"
teammate Mike Stanton said. "I think that makes you invaluable.
He's as automatic as anybody ever has been."
Rivera's average annual value of $9,997,500 tops San Francisco
reliever Robb Nen, who averages $8,125,000 under a $32.5 million,
four-year contract that starts this season.
"The Robb Nenn contract did show us the way a little bit,"
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said.
To help close the deal, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner agreed
to donate $100,000 to Rivera's church in Panama.
"George Steinbrenner put his money where his heart is," said
Randy Hendricks, who last week replaced Jim Bronner as Rivera's
primary negotiator.
Rivera, who reported a day late to spring training because of
food poisoning, will not begin throwing until early next week.
He received a no-trade clause for the first two years of the
contract. He also can terminate the deal after two seasons and
become eligible for free agency. If he does that, he loses the
final $4 million of the signing bonus, meaning he will have
received $18.6 million for two years.
"We wanted to make Mariano the highest reliever, and we also
wanted to protect him in case, for whatever reason, the market went
through the roof," said another of Rivera's agents, Fernando Cuza.
"We get an opportunity to also explore that market in the future,
too."
Yankees president Randy Levine finalized the agreement Friday
with Hendricks. Bronner, had battled the Yankees the previous two
winters, beating them in arbitration in 1999 and losing last year.
With the deal, the Yankees' payroll rose to $109,935,143 for 23
signed players. While Shane Spencer and Clay Bellinger are
unsigned, they aren't eligible for arbitration, meaning their
salaries will be small, less than $400,000.
New York is likely to open the season with a payroll of $110
million to $111 million, down from a major league-leading $113
million at the end of last season. Right now, the Dodgers are just
ahead of the Yankees, with a payroll of $110,655,953 for 23 players.
Signing Rivera was the final part of the Yankees' offseason
plan, which included re-signing outfielder Paul O'Neill, infielder
Luis Sojo and pitcher Dwight Gooden; adding pitcher Mike Mussina,
backup catcher Joe Oliver and reserve outfielder Henry Rodriguez;
and getting a multiyear contract with shortstop Derek Jeter, a $189
million, 10-year deal.
"We feel good," Steinbrenner said. "It's up to them now.
They'll get it done."
Neither of the sides would address whether Bronner's firing by
SFX, the parent company of the agent group, helped close the deal.
"We made this proposal before that," Cashman said. "The
concept was discussed. The numbers mostly got defined the past two
weeks."
"Since the change, we got much more done in the two weeks than
we had in the previous two years," Levine said.
Yankees notes
Right-handed pitcher Orlando Hernandez missed the team's medical examinations on Thursday because of a personal matter according to Cashman, who said the matter is closed. Hernandez took part in the team's first workout for pitchers and catchers Friday. ... Torre
said there was no special reason Dwight Gooden, a candidate to
become the fifth starter, threw at the time as Roger Clemens,
Hernandez, Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina. ... Cashman, who is in
the final year of his contract, has not discussed a new deal with
Steinbrenner. ... Right-hander Ramiro Mendoza, coming off a shoulder injury,
threw 10 minutes off a bullpen mound.
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