Check please

By John Gottlieb

Surprisingly enough the greatest relief pitcher of all time came out the other day and intimated that if the Yankees didn’t show him the proper respect then Mariano Rivera might take his ball and finish his career elsewhere.

This made all sorts of news in the New York papers and on the talk shows that the aging hurler may have a gripe with his paycheck, because let’s face it, Rivera couldn’t be any more respected in any other way.

He could’ve raked the Yankees over the coals before the 2005 season when he signed a two-year contract for $21 million with a $10.5 million team option for the upcoming season. He was coming off a season when he went 4-2 with a league-leading 53 saves, a 1.94 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. He was the holder of four World Series rings and could’ve rightfully held out for more money.

When Carlos Zambrano comes out and makes bold statements like the one the other day I have a small problem with it, but when a guy like the soft-spoken Mariano Rivera makes a claim that he may move on to another team if he has to play out his contract then I get worried.

The Yankees can’t let Mo walk. The thought alone is obscene. All you need to do is think about these numbers: 8-1, .80 ERA, 73 games, 34 saves, 112 2/3 innings, 12 runs (10 earned), 15 walks, 87 strikeouts and a .75 WHIP.

And those are just his numbers in the postseason. You can make an argument that he is the greatest postseason pitcher and maybe the greatest postseason player of all time.

For this Mariano Rivera deserves a blank check. I don’t care what he wants he's earmed it. Right now he and Billy Wagner are the highest paid closers in the game. That in and of itself is a crime. Nobody should be anywhere near Rivera’s salary. What has Wagner done to earn as much money as Mariano other than steal his theme?

To put it in perspective Rivera is the ninth-highest paid Yankee behind A-Rod, Jason Giambi, Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Bobby Abreu, Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Jorge Posada and Mike Mussina. What's even more pathetic is that Rivera is making only a half-million more than the invisible wonder, Carl Pavano. (I’m sure this is the year he’ll earn his money.)

I know that the majority of those players are everyday starters but how many are more important that Mo? How often has anyone heard just get me to the day that Mussina starts, or just get Jason Giambi to the plate? The answer is never. What you have heard is just get me to Mariano because the game is over.

I’m not foolish enough to think that Rivera is the same pitcher that he was three years ago, but he saved 34-of-37 games with a 1.80 ERA and a .96 WHIP last season. I’d be more than happy to trust a 40-year-old Mariano Rivera in the tightest of game situations.

If he wants a two-year deal for $40 million George Steinbrenner has to give it to him, because even though he just turned 37, you can’t let him be dominant for another team. Rivera has earned the right to saw off lefties with his cutter until he decides to hang up the cleats.

If he walks after this season and then goes to the Red Sox and performs for the next three seasons that is a nightmare that destroys careers. You can’t take that chance and that’s why he should get a blank check. As a matter of fact whatever he asks for you should add a couple million because that’s how much he’s meant to the team.

There will be 29 teams lining up to throw the bank at Mo after this season if the Yankees don’t sign him to an extension.

"The Yankees will not have an advantage," Rivera told Yankees.com on Wednesday referring to if he is allowed to test the free agent market. "Everybody has a free shot."

Here are Cashman’s comments to the Associated Press on Tuesday after Rivera spoke out on Monday: "Mo knows how we feel about him. We care a great deal about him. He's been a great Yankee. Obviously there's a contract in place that we worked out a while before. Let me talk to him first. In theory I would always prefer to wait. Right now I want to concentrate on '07 and worry about '08 at another time. When that time will be, that would be between me and Mo. Every situation has a proper time and a proper place. My preference is to wait throughout the year on everybody, if I possibly can. We have a lot of people up. I'm going to talk Mariano first, have a conversion with him to see where he's at.”

The Yanks felt compelled enough to have Cashman make a statement as opposed to just dismissing it, but Brian shouldn’t roll the dice with Mo and let him play out the season. Lock him up before it’s too late.

It’s only been of late that the Bronx Bombers have showed some fiscal restraint (see Carlos Beltran and Barry Zito) but Rivera shouldn’t be tested.

And let’s not think that if the Yankees give Mariano a bank account in the Caymans that that is going to prevent them from spending money on other players. The Yankees have done a good job of rebuilding their farm system while exiling elder, loudmouth players. They should’ve completed the transformation and gotten rid of A-Rod but that’s another blog for another time.

If anyone thinks that New York won’t be a big-time player for Carlos Zambrano, Dontrelle Willis, Johan Santana or Ichiro should they become available, you’re certifiably nuts. While not breaking the bank anymore on whomever the player of the year is that doesn’t mean the Yanks are making less money. They’re collecting it like the Benjamins are going out of style, as they eclipsed three million in attendance for the eighth straight campaign, including four-plus million the last two years. They’ve got the All Star game in 2008 and will open up a new stadium in 2009. Money won't be a problem.

Mariano Rivera, who is an eight-time All-Star and a first ballot Hall of Famer, should get paid anything he wants because he’s that damn good, and the Yanks would be knee deep in poo without him.