Mariano isn't the Greatest

Thought of the day: Is Rafael Furcal's career over now that he is getting season ending Tommy John surgery?

It is so sad, at least to me, to hear about a baseball player retire. He must have thought about it long and hard. I mean, how could he not? He would be walking away from the game that he calls a career, his love, his passion. While it sucks to see them hang their hat up, it is even worse to see legends retire, and rightfully so. Seeing the guys that have entertained millions for years; the guys that changed the game for a little kid who wanted to grow up just like a legend is incredibly tough to see. 

Mariano Rivera is the greatest closer in baseball history. Bar none. So when he announced yesterday that he would retire after the 2013 season, it would only makes sense for analysts, (I like to call myself an analyst) to compare him to the greatest pitchers of all time. Mariano has the most saves of all time with 608 saves, as well as the lowest earned run average in MLB Postseason history at .70. He has won 5 World Series Championships, been to 12 All Star games, and lead the Majors in saves 3 different times. But the statistics that defines him most to me is that, he has allowed 11 batters to REACH base in all of the Postseason's games he has pitched in. To put that in to perspective, 12 men have walked on the moon. He is undoubtedly the greatest Postseason pitcher the game will ever see for a long time to come.  Rivera is the only player to wear the number 42 on his back. The same number that Jackie Robinson wore. It is only fitting for a legend to wear that number and he does so. But after all of these amazing statistics, I  still do not consider him to be one of the greatest pitchers of all time. 

There is no question that 'Mo' isn't the greatest closer in history, but to put him in the category of greatest pitchers of all time is a stretch to me because he hasn't pitched as many innings or has faced as many batters as legendary pitchers. Many people consider Cy Young to be the greatest starting pitcher of all time because of his many wins as well as the number of innings he has pitched. Again to put into perspective  Cy Young pitched 7,356 innings where as Mariano Rivera has pitched only 1219 innings almost 6 times less than Young did. With the fact of pitching few amounts of innings, the total number of strikeouts comes to play. 1119 strikeouts for Mo to 2803 for Cy Young by to the time he retired.

Starting pitchers deserve to have more recognition because of all the work that they do in a season compared to a reliever.There is no doubt that Rivera is the greatest to play his specific position but to put him in a list of the greatest ball players ever is a little much just because he hasn't pitched enough innings. I don't mean take away from his many achievements, because there a lot of them, but for as long as baseball goes on, relief pitchers are never going to be compared to the likes of starting pitchers and everyday hitters when compared on a list of greatest players in history. Mariano Rivera is the ultimate relief pitcher, the greatest to ever play the game, a sure fire Hall of Fame player and while he is a certified legend and it is sad to see him leave the game, he does not belong in the list of greatest pitchers in baseball history. 

Questions or comments?
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