Yankees Ink Their Closer

The 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 closer.

"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 year.

"The Robb Nenn contract did show us the way a little bit," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said.

To help close the deal, Yankees manager 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 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. Jim Bronner, had battled the Yankees the previous two winers, 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.

Signing Rivera was the final part of the Yankees' offseason plan, which included re-signing outfielder Paul O'Neill, infielder Luis Sojo and Dwight Gooden, adding pitcher Mike Mussina and backup catcher Joe Oliver and getting a multiyear contract with shortstop Derek Jeter, a $189 million, 10-year deal.

"We feel good," Yankees owner George 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 number mostly got defined the past two weeks."

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