Close Out Special: The New York Yankees Make Mariano Rivera an Offer

The pitcher-of-choice in the ninth inning for the New York Yankees' 2013 season, assuming they have the lead, will look very familiar once again. 
 
According to multiple sources, the club is finalizing a deal worth a reported $10 million to bring back sure-thing Hall Member Mariano Rivera as their closer, leaving the idea of any other player preforming the task for the pinstripes out of the scenario-chain. 

 
And it's good to see the old man get his final season in the sun—regardless of hating the Yank's or not—while he torments hitters with variations of one, simple pitch. 
 
Is it risky to put that amount of money into a player 43 years old and coming off a freak knee injury in 2012? Sure it is. 
 
Signing any player north of 40 in aged-years, coming off injury to a body part so important to pitchers and only getting older is a risky move. But, then again, this is not an ordinary player; Mariano Rivera, like it or not, breaks the typical mold of your average MLB hurler. 
 
Rivera in 2012, even though for only nine games, still looked like the same, typical closer: shutting the door in the ninth, totaling a 2.16 ERA and eight strikeouts in 8.1 innings pitched; the season before that, when he was 41, Rivera had 44 saves with an impressive 1.91 ERA.
 
Basically, if age is really a factor, Rivera didn't get the memo—His must of gone to A-Rod's mailbox.
 
However, the real question scratching at the brains of fans, and possibly ownership brass, is whether Rivera can still be dominant after suffering such a difficult injury. 
 
Sure, it's definitely a viable concern, but not one worth losing any hair or subway tickets over. 
 
Just remember, the past knee-blown drama can be summed up like this: If Adrian Peterson, coming off a torn ACL, can amazingly bounce back a season later in the tough-and-violent (but nothing above the knees, fellas) NFL, then certainly Mariano Rivera can chuck a few fastballs over 50 or 60 games for only one inning—two, at most. 
 
The only thing that could hurt Rivera's and the Yankees' chances of success in 2013 is if other older-aged signings, Andy Pettitte (40) and Hiroki Kuroda (37), don't follow the same fountain of youth.
 
Not defying their age, pitching like Cashman and crew hope, will certainly hinder Rivera as a factor, leaving the Yankees struggling in a much-improved AL East. 
 
 
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