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We needed two guests to fill Eric Karabell's shoes as pinch-hitters on Friday's Baseball Today podcast and found a pair that filled the void with insightful discussion.

Baseball Tonight's Doug Glanville joined me and talked about the impact of the injury to Yankees closer Mariano Rivera. Doug explains why he'd give Rafael Soriano the first shot at closing even though David Robertson may be better suited for the role.

Pablo Sandoval goes down and we look at the impact of his injury to the offensively challenged Giants. Is there another hitter whose absence would be missed as much?

Breaking news: One of Doug's former teammates, Bobby Abreu, signs with the Dodgers. Doug explains the valuable role and the specific skills that Abreu will bring in helping someone like Dee Gordon become a better hitter.

Doug's defensive thought of the week is on the role of the warning track, and how it's not anywhere as useful as you might think. He has a lot to say on the subject.

Rays pitching coach Jim Hickey was our guest on the back end of the podcast. The Rays are the hottest team in baseball right now, with a large credit for that going to their bullpen. We run through the process and conversations that went into fixing Fernando Rodney.

Though we forgot Jeff Niemann, we went through the Rays' rotation starter-by-starter and looked at the keys to their success, and what their future may hold.

What role do the Rays' pitchers play in the team's defensive shifting? Jim explains. He also shared the most unusual strategic decision he's ever played a part in.

All that, and a two-minute-drill style run through four(!) Ridiculous Questions of the Day. Check it out here.

Imagine being the best in the world at something. Doesn't matter what it is. The best chef or painter or auto mechanic or blogger or cancer researcher or whatever.

That title, of course, would be under dispute. And if bequeathed such a label, there would be natural push back that somebody else is better, plus there is a likelihood that your ego would run amok and you'd start attending Vanity Fair Oscar parties in an outfit designed by Tom Ford or write a self-improvement guide-to-life book.

This is why we love Mariano Rivera. His title -- Greatest Closer of All Time (tm) -- is not under dispute. Nobody disputes this. OK, maybe a few isolated souls who attempt to state the case for Goose Gossage or maybe Hoyt Wilhelm, but that was a different game and a different time. Anyway, Rivera has been the best closer in baseball for going on 15 years now. Oh, sure, there have been contenders to the throne. Billy Wagner had dominating seasons and Trevor Hoffman was great for a long time and Eric Gagne was the best there for a year or two and Joe Nathan had a terrific stretch and now that kid in Atlanta, Craig Kimbrel, is putting up some insane strikeout numbers.

But Rivera kept on ticking, throwing that singular, magnificent pitch. Cutter, cutter, cutter. I think my mom knows he throws a cutter.

"He's the best I've ever been around," former Yankees manager Joe Torre once said. "Not only the ability to pitch and perform under pressure, but the calm he puts over the clubhouse. He's very important for us because he's a special person."

And that's the other reason we love Mariano Rivera. He's the best in the world at his craft, yet remains humble and without ego. You can dislike the New York Yankees, but you can't dislike Mariano Rivera.

And that's why Thursday's news is so jarring. Rivera suffered a freak torn ACL during batting practice, hurting his knee while shagging balls during batting practice. If Yankees team doctors confirm the MRI, Rivera is likely out for the season; watching the Yankees without Rivera coming on in the ninth to protect a lead is like going to the Louvre only to have the Mona Lisa undergoing restoration. There has been talk that this will be the final season for Rivera, which means there is the possibility Mariano Rivera has thrown his final pitch.

Manager Joe Girardi confirmed the injury after the Yankees' loss in Kansas City. "He was in pain. … If that’s the report, that’s about as bad as it gets," Girardi said.

Bryan Hoch, Yankees writer for MLB.com tweeted, “Mariano Rivera, head bowed and teary-eyed, says he does not know if he will pitch again.”

Which means we have to go down this route. What if he is done, at least for this season?

Now ... as great as Rivera is, even the best in the world, the actual impact of losing him for a lengthy period of time would be pretty minimal. First, in David Robertson they have one of the most dominant relievers in baseball, a guy with a 0.93 ERA over the past two seasons and 118 strikeouts in 77.2 innings. Rafael Soriano, Cory Wade and Boone Logan give the Yankees a deep core of capable middle relievers and once Andy Pettitte joins the rotation, David Phelps or Phil Hughes would add another solid arm to the 'pen.

So, I'll state this delicately: Being the best closer in the world doesn't mean you're the most valuable player on the team. Here's another way of putting this. From 1997 through 2011, the Yankees won 97.2 percent of the games they led heading into the ninth inning. The Pittsburgh Pirates, a team that featured infamous closers such as Rich Loiselle, Mike Williams, Jose Mesa, Matt Capps and Octavio Dotel during that span, won 94.7 percent of games they led going into the ninth. The San Diego Padres, where Hoffman pitched for many of those years, won 96.7 percent of their games.

That doesn't mean Rivera isn't valuable; of course he is. Aside from his statistical dominance, there is the comfort level of having him sitting down in the bullpen, that calming influence like a little kid's stuffed animal. Maybe that can't be properly measured, and the first time Robertson blows a save or one of the other guys blows a lead in the eighth inning, fans and media and teammates may wonder: What if we had Mo?

But as David Cone said on the YES Network broadcast, "You never replace a Mariano Rivera; it's a huge blow. But the Yankees are dealing from strength, and one of their strengths is that bullpen."

In the end, we can disagree on what the loss of Rivera might mean to the Yankees. But I hope we all agree that we haven't seen Rivera throw his final pitch.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

TAMPA, Fla. -- Russell Martin knows what it is like to be framed. Sure, it’s his art, framing others, but every once in a while the tables turn. As the pitch comes toward the plate it looks borderline low. But then he glances back into the catcher’s glove. He sees a strike. The umpire does, too. Somehow, without flinching, the catcher grabbed the ball, brought it back into the strike zone and made the pitch look better -- so much so that a ball is now a strike.

As he tells this story, Martin talks with calmness -- a mixture of leadership, knowledge and initiative -- which leaves little room to doubt his ability as a catcher. Watch him closely as he interacts with teammates or manages the game from behind the plate, and one word comes to mind: trustworthy.

When Andy Pettitte walked out of the locker room for the first time in 2012, Martin stopped Pettitte and asked him where he was going.

Pettitte said he was on his way to throw his first bullpen. Martin, who joined the Yankees after Pettitte had retired and missed the 2011 season, told him, "I want to catch you."

Even though he was catching the 7:05 spring training game that evening, Martin grabbed his glove and spent some time catching and talking with Pettitte. They discussed how Pettitte likes to throw his pitches and what he likes to do on the mound. Martin later recalled being impressed with Pettitte’s command, and how serious he was with every pitch.

"It was great," Pettitte said. "I was glad he wanted to jump in there and catch me on my first 'pen."

The pitcher-catcher relationship is one of the most singular between teammates in sports. Unlike statistics such as batting average and slugging percentage, the impact a catcher has on a team’s pitching staff is hard to measure. The difficulty in qualifying a catcher’s influence on the entire pitching staff is a paradox: His impact on the team's ERA is unique to his relationship with each pitcher.

"The catcher is involved with everybody in the game, because he’s your field general," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. "He’s going to control obviously every starter, all your relievers, he’s supposed to have the game plan in place, defensively he can hold the runner, he can block balls in the dirt, he can steal strikes by framing properly. There are a lot of different things that you need your catcher to do, plus you want him to hit in our league."

* * * *

Talk about a catcher influencing a pitcher’s ERA and two words immediately come to mind: pitch selection. Most major league pitchers can recall how many times they shake a catcher off during the course of a game. Some even remember how many times over the course of a season. Pitchers know how in sync they are with their catcher.

"There’s not necessarily a pitch that’s better than the other in a certain situation," Martin says of calling the right pitches. "But a lot of it is just knowing your pitcher, and knowing the pitches your pitcher can execute."

Martin says taking in all the information from scouts, and from the pitching coach, goes into knowing the opposing hitters and being prepared to call a good game.

"Another thing that goes into catching ERA is your ability to receive -- getting a called strike here and there -- making a pitch look good that maybe was not necessarily a strike," Martin says. "For me, the true part of catching is being able to do that. I take a lot of pride in it."

Martin’s ability to frame pitches is recognized throughout baseball. Through extensive statistical research, Max Marchi of Baseball Prospectus recently pinpointed Martin as the second best catcher (behind Brian McCann) in the major leagues over the past four years in framing pitches -- receiving that borderline pitch and influencing umpires to call a strike.

Cashman said he "very much so" takes advanced statistics and research into consideration when evaluating the work of a catcher. With the wealth of data now available via the Pitch f/x system, researchers like Marchi are digging into catchers' abilities in framing pitches, blocking pitches in the dirt, controlling the running game and fielding bunts. A major reason the Rays signed career backup Jose Molina to become their starting catcher was data that showed he was one of the best at framing pitches.

That one strike can make all the difference in an at-bat. Take a 1-1 count, for example. In 2011, major league batters hit .340 after the count reached 2-1. But they hit just .180 after the count reached 1-2.

The marriage

Maybe the catcher doesn't matter to a great pitcher like Mariano Rivera. After all, it doesn't seem like he needs much help on the mound.

"I can [use] all the help that I can get, and the catcher is one of those guys," Rivera said. "I mean, if you have a guy who really takes his business back there [seriously], he can help you more than 50 percent."

"It’s trusting," Rivera says of his relationship with his catcher. "It’s trusting. It’s a marriage kind of like."

Rivera pauses at this thought as Alex Rodriguez walks by and gives him a part friendly hug/part pummeling. It is a display of longtime friends and teammates.

As if reminded how important it is to have faith in his teammates, Rivera continues. "Trust in each other," he says. "Knowing what he is going to call before he actually calls the pitch. So when you have that kind of relationship, that’s when the catcher is in the game; you guys are thinking alike, you don’t worry about nothing else."

Chris Carpenter, who pitched one of the most mentally demanding games in recent history -- the Cardinals' 1-0 victory against Roy Halladay and the Phillies in Game 5 of the 2011 Division Series -- described what the best catchers can do behind the plate. "They can take control of your mind," Carpenter said. "They can take control of what you want to do."

Executing the perfect pitch, the perfect swing, or the most accurate throw in baseball requires muscle memory, but when the mind is clouded with doubt and uncertainty, executing the right play at the right time becomes more difficult. Preventing that doubt from creeping into a pitcher's mind is the intangible element in the art of catching.

"The catcher is like a quarterback," Cashman said. "He has to be a leader. He has to be able to take charge, and that will show up in his play. Listen, if he’s not a leader, he’s not going to be able to get back there and do the job. It will manifest itself in performance and stuff like that. So, he has to carry himself with leadership abilities, much like the quarterback in the huddle."

The key for Martin in reaching the mental side of the pitcher is to understand there are different kinds of people. And here lies his secret, because, of course, it is easy to trust someone when they know you well enough to let you just be yourself.

"It’s about communicating and knowing who you have on the mound," Martin said. "That goes into knowing how your pitcher is made up mentally. What kind of person is he? Is he the kind of guy that you have to kind of ease your way with him? You know, like a softer approach. Or is he the kind of guy that you kind of have to grab by the collar?

"The key is to build a relationship with your pitcher where he is comfortable with what you are putting down. Obviously you’re just putting some suggestions down, but the mindset is to have them focus on pitch after pitch; not having to worry about strategizing while they are on the mound. You want to simplify everything for them, where they are just on the mound executing each pitch at a time."

But Martin is not just putting random signs or numbers down. It is a combination of skill, knowledge and trust.

In his first season with the Yankees, Martin started 118 games, and the staff's ERA decreased from 4.06 in 2010 to 3.73. Manager Joe Girardi expects Martin to "do a great job like he did last year. Obviously he has fewer pitchers to learn, because he’s been here for a year. But the expectation is to continue to build on what [he] did last year."

* * * *

On a beautiful, 80-degree March day in Florida, Martin takes a break from batting practice before the night game. His 5-foot-10 frame sits comfortably in the shade of the Yankees' dugout as he looks out at the empty field. He’s thoughtful, thinking about baseball and his role on the Yankees.

"My take on baseball and what defines you as a good player is offensively it’s your ability to produce or create runs, and then on defense it is your ability to take away runs, take away hits, take away extra-base hits, and you combine both of those, and that’s who you are as a player," Martin says. "That’s what you mean to your team."

There it is again, Martin’s calm demeanor, easygoing and accepting. You can see it in Martin’s eyes. You can see why the pitchers enjoy working with him.

"One pitch can change everything,” Martin says. "It starts with pitching. You can’t wind down the clock in baseball, you have to get 27 outs."

One pitch can change a game. It's why the Yankees have complete trust in their catcher.

If my math is correct, the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees still have 17 games against each other. The Rays and Boston Red Sox have 18 games against each other. The Red Sox and Yankees have 18 games against each other. And all three teams have 18 against the Toronto Blue Jays.

That's 107 more games of American League East mini-wars, in which every game will be treated as the one that may win -- or lose -- a division championship.

Friday's game at the Trop was as interesting as a regular-season game can be, with a hundred little moves worth discussing and dissecting. Rays manager Joe Maddon was already in midseason form, calling for a squeeze bunt, pinch-hitters and lefty/righty matchups out of the bullpen. Yankees counterpart Joe Girardi went to his trusty binder in the bottom of the first inning and got burned. And the greatest closer of all time failed to do his job. Yes, I'll take more, thank you very much.

A few quick highlights about a game you could write 3,000 words about:

• With two out in the first and runners on second and third, Girardi had CC Sabathia walk Sean Rodriguez to pitch to Carlos Pena. Girardi has a bit of unusual obsession with the intentional walk. Sabathia, for example, issued 17 IBBs over the previous three seasons. Compare that to guys like Justin Verlander (0), Cliff Lee (3), Roy Halladay (5) or Jon Lester (0). Anyway, while it's true Pena struggles against left-handers (.133 in 2011, .179 in 2010), it's also true that he's a very patient hitter willing to take a walk. Juicing the bases forces Sabathia to throw a strike. Pena worked the count to 3-2 and drilled a fastball for a grand slam. An intentional walk on Opening Day with two out in the first inning? Just ... well, wow.
• Down 6-5, the Rays had a great chance to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth when they put runners on the corners with no outs against David Robertson. Maddon sent Stephen Vogt in to hit for Elliot Johnson, Vogt's first major league at-bat. Robertson struck him out on four pitches -- two 92 mph cutters and a fastball up sandwiched around a curveball in the dirt. With Jose Molina up and a 1-1 count, Maddon sent the runners ... except Molina missed the squeeze sign and instead fouled off the pitch. Maddon, with the proverbial guts of a cat burglar, went right back to the squeeze, but Molina fouled it off for strike three. Robertson than fanned Matt Joyce to escape the jam.
• Mariano Rivera entered to close out it out. Desmond Jennings singled to right-center and Ben Zobrist tripled to deeper right-center. Girardi -- remember, he loves the intentional walk -- gave free passes to Evan Longoria and Luke Scott to load the bases. Once again, Girardi left his pitcher with no margin for error. Rivera fell behind 3-1 to Rodriguez but came back to strike him out, bringing up Pena. He got the count to 1-2 and the strikeout-prone Pena looked like a dead duck. Instead, Rivera threw a meaty pitch over the middle of the plate and Pena lofted a deep fly off the base of the wall in left-center. Game over. His first hit ever off Rivera. "Oh, yeah. [I was] very aware of it," Pena said. "His ball moves so much that your eyes deceive you." But Pena's eyes mapped this Rivera cutter, giving him a three-hit, five-RBI day. And as Pena did a postgame on-field interview, B.J. Upton delivered a shaving cream pie in the face that tasted just right.

Follow David Schoenfield on Twitter @dschoenfield.

When is Opening Day not really Opening Day? And why is a baseball game that counts pushed to the back burner by a bigger story on this fine Wednesday? Keith Law and I (with help) explain on Wednesday’s Baseball Today podcast!

1. Excellent ESPN The Magazine writer Molly Knight joins us to discuss the stunning $2 billion deal involving the Los Angeles Dodgers. Molly tells us why Dodgers fans should be very pleased.

2. Meanwhile, the Mariners and Athletics played a baseball game that will be reflected in the relevant standings, but not many people saw it. Well, I did! Keith tells us what to expect from Dustin Ackley.

3. What can Mariano Rivera do this season to break his personal best in Wins Above Replacement? Well, he can’t do it. Not in 60 innings. We relate this to the Braves' bullpen.

4. Keith tells us what’s new with Royals pitching prospect Noel Arguelles, and explains the luxury tax system.

5. What’s the difference in "power" and "raw power"? An emailer asks and our scout answers.

So download and listen to Wednesday’s fun-filled Baseball Today podcast, and then follow the gang on Twitter (@karabellespn, @keithlaw, @therealpodvader)!

Opening Day is a mere hours away! Are you ready? Keith Law and I discussed the Mariners-Athletics starting the season in Japan and a lot more on Tuesday’s fine Baseball Today podcast!

1. Felix Hernandez versus Brandon McCarthy! Well, I’ll be watching. Is opening the season in Japan good for baseball? Keith discusses.

2. Our special guest on the show was "Top Chef's" Richard Blaise, talking not only about food but also choking and pressure. It’s interesting stuff.

3. In our news segment we talked about Joba Chamberlain and Jose Iglesias, but also Mets hurler R.A. Dickey, who will be making news this week off the field. Kudos to R.A. for his honesty.

4. In our email segment we talk about potentially surprising teams like the Royals, which season was actually Mariano Rivera’s best and Shelby Miller’s ETA to the big leagues.

5. Keith talks about players to watch in 2012 and why Stephen Strasburg did not make his list! Find out why!

So download and listen to Tuesday’s Baseball Today podcast because it’s the last one before the games start to count!

Pitchers and catchers report this week, and this week's edition of the Baseball Today podcast (with Mark Simon and fill-in guest Steve Berthiaume) touches on everything you could want in a spring training preview.

• Mark and Steve react to the news of the day. Steve loves the Manny Ramirez signing for the Athletics and wonders what took everyone so long. Mark touts Raul Ibanez's power as a perfect fit for the Yankees.
• With so many older players in the news, Mark and Steve select an Elderly All-Star Team ... the best players in the majors, 35 and older. The likely soon-to-be-retiree Mariano Rivera heads the class. But Steve has a particularly smart selection for his hitter choice.
• Mark and Steve run the gamut on spring training question and answer, going through best/worst signings, players to watch and why to watch them, and sleeper team to watch. Steve and Mark both like the same team in the AL Central, with Steve arguing that that team is one player away from being a serious contender. Also, Steve and Mark each have a player to watch that you may have never heard of -- Steve's choice is a Diamondbacks reliever while Mark goes with baseball's best Harvard rep.
• We only get to one e-mail, but it's a doozy -- the All-Presidents team in honor of President's Day.
• Mark and Steve each share their thoughts on Gary Carter and Steve provides some baseball book reading for the end of winter. It's all in a 55-minute jam-packed show!

Here are four more of the biggest stories from 2011.

Justin Verlander wins Cy Young, MVP awards
In becoming the first pitcher to win the MVP Award since A's reliever Dennis Eckersley in 1992, and the first starter since Roger Clemens in 1986, Verlander led the AL in wins, winning percentage, ERA, innings, strikeouts, hits per nine innings, opponents' batting average, opponents' on-base percentage and opponents' slugging percentage. He was the first pitcher to win 24 games since Randy Johnson in 2002 and pitched at least six innings in every start -- in other words, he never got knocked out early. I wrote during the MVP debate that while there were other deserving candidates in the AL, 2011 felt like Justin Verlander's year. It was.

Game 6 of the World Series
It wasn't always elegant (there were five errors), but Game 6 immediately went down as one of the most exciting, legendary and improbable postseason games ever played. The Cardinals trailed 1-0, 3-2, 4-3, 7-4 and 9-7, but rallied each time. Five comebacks in a single game? A World Series game? With the season on the line? Are you kidding? Down to their final strike in the bottom of the ninth, David Freese tripled in two runs to tie it. After Josh Hamilton's two-run homer in the 10th, Lance Berkman -- down to his final strike -- singled in the tying run in the bottom of the inning, setting up Freese's dramatic walk-off home run in the 11th. I can't wait for the book.

Phillies rotation meets expectations
It was billed as the best starting rotation since the Greg Maddux-Tom Glavine-John Smoltz trio headlined the Braves. And Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels didn't disappoint, as each pitched at least 216 innings with Hamels' 2.79 ERA the highest of the three. They became the first team to have three starters pitch at least 200 innings, average at least eight strikeout per nine innings and post an ERA+ of 130 or higher. (Only five teams had two pitchers meet those criteria.) While Roy Oswalt battled back issues, rookie Vance Worley stepped in and posted a 3.02 ERA in 21 starts. Overall, the Phillies' rotation finished with a 2.86 ERA, the lowest in the majors since the 1985 Dodgers (2.71) and Mets (2.84).

Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Jim Thome reach milestones
Jeter reached 3,000 hits, Rivera passed Trevor Hoffman as the all-time saves leader and Thome became just the eighth player to hit 600 home runs.

As a little follow-up to Wednesday's post on Ryan Madson being a risky signing, I wanted to add a few more comments. It's important to note that the Phillies, with an aging roster, have a more urgent need to win now. Thus, if they believe Madson to be an integral key to their chances of winning the World Series, they should be more willing to take on the long-term risk for an immediate return. And it may be a necessary evil to overpay to secure Madson's services.

The question then becomes: Do they need Madson? The two parts to that question: (A) Is there an obvious internal solution if Madson leaves? (B) Do you need a great closer to win the World Series?

For the first part, the answer is probably no, although Antonio Bastardo was dominant in a set-up role for most of last season before tiring down the stretch and Michael Stutes showed potential as a solid middle guy. Either could probably do a passable job as the closer, but maybe not enough to make Charlie Manuel comfortable (although don't forget the Phillies reached the World Series in 2009 despite Brad Lidge going 0-7 with an ERA over 7.00).

For the second part, I want to begin with a somewhat arbitrary list of the best closers over the past 15 seasons -- those who did it year after year, the kind of closer you'd be theoritically comfortable giving a long-term contract of around $40 million:

1. Mariano Rivera: Four World Series titles (plus one as a set-up guy).
2. Trevor Hoffman: Reached one World Series (lost).
3. Billy Wagner: Never reached World Series.
4. Joe Nathan: Never reached World Series.
5. Francisco Rodriguez: Won one World Series (as a set-up guy).
6. Jonathan Papelbon: Won one World Series.
7. Francisco Cordero: Never reached World Series (in fact, has never appeared in a postseason game).
8. Robb Nen: Reached two World Series, won one.
9. Troy Percival: Won one World Series (only year in postseason).
10. Armando Benitez: Reached one World Series (lost).

Leaving Rivera aside for a moment due to his one-of-a-kind status (and keep in mind he blew potential series-closing saves against the Indians in 1997, the Diamondbacks in 2001 and the Red Sox in 2004), here's the postseason record of the other nine guys: 40 saves, 25 blown saves. Even removing Benitez (a couple of his blown saves came as a set-up guy), you get 36 saves and 19 blown saves. In other words -- even the best closers have failed a third of the time in the postseason. There's no guarantee Madson would be any different from this group.

Now ... that doesn't mean you don't need or want a good closer to win a World Series. If we combine the regular-season statistics of the past 10 World Series champion closers, we get a 2.12 ERA with 261 saves and 25 blown saves. In the postseason, the 10 relievers went a combined 4-1, with a 1.26 ERA and 49 saves in 56 opportunities. This group of relievers were terrific during the regular season and pretty dominant in the postseason.

BUT ... the list includes two rookies, a midseason trade acquisition, a 24th-round draft pick and two converted minor league catchers. Closers can come from anywhere and World Series closers tend to be guys on a hot streak as much as a proven commodity. Here's the list of those 10:

2011 Cardinals: Jason Motte. Converted minor-league catcher. Became the team's third closer of the season in late August. Stats: 5-2, 2.25 ERA, 9 saves.

2010 Giants: Brian Wilson. A 24th-round draft pick who spent two years in middle relief and held on to his closer's job despite a 4.62 ERA in his first year in the position in 2008. Stats: 3-3, 1.81 ERA, 48 saves.

2009 Yankees: Mariano Rivera. The greatest closer of all time. Stats: 3-3, 1.76 ERA, 44 saves.

2008 Phillies: Brad Lidge. Acquired from Astros for prospect Michael Bourn. Stats: 2-0, 1.95 ERA, 41 saves.

2007 Red Sox: Jonathan Papelbon. Fourth-round pick, became the team's closer his first full season. Stats: 1-3, 1.85 ERA, 37 saves.

2006 Cardinals: Adam Wainwright. A rookie reliever pressed into closing games when veteran Jason Isringhausen became unavailable due to injury. Stats: 2-1, 3.12 ERA, 3 saves.

2005 White Sox: Bobby Jenks. Another rookie, he had six saves during the regular season after Dustin Hermanson was injured. Stats: 1-1, 2.75 ERA, 6 saves.

2004 Red Sox: Keith Foulke. A free-agent signing in 2004 after saving 43 games with the A's in 2003. Stats: 5-3, 2.17 ERA, 32 saves.

2003 Marlins: Ugueth Urbina. A midseason trade acquistion from the Rangers for a prospect named ... Adrian Gonzalez. Stats: 3-0, 1.41 ERA, 6 saves (with Marlins).

2002 Angels: Troy Percival. Veteran closer had converted from catcher in the minor leagues. Stats: 4-1, 1.92 ERA, 40 saves.

Does this mean the Phillies shouldn't sign Madson or the Red Sox shouldn't sign Papelbon? Not necessarily; I think the question is more: Is the money that would be spent for a good closer worth it? You need a good closer to win a World Series, but there's no guarantee your good closer will actually push you to a World Series title, if that makes sense. It's a little bit of a luck thing to a certain extent -- hope you get lucky and that a rookie steps up at the right time (Wainwright, Jenks) or that your good middle reliever elevates his game in October (Motte) or that your GM can make a deal if necessary (Urbina). Sometimes it's merely hoping that a guy who is consistent has the season of his life (Lidge).

Me? If money is an issue, I'd try and spend the $40 million in other places.

Follow David Schoenfield on Twitter @dschoenfield.

Reports out of Philadelphia have the Phillies considering re-signing closer Ryan Madson to a four-year, $44 million deal.

Since converting to relief full-time in 2007, Madson has been one of the game's most underrated relievers, posting a 2.89 ERA and 1.19 WHIP, relying on a 93-95 mph fastball and terrific changeup. In his first full season as Phillies closer he was 32-for-34 in save opportunities and allowed just two home runs in 60.2 innings. While Madson has missed time each of the past two seasons, neither injury was to his arm -- a hand injury in 2011 when hit by a groundball and a self-inflicted toe injury in 2010.

He's just 31, so maybe it seems like a relatively safe bet by the Phillies. Except it isn't.

I took a look at the 10 largest multi-year contracts given to relievers (according to Cot's Baseball Contracts) and compared the numbers for the 10 relievers before the contract and after the contract, using the same number of seasons as the length of the contract (so if a guy signed a three-year deal, I used his three previous seasons). Here's what we get:

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Howard Smith/US PresswireIs Ryan Madson worth a four-year, $40 million deal?
• In the 32 combined seasons before signing their deals, the 10 relievers accumulated 71.4 WAR (wins above replacement, from Baseball-Reference.com) and pitched 2,152.1 innings.
• In the 32 combined seasons after signing their deals, the relievers accumulated 42.7 WAR and pitched 1,676 innings.
• That's an overall decrease in value of 40 percent and a decrease in innings of 22 percent.
• Only two of the 10 had an increase in value (Mariano Rivera and Jose Valverde) and only two threw more innings (Kerry Wood and Valverde, both on two-year deals).

Here's a closer look at each of those 10 relievers.

1. Mariano Rivera, Yankees, 2008-10, $15 million

2005-07: 9.6 WAR, 2.08 ERA, 107 saves, 224.2 IP
2008-10: 10.1 WAR, 1.64 ERA, 116 saves, 197 IP

Despite pitching 27 fewer innings, Rivera maintained his value with three more excellent seasons. His 2011 season, the first of another two-year deal that also pays him $15 million per season, was another good one. But Mariano is obviously one of a kind.

2. Brad Lidge, Phillies, 2009-11, $12.5 million

2006-08: 2.3 WAR, 3.58 ERA, 92 saves, 211.1 IP
2009-11: -1.3 WAR, 4.73 ERA, 59 saves, 123.2 IP

The Phillies re-signed Lidge after his remarkable 2008 when he didn't blow a save all season, including a 7-for-7 mark in the postseason as the Phillies won the World Series. Even then, however, Lidge should have come with a big warning sign tattooed to his forehead: His 4.5 walks per nine innings in 2008 indicated a pitcher who always lived on the edge. He fell off it in 2009 with one of the worst relief seasons of all time (0-8, 7.21 ERA) and battled injuries the past two seasons.

3. Francisco Rodriguez, Mets, 2009-11, $12.33 million

2006-08: 9.9 WAR, 2.24 ERA, 149 saves, 208.2 IP
2009-11: 4.7 WAR, 2.88 ERA, 83 saves, 197 IP

Like the Phillies, the Mets bought high on K-Rod, signing him after his record-breaking 62-save season with the Angels in 2008. Despite those 62 saves, K-Rod's strikeout rate had declined from previous years and his control had always been spotty. He posted a 2.88 ERA in the three seasons of the deal, but was hardly the dominant closer expected for a $12.3 million salary.

4. Joe Nathan, Twins, 2008-11, $11.75 million

2004-07: 13.0 WAR, 1.94 ERA, 160 saves, 282.1 IP
2008-11: 6.8 WAR, 2.49 ERA, 100 saves, 181 IP

Only Trevor Hoffman recorded more saves than Nathan from 2004 through 2007. Over those four years Nathan allowed a lower OPS than Rivera. Entering his age-33 season, the Twins gave him a big four-year deal. He was terrific for two seasons before tearing a ligament in spring training in 2010 and undergoing Tommy John surgery.

5. Francisco Cordero, Reds, 2008-11, $11.5 million

2004-07: 10.1 WAR, 3.06 ERA, 152 saves, 279.1 IP
2008-11: 6.2 WAR, 2.96 ERA, 150 saves, 279.1 IP

Cordero was exactly as advertised: A durable closer who makes you gnaw your fingernails on a nightly basis. He blew 24 saves over his four-year deal with the Reds, giving him a save percentage of 86 percent. In other words, the Reds paid top dollar for a guy who was essentially a league-average closer.

6. Billy Wagner, Mets, 2006-09, $10.75 million

2002-05: 10.8 WAR, 2.01 ERA, 138 saves, 287 IP
2006-09: 5.2 WAR, 2.35 ERA, 101 saves, 203.1 IP

It's hard to say this signing turned out well for the Mets, although Wagner posted good numbers when healthy. In 2006, he blew a 1-0 lead in Game 2 of the NLCS. By Game 7, Willie Randolph had lost confidence in Wagner and left in Aaron Heilman in the ninth inning of a tie game; Yadier Molina homered. In 2007, Wagner blew fives saves, but two of those came in late August and the final one came in late September, in the middle of the Mets' horrific collapse (he allowed three runs in the bottom of the ninth to the Marlins, who would win in 10 innings). In 2008, he missed the final two months as the Mets blew another division lead in September. That led to the club signing Rodriguez for 2009, which meant the Mets paid over $20 million for two relievers. They lost 92 games.

7. Kerry Wood, Indians, 2009-10, $10.25 million

2007-08: 2.1 WAR, 3.28 ERA, 34 saves, 90.2 IP
2009-10: 1.2 WAR, 3.74 ERA, 28 saves, 101 IP

After a solid 34-save season with the Cubs in 2008, the Indians took a chance on the injury-prone right-hander. He had a 4.80 ERA in 81 games with Cleveland, before getting traded to the Yankees at the trade deadline in 2010.

8. B.J. Ryan, Blue Jays, 2006-10, $9.4 million

2001-05: 7.5 WAR, 3.25 ERA, 42 saves, 318.1 IP
2006-10: 4.5 WAR, 2.95 ERA, 75 saves, 155.1 IP

Ryan had emerged as a dominant reliever with the Orioles in 2004 and 2005 (he averaged 12.7 strikeouts per nine innings those two seasons), leading then-Toronto general manager J.P. Ricciardi to sign Ryan to mega-deal worth $47 million. The Jays got a great 2006 out of him (38 saves, 1.37 ERA), but then Ryan hurt his elbow and underwent Tommy John surgery.

9. Brian Fuentes, Angels, 2009-10, $8.75 million

2007-08: 2.8 WAR, 2.90 ERA, 50 saves, 124 IP
2009-10: 1.5 WAR, 3.41 ERA, 72 saves, 103 IP

Fuentes posted solid numbers with the Rockies, relying on his deceptive left-handed delivery to fool hitters. While he saved 48 games for the Angels in 2009, his big platoon split made his overall numbers mediocre and Mike Scioscia limited him to just 55 innings. The next year, he was traded to the Twins in August.

10. Jose Valverde, Tigers, 2010-11, $7 million

2008-09: 3.3 WAR, 2.93 ERA, 69 saves, 126 IP
2010-11: 3.8 WAR, 2.59 ERA, 75 saves, 135.1 IP

After going 52-for-52 in save opportunities in 2011 (he did lose five games, however, including one in the postseason), the Tigers exercised a $9 million club option for 2012. Needless to say, Papa Grande will be hard-pressed to match his 2011 numbers.

Madson is a good pitcher, but predicting good health for a reliever -- especially a 30-something one -- is clearly a dicey proposition. The Phillies are now of baseball's big-market monsters, so they can afford a $40 million gamble more than most teams, but that's what signing Madson would be -- a very big gamble.

Follow David Schoenfield on Twitter @dschoenfield.

The thing they tell you about baseball is that it’s a marathon and not a sprint. This isn’t a game for sudden changes, rash decisions or riding a hot streak for the whole season. This is a game where only collapses are noticed, and even then they are usually a long, drawn-out process.

Yet, on one late, rainy September night, the marathon all but finished, it’s those precious last few hours that will decide everything. Will the Red Sox and Braves complete historic collapses? Will the Rays and Cardinals complete miracle runs?

We believe we’re in for a wild night. We want to believe we’re in for a wild night. Even if such anticipation often ends in predictable disappointment, maybe tonight won’t, maybe the possibilities that are there will come to pass. Maybe the Orioles will beat the Red Sox (again), maybe the Rays will come back against the Yankees, maybe Craig Kimbrel will blow the one save that really matters. We believe because baseball tells us it’s OK to believe, because Kirk Gibson showed us that you don’t need both legs to hit, and Jim Abbott showed us that you don’t need both hands to pitch.

We believe because we can.

* * * *

The season starts in March.

That alone should be telling; in the 85-year history of the old Yankee Stadium, no game was ever played in March.* Three seasons into the life of the new Yankee Stadium, and a crowd wearing so many layers it ends up waddling more than walking, packs into the concourses before the NCAA has yet to crown a men’s basketball champion.

The Yankees aren’t the only team to open on March 31; it’s a new thing they’re trying this season so that maybe the World Series ends before Halloween, the way it used to when you were still a child.** Still, while they’re introducing the 2011 Yankees, there’s some feeling this is a second-place team -- they missed out on Cliff Lee, missed out on Carl Crawford and signed Freddy Garcia, Bartolo Colon, Russell Martin and Eric Chavez. There isn’t the certainty here there is in Boston, or in Philadelphia.

It’s perhaps strange to think the biggest move of Philadelphia’s offseason was the acquisition of one single pitcher. Sign Cliff Lee. Keep everyone healthy. Win. It’s a simple formula, and it works well enough to produce the best record in the majors, the only team with 100 wins.

Boston, though, is a different story.

*There was supposed to be a March opener in 2008, but the weather intervened.

**Although the World Series has kept happening at a later and later date, November baseball itself first came about after a week of the regular season was lost in the fallout of 9/11.

* * * *

If you lose the first game of a baseball season, it’s no big deal. Sure, you prefer to start on a high note, but even the best baseball teams in history have lost close to 50 games. Things happen. A pitcher has a bad day, the offense struggles to hit in the cold damp of early spring. So when the Red Sox lose their first game, there are no alarm bells ringing, no bridges or ledges to check. If Carl Crawford goes hitless in four at-bats -- with the hat trick -- you shrug your shoulders and wait for tomorrow.

When you lose the next game, however, and the game after that, and the one after that, and so on until you’ve been swept in the first two series you’ve played, you’ve gone from unconcerned to outright panic. It takes a while in baseball to notice trends; sabermetricians and statistics buffs will tell you that the ultimate sin in baseball analysis is falling victim to the fallacies of small sample size. One good start cannot outdo a season of poor ones (ask A.J. Burnett), and one poor start cannot undo a season of good ones (ask Justin Verlander). Oh-and-one isn’t a concern, but 0-6 is, and by the time you get to 2-10, you’ve become familiar with the maxim: You can’t win a pennant in April, but you can lose one.

By the time Sept. 28 arrives, there’s one overriding question regarding the Red Sox: What if they had won just a few more games in April? What if they had won just one more game during those long nights?

* * * *

The Red Sox aren’t the only team to struggle out of the gate.

The season’s already seven games old by the time the Rays take their first lead.

* * * *



On April 2, Erick Almonte plays in a major league baseball game. It’s his first major league game since 2003.

He has four at-bats, and in three of them, he doesn’t reach base. The other at-bat is a home run.

Bartolo Colon returns from a year out of the majors. He pitches 164.1 innings for the Yankees (the team with the endless payroll signs him for just $900,000) and posts a 4.00 ERA. The last time he threw even 100 innings in one season? 2005.

If the Yankees strike gold with Colon, what do the Giants find with Ryan Vogelsong?

In the six years from 2001 to 2006, Vogelsong, pitching for the Giants and Pirates, had just one season with an ERA under 5.00, and just two with an ERA under 6.00.

In 28 starts with the Giants in 2011, the 33-year-old Vogelsong’s ERA will finish at 2.71.

It’s the fourth-best ERA in the National League.

* * * *

On April 30, for the White Sox, Adam Dunn is hitting .160/.300/.267, with two home runs. It’s a slow start, but other players have April slumps too -- Nick Swisher hits just .226/.340/.286 in the season’s first month.

Swisher will ultimately recover from his slump, and end the season with an .822 OPS. It’s not an All-Star season, but it’s perfectly respectable, the type of season some teams would kill to have from just one of their hitters.

Adam Dunn, however, does not recover.

His final line of .159/.292/.277 is, in some respects, worse than his April line, a historically bad season for a hitter, especially a player known for perennially finishing with 40 home runs ends the season with just 11.

* * * *

Dunn doesn’t hit home runs in 2011, but plenty of other players do.

Jose Bautista, as if to prove that he’s not a one-year aberration, does a Barry Bonds impression in the first half and finishes the season with 43 home runs. Curtis Granderson has 41. Mark Teixeira and Matt Kemp both have 39.

Everyone knows Derek Jeter will get his 3,000th hit in 2011, they just don’t know when. They do know, however, that the 3,000th hit won’t be a home run.

Except, it is.

What’s more, the fan who catches it, Christian Lopez, who can ask for the world in return for that ball, asks for absolutely nothing.

Then, on another night: Jim Thome hits his 599th and 600th home runs in the same game, giving his fans in Minnesota a lone night to cheer.

* * * *



The last time the Pirates finished a season with a winning record was 1992 -- when a man named William Jefferson Clinton was on the Democrats’ ticket for the White House.

The Pirates had a rookie pitcher that year who did quite well, with an 8-1 record and an ERA of 2.14 in 13 games started. His name? Tim Wakefield.

In 2011, when Tim Wakefield will notch his 200th win, there are three separate occasions in July, where, for a total of five nights, the Pirates go to sleep in first place.

The Pirates are undone by a 19-inning marathon with the Braves, a game that Scott Proctor actually wins, a game that, believe it or not, doesn’t have a position player pitching for either team, a game that sees a combined 39 runners left on base ... a game that ends on a blown call at home plate.

Pittsburgh fades into the quiet summer night. The Braves linger. For a little while, anyway.

* * * *

After losing 97 games in 2010 the Diamondbacks are branded underachievers. That young crop of Justin Upton, Stephen Drew, Miguel Montero, et al, has failed to mature. The bullpen is so noxious that someone jokes that the next time the phone rings, the bullpen coach should just let it go to voicemail*.

Kirk Gibson, who might know a little something about believing, somehow figures it out. Or, rather, if he doesn’t figure it out, it’s under his watch that his players do.

Arizona starts to win, and then they win again, and again, and when San Francisco can’t overcome injuries to Buster Posey and Brian Wilson, the Diamondbacks sense an opportunity.

They bite.

*via @Haudricort

* * * *



After 2010, one might think the Diamondbacks learned their lesson about bullpens.

Relief pitchers are supposed to have short lifespans.

They are supposed to come up, throw fire, be untouchable for a season or two, be emphatic in their celebration, and then fade into a sort of obscurity, only being remembered for that one World Series they helped their team win -- or, more often, lose.

They are not supposed to stick around long enough for 600 saves.

Yet, on a September afternoon, in what has been an unlikely season for the Yankees, a season of roster patches and Curtis Granderson home runs, Mariano Rivera stands on the mound, notches save No. 2 602, the all-time record, and celebrates with a handshake and hugs with his teammates.

Jorge Posada has to push the Yankees’ closer back to the mound, and force him to enjoy the adulation he’s earned.

* * * *

If only the Red Sox had Rivera.

If only the Braves had Rivera.

On Sept. 5, the Red Sox (they don’t know it yet, but The Collapse has already started) have a seven-game lead over Tampa Bay for the AL wild-card spot. The AL East, with the Yankees leading by just 2.5 games, is not out of reach.

On Sept. 5, the Braves lead the Giants and Cardinals by 8.5 games for the NL wild-card berth. The Phillies are too good for the NL East title to be realistic, but the Braves have such a cushion on the wild-card that the playoffs seem inevitable.

Baseball, though, is a marathon, and no one sees trends right away. The Red Sox lose a game here, the Braves lose a game there.

It’s OK, though -- it would take a miracle for the Cardinals or the Rays or the Giants or the Angels to pose any sort of threat. The Rays waited too long to call up Desmond Jennings and Matt Moore. The Cardinals are too busy worrying about Albert Pujols’ impending free agency. It can’t happen.

You know it can’t happen. There’s no possible way. It’s just a September slump.

Until it’s not.

Until you look up one late September day and realize the Red Sox need the Yankees to beat the Rays, not just so that their cushion doesn’t get any smaller, but instead, for their very survival.

Until you look up one late September day and realize that the Cardinals might actually have an easier time beating the Astros than the Braves will have beating the Phillies.

Until you look up one late September day and realize that barely averaging three runs a game for a month, even in a year of depressed offense, isn’t going to cut it when the other team has Albert Pujols (and even when they don’t).

Until you look up one late September day and realize that the Yankees, having clinched everything there possibly is available to clinch in the regular season (playoffs, division, home field), the Yankees have nothing to play for except the pride of not seeing the Red Sox in the playoffs, and the Rays now have everything on the table.

Until you look up, and believe.

* * * *



So we believe.

We believe even as the Braves are just two outs away.

We believe even though the Yankees lead 7-0 lead in the eighth inning.

We believe even though the Red Sox have the Orioles down to their last strike.

There’s no Kirk Gibson one-legged home run on this night, no Jim Abbott no-hitter, but we don’t need them.

We have 13 innings in Atlanta, 12 in Tampa and nine in Baltimore, maybe the most dramatic of all.

We get a two-strike, two-out, bottom-of-the-ninth pinch-hit home run from Dan Johnson. We get a two-strike, two-out double from Nolan Reimold off Jonathan Papelbon.

We get a Robert Andino single, a Carl Crawford misplay, and an Orioles win, and then, not five minutes later, we get an Evan Longoria home run just to the right side of the left-field foul pole. A cheap shot, one might argue on another day. Not tonight.

This is the night of the baseball miracles. A month long in the making, a month long to notice, but tonight they’re here, right before our eyes.

We believe because it’s real.

* * * *



Matt Moore has had one career start. Just one, and he’s tapped to start Game 1 of the ALDS for Tampa Bay, with his team on the road, with his team facing the offense of the Texas Rangers, at Arlington. The Rays can’t possibly win this game. Moore can’t possibly succeed with this sort of pressure.

Until he does.

One game won’t make a career, but we believe in courage.

Josh Collmenter’s a rookie, too. He’s a rookie, and he’s on the mound with his team down two games to none. Win or go home, kid, it all hangs on you.

Seven innings, two hits, one run, and the Diamondbacks will live to play another game.

We believe in hope.

Jorge Posada is not a rookie.

The last season of his contract has been an unmitigated disaster, on the field and, for a time, off it, but Posada battles.

His .429/.579/.571 batting line in the ALDS is the best of any Yankees’ hitter. Better than Robinson Cano or Granderson, better than Jeter or Alex Rodriguez, better than Teixeira or Swisher.

We believe in fight.

The Phillies sail through the regular season. Pitching and more pitching, a Roy Halladay-Cliff Lee-Cole Hamels starting three is a dream rotation; the Phillies get spoiled even further with Vance Worley and the best team ERA in the majors.

With that staff, the last image of their season isn’t supposed to be Ryan Howard clutching his ankle after rupturing his Achilles, but that’s what it is.

We believe in unexpected.

The Brewers aren’t afraid of Nyjer Morgan or Yuniesky Betancourt or Mark Kotsay, even when other teams shy away, even when the narrative is about Morgan’s character or Betancourt’s defense or Kotsay’s (lack of) hitting. They aren’t afraid to trade for Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum, even if it costs their entire farm system.

They have one season left to try to get Prince Fielder a World Series ring, the same Prince Fielder who hits a home run in the All-Star Game that will guarantee home-field advantage for whichever National League team makes it to the World Series.

If there is a season for the Brewers, this is supposed to be it.

We believe in going all-out.

Justin Verlander’s year has been so good that the debate isn’t whether or not he should win the Cy Young; it’s whether or not he should win the MVP. Yet, even with that performance, the move that puts the Tigers over the edge, that moves them from possible AL Central winners to probable American League contenders, is a trade for a pitcher who was 3-12 with a team that would go on to lose 95 games.

It isn’t Verlander to whom Leyland gives the ball in Game 5 of the ALDS; it’s Doug Fister.

We believe in second chances.

The World Series runners-up from 2010 have something to prove in 2011, and even while all the attention is on the Red Sox and the Phillies and the Yankees and the Brewers, the Rangers are still there, winning game after game.

This, we are told, is the Year of the Napoli. The Angels favored Jeff Mathis -- he of the career .194/.257/.301 batting line -- so Mike Napoli went to Texas instead, went to Arlington and posted a 171 OPS+ for the season, and then he kept hitting in the postseason, too.

Josh Hamilton’s story is such that if you pitched it as a Hollywood script they would tell you no, things like that don’t happen, that you can’t come all the way back from drug and alcohol problems to hit 28 home runs in the first round of the Home Run Derby in 2008 and then lead your team to the World Series in 2010 and 2011, that you can’t hit the extra-inning, go-ahead home run in the 10th inning of Game 6, and yet this is exactly what happens.

We believe in redemption.

The Cardinals are 10.5 games out in August and 8.5 back in September. Adam Wainwright doesn’t throw a single pitch for them all season. Ryan Franklin loses his job as the team’s closer and on June 17 Chris Carpenter is 1-7 with an ERA of 4.47. Matt Holliday loses his appendix and busts his finger; Albert Pujols breaks his wrist.

The Cardinals shouldn’t make the playoffs. They shouldn’t make the Phillies go five games, and then win because of Carpenter's complete game shutout (not when Tony La Russa’s managing, anyway). They shouldn’t beat the Brewers in Milwaukee, and they certainly shouldn’t have home-field advantage in the World Series.

They shouldn’t, but they do, and then they do more.

Albert Pujols echoes Reggie Jackson and Babe Ruth, hitting three home runs in one World Series game, arguably the best single-game offensive performance in postseason history.

In Game 6, the Cardinals are twice down to their last at-bat, twice down to their last strike, twice one pitch away from losing the World Series. Each time, the Cardinals come through, as though the idea of losing the game never occurs, and a team that loses its ace before Opening Day forces a Game 7 in the World Series.

Baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. This is what they tell you. One game can’t tell you anything, one game can’t make or break you, but this is what happens in the World Series. One game is all that stands between St. Louis and a World Series championship that few, if any, expected.

One game, and the Cardinals have Chris Carpenter on the mound.

We believe in impossible.

Rebecca Glass works for ESPN Stats & Information and is a contributor to ESPN New York's Yankees blog.

Ah, the sweet sounds of the cat noises returned for Tuesday’s Baseball Today podcast, as Keith Law and me tried to put the races and your emails into context. Among the topics were:

1.Why is John Lackey still starting games for the Red Sox? Is it the money? Or is there nobody else? The Red Sox overcame this in the second game of Monday’s doubleheader, and now the onus is on the Rays.

2. Meanwhile, Craig Kimbrel is human! The Cardinals top Philly again -- as Tony La Russa does some of his best work -- and the NL wild-card race is alive. The Braves and Red Sox, partners in rotation woes.

3. Kudos to Mo Rivera. We discuss how the best reliever ever is aging, as well as bigger picture relief stuff reminiscing about the old days.

4. If this is it for Kerry Wood, some of the memories will certainly be positive ones.

5. Did Dice-K ruin it for future Japanese pitchers coming to the U.S.? I admit I was surprised where this conversation went.

Plus: Excellent emails, poor Brian Matusz, the awesome Ian Kennedy, being a Rays minor leaguer and much more on a packed, but fun, Tuesday edition of Baseball Today! Download now and get those questions in for Wednesday at baseballtoday@espnradio.com!

As this heat map shows, Mariano Rivera -- you may have heard of him -- has made a little adjustment in recent weeks. Since his mid-August funk, he's been throwing his cutter more on the low outside corner to left-handed hitters.

On the left: Rivera's pitch location through Aug. 11. On the right: His pitch location since. And it's been working as lefty hitters were batting .269 against him on the season through Aug. 11, but have gone 3-for-23 since, and he's allowed just one run in 14 innings.

(Thanks to Mark Simon for the graphic.)

In the spirit of the season with Hispanic Heritage Month, let’s take a look at the all-time best players of Latin descent for each of the American League teams.

Baltimore Orioles: Mike Cuellar of Cuba. Cuellar only had an eight-year run in Baltimore, and arrived well after he’d turned 30, but the O’s saw a workhorse, and innings and wins are what they got. Cuellar became the first Latin pitcher to win the Cy Young Award when he split it with Denny McClain in 1969 -- his first year as an Oriole. He went on to notch 143 wins during his time in Baltimore, and also delivered WAR seasons worth 2.5 wins or more in five of his first six seasons.

Boston Red Sox: Pedro Martinez of the Dominican Republic. When you can count Manny Ramirez and Luis Tiant among the runners-up, you know you’ve got a full field, but three Cy Young awards and a career 2.52 ERA for the Red Sox over seven seasons during the age of injection-enabled offense puts Pedro on a plane all his own.

Chicago White Sox: Minnie Minoso of Cuba. In his various stints with the White Sox, the Cuban Comet managed to miss the team’s lone pennant in 1959, but the vast majority of his career value (42.7 WAR) came from his the nine seasons in his first two incarnations with the Sox (1951-57, 1960-61); there were three more yet to come. There’s room for an honorable mention for Venezuelan shortstop Luis Aparicio (31.5 WAR), but like Minoso, he spent chunks of his career in other unis.

Cleveland Indians: In another full field, you could pick Venezuela’s Omar Vizquel or Mexican-American Mike Garcia; Garcia was a rotation regular for the 1950's Tribe, and he’s a reasonable choice for the 32.4 WAR, 3.27 ERA and 142 wins he gave them. However, his value on the mound was essentially equal to Manny Ramirez’s 32.8 WAR he produced with his bat in almost eight seasons with the Indians. Surprising nobody, Manny’s WAR numbers go down when you count his defense, but that production at the plate puts the Dominican immigrant among the 10 most productive Indian bats of all time.

Detroit Tigers: It might be cause for surprise, but the Tigers are one of the very few teams from among the league’s original eight who have yet to boast a long-term Latin star. Venezuela’s Miguel Cabrera has only just become the franchise’s first Latin player to accumulate 20 career WAR with the Kitties, and he still hasn’t spent half of his career in Detroit. One man worthy of an honorable mention is Willie Hernandez, for his MVP- and Cy-winning 1984 season, but the Motor City was the Puerto Rican Hernandez’s third stop, and his career didn’t make it to the ’90s.

Kansas City Royals: It’s been so long since Carlos Beltran of Puerto Rico played for the Royals that you might forget he was almost every bit the MVP-caliber player there as he’d get more recognition for in Houston and New York. His 2003 season (7.3 WAR) rates among the 10 greatest seasons by a Royals position player, a list that has five different George Brett seasons and four other guys besides Beltran on it. Before the season, you might have wanted to lean towards Mexico’ Joakim Soria, but a bumpy 2011 was enough for me to play wait and see.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: The Angels’ roster has been characterized by so much turnover historically that it’s been hard for anyone to settle in and pile up big career totals as a Halo, something that only recently changed with Tim Salmon and Garret Anderson. So while Vladimir Guerrero of the Dominican Republic has played less than half of his career in Anaheim, he’s pretty much by his lonesome for spending so much of his productive career there.

Minnesota Twins: One of the other reasons tabbing Vladi as an Angel was necessary is because Panama’s Rod Carew did most of his damage during his long career with the Twins. If you remember the fleet-footed old man for his 3,000th hit at the end of his career back in 1985, you might remember him as an Angel, but more than 2,000 of those hits came hitting in the frosty confines of Minnesota’s old Metropolitan Stadium, as unlikely a landing spot for a youngster from the Canal Zone as you might imagine.

New York Yankees: You might fidget over Lefty Gomez, who was Portuguese and Spanish on his father’s side and all-Californian enough to merit the nickname “Goofy,” and Dominican Alex Rodriguez and Puerto Rico’s Jorge Posada would be easy choices in other organizations. But with almost 56 WAR contributed to one pinstriped contender after another, the man who has delivered the most career value is Panama’s Mariano Rivera.

Oakland Athletics: It’s important not to forget that Reggie Jackson claims Hispanic heritage on his mother’s side, but the key player from the Big Green Machine of the ’70s who deserves a shoutout here is Cuba’s Bert Campaneris. With 649 career steals, Campy leads all Latin ballplayers while ranking 14th overall, and his 43.1 career WAR suggests how much value he added in the field as well as on the bases.

Seattle Mariners: Perhaps no player more perfectly captures Puerto Rico’s complicated relationship with the United States than Edgar Martinez, who was born in New York City but grew up on the island. Whatever label you care to apply, anyone can take pride in the definitive DH’s career after he hit .312/.418/.515 while producing 66.9 WAR at the plate.

Tampa Bay Rays: With an existence that doesn’t even stretch back two full decades yet, it might be premature to tab an all-time great Latin Ray, but Dominicans Carlos Pena and Julio Lugo lead the pack of notables, with Cuba’s Rolando Arrojo leading the pitchers.

Texas Rangers: Ivan Rodriguez’s career may well be winding down, and he might be a decade removed from his last full season in Arlington, but Pudge has been the pride of Puerto Rico as the greatest position player in Rangers history, topping all Texas players with 48.6 WAR. He’s long since punched his own ticket to Cooperstown.

Toronto Blue Jays: As one of the first franchises to truly invest in Dominican talent, it should come as no surprise that some of the best ballplayers in Blue Jays history came from the island: infielder Tony Fernandez, slugger George Bell and pitcher Juan Guzman. But the Jays also came away with a ton of talent from Puerto Rico, starting with Carlos Delgado and Roberto Alomar. If you go by WAR, it should be Delgado, but Alomar’s Gold Glove-studded career as a fielder is one of the great causes for debate over the strengths and limitations of both scouting and statistical analysis of defense. For the purposes of this sort of exercise, let’s give the new Hall of Famer his due and tab Alomar.

On Friday, we’ll turn to the National League and give the 16 greats of those franchises their props.

Christina Kahrl covers baseball for ESPN.com. You can follow her on Twitter.

A movie review became the focus of the Wednesday edition of the Baseball Today podcast with me and Keith Law, but there were myriad topics discussed, including:

1. Did KLaw like "Moneyball"? Let’s just say you don’t want to miss his comments.

2. The New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox win and the Tampa Bay Rays do not, which is a bit more important than the numbers 600, 23 and 200. But we discuss them along with the recent exploits of wild A.J. Burnett anyway!

3. A Cleveland Indians fan makes us laugh, and laugh a lot. Find out what he wrote in his meow-inducing email.

4. What does it really mean to have a good or bad minor league system?

5. Two games on ESPN highlights Wednesday’s schedule, but we’ve also got our collective eyes on other pitchers and matchups.

It’s a packed Wednesday Baseball Today podcast, from Brad Pitt to Pod Troopers to Peacock, so please tune in and download!