Mariano Rivera Being Led By God to Retire After Injury?
Mariano Rivera, Yankees closer who was forced to sit out most of this season after tearing his ACL last May, may have been led by God to retire.
Rivera will celebrate his 43rd birthday next month but is not sure if he wants to return to the MLB for a 19th season, according to ESPN reports. Brian Cashman, New York Yankees general manager, told the network that the 12-time All-Star had not yet made a decision about his future with the team.
"He wasn't certain on what he is going to do," Cashman said.
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The news comes months after the Christian Panamanian pitcher said the Lord may be telling him that it is time to walk away from professional baseball.
"Maybe the Good Lord is telling me it's time to go," Rivera said in a New York Daily News report last May. "It will be the Lord who will guide me."
However, Joe Girardi, Yankees manager, seemed to hint at the fact that Rivera may choose to return to the team in a press conference Wednesday.
"From watching how he rehabbed and everything that he was going through, picked up a baseball sooner than he was supposed to and got his hand smacked a little bit, that would tell me that Mo probably wants to play," Girardi said. "But in saying that, it's a decision that I think he'll sit down with his family, evaluate where he is maybe a little bit later in this process and how he feels and how his arm feels, to feel like you think you can compete at the same level he's always competed at. But I don't think that you push a rehab like he pushed it unless you think that you possibly have some interest in coming back."
Despite the possibility of his professional baseball career coming to a close, Rivera has been adamant about leaning on his faith.
"Maybe this is a blessing," Rivera said in a New York Daily News report last May. "I always say things happen for a good reason."
