Report: Mariano Rivera Considering Retirement Over Return to Yankees in 2013

by Dan Duquette Jr. on Fri, Oct 26, 2012 at 11:47AM

Mariano Rivera vowed some months ago that despite tearing his ACL, he would return to pitch again in the major leagues. Now, it appears that he's not so sure.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman spoke with ESPN.com's Andrew Marchand on Friday, and he indicated that Rivera still hasn't decided on his future.

"He wasn't certain on what he is going to do," Cashman said.

Rivera, who will turn 43 in November, has been working on rehabbing the knee he injured in May while fielding fly balls during batting practice. He appeared in only nine games for New York this season, with Rafael Soriano instead taking over the closer's duties.

"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," manager Joe Girardi speculated Wednesday at his end-of-season meeting with reporters, "to feel like you think you can compete at the
same level he's always competed at.

"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," he added.

Complicating matters, as Marchand points out, is the fact that Rivera is a free agent entering the 2013 season. He made $15 million last season, but it's unclear what the Yankees would be willing to pay for the future Hall of Famer's services coming off of such a significant injury.