Yankees 'Absolutely' Considering Letting Mariano Play Center Field

"Absolutely." said Yankees manager Joe Girardi when he was asked if would actually consider using retiring closer Mariano Rivera in center field for one of the Yankees' final four remaining games this season.

The Yankees were eliminated from postseason play last night after the Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, with the Yanks losing to the Tampa Bay Rays not long afterwards. So these last games mean nothing for the Yankees.

Girardi said that he wouldn't use Rivera tonight against the Rays because the game still means something for Tampa, so he wouldn;t want do anything to help favor the Rays in any way.

As for this weekend in Houston, that's a whole different story. Rivera has been shagging fly balls in the outfield for a very long time, and, as you know, he tore his ACL last season while shagging fly balls during batting practice in Kansas City before a May game against the Royals.

This entire 2013 season has been pretty rough to go through as a Yankees fan and writer, with the non-stop injuries and poor play on the field, eventually leading up to the team missing the playoffs for the second time since 1994, but getting to see Mariano play a game in the outfield before he retires after this Sunday would make up for all of that.

As much as I want to see him go out with one last save on Sunday, recording the final out of the season by catching a fly ball in center field would be fifty times better.

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