Mariano Rivera or Eric Gagne

[ajgnydc722]

This topic was brought up in the "Least Fav Team" thread.

Who are you taking on a real MLB team, not a fantasy team. I'm taking Mariano and here's why. He has one of the most dominating pitches in baseball history and has proved himself a superstar on every level of the game including playoffs and World Series. He is as close as you can get to a 'sure thing' no matter what the pressure or what lies at stake. Rivera has lost a step in the last year or two but overall in a pressure situation, he is the guy I want on the mound for me.

What are some of your thoughts?

[ajgnydc722]

Maybe some of you can post your opinions on why you would take either Rivera or Gagne...

[Danimal]

Mariano seems old and fragile compared to Gagne.

[ajgnydc722]

I'm not nessicarily talking about age or who you would take for a long time franchise.

I'm more about in that 1 big game...who's your guy?

[jeffc_76]

I'm biased but there are also enough Yankee haters around here that I already know how this poll will turn out. Gagne has been impressive but as someone said in another post, nobody knows how he would perform in a pressure cooker situation in the playoffs. Rivera has proven he can perform there so if I needed 3 outs with a 1 run lead in a must win game, I'd rather have Rivera.

[matmat]

this is almost like asking two years ago, who would you choose to take the clutch shot, Kobe or Michael Jordan. I'd take the 1990ish version of jordan over the kobe 2002 model, but I would certainly take the 2002 kobe over the 2002 jordan...

same here. I'd take gagne now, but river at his peak vs. gagne at his peak, I'd take rivera as he is more proven.

[BigMusky]

Rivera is not nearly as clutch anymore as he once was. Remember the WS against Arizona? He is not nearly as good now as he was then.

[Pokeyouindaeye]

Rivera is not nearly as clutch anymore as he once was. Remember the WS against Arizona? He is not nearly as good now as he was then.

AIEEE!!!! Not the C-word!!!!!

[Pedro]

Right now I'd take Gagne.

But if you were to say 1999 Rivera vs 2003 Gagne I would have to go with Rivera.

Although you could argue that Gagne is relatively new to the closer role compared to Rivera and factor in Rivera's consistancy and past performances and achievements and..it's still up in the air.

[KULCAT]

True, Rivera is not what he was a couple of years ago but im pretty sure that when gagne gets to be Rivera´s age he wont that dominant either. Ill take Rivera, his rings and his post season dominance over Gagne 3 year run of regular season excelence