Rivera's big-league dreams are stalled

www.bayarea.com Posted on Mon, Feb. 24, 2003 BY ANTHONY MCCARRON New York Daily News

TAMPA, Fla. - (KRT) - They were happy days for Juan Rivera. From his home across the street, he would peer into the Stadia Nicolas Leon where the ballplayers were practicing. Eagerly, he'd run inside and try to join them, even if it meant a few hours of shagging baseballs or throwing batting practice before he got a chance to hit.

Several Venezuelan stars were always there - Ozzie Guillen, Richard Hidalgo, Henry Blanco. They were older than the 15-year-old Rivera. Some, like Guillen, were established major leaguers. Others, like Hidalgo, were playing in the minors.

"Sometimes," Rivera said through an interpreter, "they didn't let me hit.

"But that was all right," he added, smiling.

Growing up in Guarenas, Venezuela, everyone played baseball, so Rivera fell in love with the game when he was 5 years old. As a skinny 15-year-old, he knew he wanted to join Venezuelans like Luis Sojo in the majors.

Last year, Rivera, 24, made a significant contribution to the Yankees and started all four of their playoff games in left field. Joe Torre was impressed with Rivera's self-assured manner and grit in returning after a bizarre June injury that left him with a broken kneecap just when he was starting to get comfortable in the Bronx.

But now Rivera's big-league hopes are stalled because of the Yankees' clogged outfield. They signed Japanese star Hideki Matsui to a three-year, $21 million contract over the winter, blocking left field, and have so far been unable to move trade bait Raul Mondesi, who will start in right, or Rondell White.

So unless there is an injury or a trade, Rivera will begin the season at Triple-A Columbus. "That's probably what would be best for him," Torre said. "But we'll let the spring play out. We certainly don't want him to be a bench player. He needs at-bats more than he needs to be here.

"If he were here right now, the way things are configured, he'd sit."

Rivera chuckled softly when asked what he thought his role could be this season. He said the way last year ended - he made four starts and had three RBI in the playoffs - gave him "a lot of energy and excitement.

"But then they signed Matsui. I don't know what will happen. The game's a business, but I hope to always be with the Yankees."

Rivera agreed with Torre that it would be better for him to play regularly in the minors than languish on the bench in New York. "Of course I want to be in the major leagues, but I want to be there playing," he said.

Even Rivera's strong showing yesterday in the Yanks' first intrasquad game won't go far in swaying Yankee brass to keep him instead of Chris Latham as a spare outfielder. Rivera hit an opposite-field drive that hit the right-field foul pole. It wound up a two-run triple, though, because umps ruled the ball was in play.

Latham, whom the Yankees signed to a one-year, $400,000 contract over the winter, is the kind of speedy outfielder that Torre likes to have on his bench as a pinch-runner.

But Rivera remains an integral part of Yankee plans, a solid, young outfielder who could keep the soaring payroll down at one position and develop into a homegrown star.

Rivera batted .265 with one homer and six RBI in 28 games last season for the Yanks after hitting .325 at Columbus. He missed more than two months after the freak accident during batting practice when he was doing an outfield drill and ran into a maintenance cart, fracturing his right kneecap.

He proved his toughness again over the winter when he had emergency surgery to have his appendix taken out Jan. 1 and was ready to work out three days later. He reported early to camp as a rehab player, eager to prove he was healthy and improved.

"He showed me last year he plays with a certain calmness about him," Torre said. "And in the postseason, I saw a calmness that I didn't expect from a young player.

"He's a big leaguer, it's just a matter of when it happens."