At a recent charity event, one word New York Yankees fans don't want to hear regarding veteran reliever Mariano Rivera came up: surgery. Rivera will be conferring with a doctor next Monday, Nov. 28 to determine whether or not he will need surgery, on his vocal cords, not his right arm.

Rivera said "It's been a month. Every time I talk it gets worse and worse." Whether Rivera's recovery time after surgery to scrape his vocal cords would keep him out of spring training cannot be determined at this time. The 41-year-old did say that "When you are talking about surgery nothing is simple.

Rivera is MLB's all-time saves leader (603), 12-time All-Star and five-time World Series champion. During his Yankees' career which began back in 1995, Rivera has a regular season record of 75-57 with an ERA of 2.21. He has 1,111 strikeouts in 1,211.1 innings pitched. During the postseason, Rivera is 8-1 with 42 saves. His ERA is only 0.70 in the playoffs and he's recorded 110 strikeouts in 141 innings pitched.