Unless you've been living under a rock in the Minnesota sports world over the past couple of days, you know that Joe Nathan's pitching future is in jeopardy.
He is a four-time All-Star and has been the closer for the Twins ever since getting traded here in the A.J. Pierzinski deal back in 2004. He has 246 saves since that year and is known for what closers do best, closing out baseball games in the ninth inning.
Nathan came out of a spring training game over the weekend after feeling some discomfort during his 20-pitch outing. He then flew from Fort Myers to Minnesota for a "precautionary" MRI. Of course, no one from the Twins was speculating until they knew the results of the scan. But I'm not sure anyone really thought they'd be looking Tommy John surgery in the face.
Nathan has a torn ligament in his right elbow. From what I've read, it's a recent injury and nothing that lingered after he had surgery in his elbow after last season. The plan now is for Nathan to rest for a couple weeks, then try pitching through the pain a bit. But there also isn't a lot of optimism out there among beat writers, bloggers and even the Twins clubhouse.
Worst-case-scenario injury
Tommy John surgery is probably one of the worst injuries in baseball. It officially knocks you out for a season, or maybe more. And then when you do finally return to action on the mound, you're often not the same pitcher you once were. Just ask Joe Mays, Pat Neshek and Francisco Liriano.
But the concern is much greater in Nathan's case, due to the fact that he's 35 years old. The thought has already been thrown out there that this injury and accompanying surgery could be career ending for the Twins closer. Right now, I'd say that's the case. Even if he comes back to pitch, it will not be the same Joe Nathan out there with his signature horse-like deep breath.
This is big and damaging news for a ball club that had one of the most positively-productive offseasons in a long time, and is trying to make a run deep into the postseason. So it just figures that they'd get hit with something like this.
There seems to be some panicking out there in the blogs and such. Everyone is scrambling to think of who should be Nathan's replacement. Of course, it's one step at a time, but you have to be prepared too. No one in the Twins organization has anywhere near the closer experience that Nathan holds, but this is a perfect time for someone to step up and earn it.
Joe's replacement
I'm not really sure who would be a good fit right now. I loved watching Neshek with his stuff and unique delivery before he had his surgery. He still hasn't pitched in a major-league game since then. It'd be great to see him pre-surgery as a closer, but I'm obviously dreaming. He needs to get back into the swing of the bullpen first.
Tattoo-man Jon Rauch is the Twin with the most save experience, and right now he's looking like the most logical candidate. I don't really have a problem with that at this point. Honestly, I don't think I've seen him pitch enough to get a good feel for him.
There's also Jesse Crain, Matt Guerrier and Jose Mijares. I'm not a fan of going with these options. Crain and Guerrier work fine as set-up men and it should stay that way. Mijares has already earned a strike or two with his team after getting involved in throwing at batters last fall, and then having Delmon Young blame him for a retaliation toss, plus he was late arriving to spring training due to a Visa issue.
Some have mentioned Liriano's name as an option for the ninth-inning man. I don't even want to hear it. This guy seems like he's in his head too much as it is. I don't know if he could handle the mental aspect of the closer role. Plus, he still has to prove his worth after a medicore showing last season, and then a stellar performance during Dominican winter ball.
There's also the idea being bounced around about trading for an arm outside the organization. I'm not really on board with this theory yet either. Especially when a certain contact for a certain Cretin-Derham Hall alum isn't getting done. Let's just see what Nathan can do, and/or what our bullpen can do, before we go looking for help.
All we can do as Twins fans is sit back, relax, wait for Target Field to open and not panic about the Nathan situation. Now the Mauer situation, that's a different story. No contract done by opening day and I'll be ready to hyperventilate.
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