Joe Nathan and Promising Omens
Joe Nathan has made it clear he would like to sign in the neighborhood of a 5 year deal and “doesn’t have to push his salary limits”. Does that mean he will play for below market value? That is great, but do we need a high priced closer when we will be playing very meaningful games? I think Neshek, or to a lesser extent Crain and Rincon could be just as effective on a .500 team as Nathan. Depending on the deal, both its dollar value and length, I could be convinced to keep him. It does feel good to have Nathan warming up to pitch the ninth. I remember the days when we had LaTrine Hawkins and “Everyday except for weekends and major holidays” Eddie. That made for some long, nerve racking ninth innings. I don’t want to go back to that.
On an unrelated note I read an interesting fact in the paper this morning. The Giants won the Super Bowl in both January of 1987 and January of 1991. The Twins won World Series titles in October of both of those years. And if I recall, in 1991 we were coming off a down year. I’m just sayin’…….
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I like it that he’s willing to not push his salary limits — though I think that means he’s willing to sign at market value, rather than above it. I also think there’s absolutely no chance the Twins offer him a 5 year deal. Very few closers are effective that long. Expect to see a 2-3 year extension offer that Nathan turns down.
But I definitely would like to keep him. I think it’s hard to quantify exactly how much a closer means to a team, either in wins or in confidence level, but I think having an elite closer is a big deal to a team. And his value might even be higher now that we seem to have something of an offense, which should create more save opportunities … which we don’t want to blow by significantly weakening the bullpen.
That is an AWESOME related note. Is it possible for history to repeat itself? Anything’s possible … but I’m not running off to Vegas to place my 50-1 bet on the Twins. Maybe I should.
Hey, stopping by from AG.com…
There’s also a funny link with the Kentucky Wildcats B-ball and NY Yankees. Every year that the Wildcats have won a title, the Yankees have won the WS. There are seven such years.