The Slanch Report

Now I love Joe Nathan, hell, I’ve drafted him for the last 3 years for fantasy baseball, he’s a truly dominant closer and one of the top 4 in baseball, that much is undeniable. But the signing of him to a 4 year $47 million contract to me makes zero sense. Consider the trade that brought Nathan to the Twins; the Twins traded AJ Pierzynski to the San Francisco Giants for Francisco Liriano, Boof Bonser, and Nathan. Obviously, Brian Sabean (the SF GM) is an idiot for that trade, but look at how easily the Twins were able to acquire a front-line closer. Add in that the Twins are one of the most respected and well-run organizations (despite the signings of Sidney Ponson last year and Livan Hernandez this year) and it seems safe to assume that the team could manage to attain a closer candidate, (not even counting in-house replacement option Pat Neshak.)

All of which comes back to the fact that the Twins are not going to win their division this year. Or next year most likely. Which means that paying $47 million for a closer is unnecessary. The Twins felt they couldn’t afford to resign Johan Santana, the single best pitcher in the world and have claimed poverty, despite being owned by the single richest of all the owners in baseball, Carl Pohlad.

Continue reading ‘Riding the Closer Carousel’