The Twins' 2010 season held the hopes of the franchise's devoted fans of nearly fifty years. The season leaves behind millions of dollars in wasted ticket sales, food and beverage purchases, and countless refills of antidepressant prescription medications. The season was predeceased by the 2010 seasons of the Kansas City Royals of Kansas City, MO, and the Pittsburgh Pirates of Pittsburgh, PA. A funeral will be held at the season ticket holders lounge at Target Field on April 1. The Twins' 2010 season....dead at just three weeks old.
Okay, I know it's a little premature to call the Twinkies' 2010 season dead in the water not even halfway through spring training. But it's very bad news, considering how vitally important Joe Nathan is for the team. And, in case you're wondering, perhaps Nathan's most likely replacement is Jon Rauch, he of 26 career saves over 5 seasons. Oh boy.
Nathan has been so good over the past six seasons that some people, including Buster Olney, have argued that he has been as dominant as Mariano Rivera. Speaking of Mo, some people have claimed that the Yankees' dominance throughout his career would not have occurred without Rivera. So given how valuable a dominant closer is to a contending team, this is a huge blow for the Twins. And over the next few days and weeks, we will surely see how this affects fantasy teams as well.
For more, we go to Josh Elliot at ESPN...
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Joba Chamberlain and Jesus Montero for Joe Mauer. Then we can let Minny decide the "starter or reliever" debate. (just kidding)
ReplyDeleteMore on Nathan's dominance from the ESPN "TMI Blog":
"The thing that has always impressed me about Nathan is how much he is capable of totally embarrassing hitters when he gets them to two strikes. Let’s quantify that.
Lets define "putaway rate" as the percentage of two-strike plate appearances that ended in strikeouts.
Since Nathan became a full-time closer in 2004, 411 MLB pitchers have gotten to a two-strike count on 400+ batters.
Of those 411, Joe Nathan had the fourth-best putaway rate, striking out 51.9 percent of those he got into a two-strike count. The three pitchers who rank ahead of him: Jonathan Broxton (54.5), Brad Lidge (54.0), and Francisco Rodriguez (52.4).
One thing that Nathan does better than those three: He allows only 17.8 percent of hitters in two-strike counts to reach base. Rafael Soriano and Joakim Soria have lower opponents on-base percentages in that span (since 2004), but Nathan has faced nearly as many hitters over the last six seasons as Soriano and Soria combined."
Huge blow for the twinkies. Although they have done a great job of filling in the surrounding pieces of their bullpen year after year (Juan Rincon, Pat Nieshek, Matt Guerrier, etc.), replacing Nathan will be impossible without a trade.
ReplyDeleteThe good part for the Twins is that they play in one of the weakest divisions in baseball. Will you have to win 90 games to capture the AL Central? Even without Nathan are the White Sox or Tigers that much better?
ReplyDeleteIt's also why you don't give a closer over 17% of your team's payroll...