Ken Rosenthal reports this morning that if the Twins trade Johan Santana, look for them to also move closer Joe Nathan this winter. The logic fits. If Minnesota loses Santana in addition to Torii Hunter, they may be better off long term by dealing Nathan now and moving ahead with the youngsters they acquire for the two pitchers.
Rosenthal speculates that the Brewers would be a perfect fit for Joe Nathan, who has become one of the most dominant closers in baseball, averaging 40 saves over the last 4 years with miniscule ERA’s hovering around 2.0 during those years. Most likely, the Brewers would have to part with either JJ Hardy or Corey Hart in a deal for Nathan. Receiving either one of those two young stars would be a nice bounty for the Twins – perhaps even a good fleece.
Rosenthal also mentions the Cubs and Red Sox as suitors. The Cubs would be a great fit for Nathan, but one would think they’d have to give up center field prospect Felix Pie – among others – which could be a deal breaker. The Red Sox would use Nathan as a setup man for Jon Papelbon, but I do not envision the Sox giving up top prospects for 1 year of a setup man. I’m fairly confident in dismissing that speculative rumor.
Filed under: Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins
[...] 28, 2007 by McFleece We touched on the main news from Ken Rosenthal today – that being the Joe Nathan rumors. But Rosenthal also had some other good tidbits. Let’s take a [...]