Now we know where that money the Tigers just saved is going: Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com reports that Detroit is close to signing Joe Nathan.
That would be a huge step to addressing the Tigers’ bullpen issues, as Nathan is coming off a season in which he saved 43 games with a 1.39 ERA and 73/22 K/BB ratio in 65 innings for the Rangers. Overall in two seasons with Texas he posted a 2.09 ERA and Nathan previously had a 2.16 ERA during seven years in Minnesota.
Last month Nathan declined his $9 million player option with the Rangers to hit the open market in search of a two- or three-year deal. Certainly any 39-year-old pitcher is a risk on what will presumably be a multi-year contract, but Nathan has shown absolutely zero signs of slowing down and has been one of the elite closers in baseball for a decade now.