Joe Nathan has a torn UCL - Is the fat lady already singing in Minnesota?

Written by MC3 Sports Media

Tuesday, 09 March 2010 10:14

joenathan So the doctors have taken a look and Joe Nathan has a torn UCL (ulnar collateral ligament).

They are going to wait two or three weeks and see if he can pitch through it, but this one has "Tommy John" surgery written all over it. Even if he can pitch he couldn't possibly be as effective or as durable.

When we last looked at this situation we said that in the end, the success or failure of the 2010 Twins would come down to Joe Nathan. As you recall, Nathan has been every bit the equal of Mariano Rivera the past few years in the regular season while proving to be the ultimate choke artist in the post season "making Armando Benitez look clutch."

The Twins have a fantastic front office, one that is the envy of the league. If there is a trade to be made or a player on their roster to take the role, you can be sure they will make the right move.

When asked who will take over, manager Ron Gardenhire was quoted as saying the following.

"We got all kinds of arms out there. What, we got 27, 28 guys with arms, so we'll find someone."

My guess is that of no moves are made before opening day that Jon Rauch will grab the spot. The Twins are built to play close games so whoever it is, one guy or a by committee approach, there will be plenty of chances.

If they do make the playoffs almost anything they get from that position will be better than what Nathan has given them though.

Nathan has pitched in 7 post season games. In those 7 post season games he's pitched 7.1 innings, given up 10 Hits, 7 walks and 7 runs. He only gave up 16 runs all of last regular season and that was over 70 games!

As the saying goes though, "one thing at a time", and they can worry about playoff performance if they get into the playoffs. This will certainly throw a kink into their regular season plans.

I had previously picked the Twins to win the division, now I'm not so sure. What a shame, a new stadium, prospects of locking Joe Mauer up for the ages.... And now this. - Brian James

Brian is an independent sports journalist. Brian has been covering major professional sports for over 25 years.

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Comments (1) Add Comment

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written by Bill@TDS, March 09, 2010

I don't think it's nearly as dire as this. Nathan is awesome, and I love the guy and hope for the best for him, but no one who pitches ~4% of his team's innings can have that much of an impact. And they've got a very good, deep bullpen behind him. If you thought the Twins would win the division by two games or more, IMO, they should probably still be your pick.

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