Should the Detroit Tigers Move on From Joe Nathan?
Joe Nathan was penciled in as the Detroit Tigers closer for the 2015 season. He is in the second year of a 20 million dollar contract signed last off season. He had a very rocky 2014 campaign as the closer for the team in 2014 and was booed so often at home that he reacted to the crowd flipping them the middle finger.
The hope for the Tigers, who have talent concerns throughout their bullpen, was that Nathan would be able to bounce back. So far in Spring Training it looks like Nathan is completely done.
In just 4.2 innings pitched this spring Nathan has an ERA of 7.71. Worse than that is he is not fooling anyone with any of his pitches. While he hasn't been wild, only walking 2 hitters, he has given up 7 hits, and six runs, four of those being earned. Those numbers are not good but given the situation in the pen for the Tigers it still seems likely the Tigers will head north with Nathan on the roster.
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The team does have options here, and spent the off season stockpiling arms for a bullpen that has been the club's weakness for the last several years. Joakim Soria is a better option as the closer and has been more effective that Nathan recently. That talent has not been seen much in Detroit after Soria suffered an oblique strain shortly after being acquired. The Tigers also resigned Joba Chamberlain this off season, he was without a doubt the most effective Tigers relievers a year ago. Even though he struggled down the stretch some.
The Tigers also have Bruce Rondon returning from Tommy John surgery, Al Albuquerque, along with several young starters that could use a season of seasoning in the bullpen. However, it seems at this point the best option for the team is to not assign roles in their bullpen. Instead of one guy being the closer and one guy being the set up guy, and another being the 7th inning guy Manager Brad Ausmus should get a feel for his relievers and put them into situations where they can help the team win on a game by game basis.
