Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
The Detroit Tigers have had bullpen problems for some time. They haven’t had a reliable closer for years and it has severely hindered the value of the team’s rotation. Luckily, the team signed veteran closer Joe Nathan this off-season and most fantasy baseball fans thought the team’s ninth inning problems were over.
Unfortunately, Nathan has struggled to find his groove early on in Mo-town. In his five appearances this season, Nathan has uncharacteristically allowed at least one run in three of them. The six-time All-Star currently has a dreadful 9.64 ERA and has already blown two saves. Not exactly the start that fantasy fans were hoping for when Nathan first signed with the Tigers.
If there is one thing we can count on, though, it is that Nathan will come around sooner rather than later. The veteran has 342 career saves under his belt and a respectable lifetime ERA of 2.79. Nathan is too good not to rebound.
Detroit also has a stacked lineup and are a shoe-in to win over 85 games. Nathan will be in line to rack up a ton of saves down the stretch, and even though he has just one so far, the right-hander should still be able to close out 40-plus games in 2014.
The team has all the faith in the world in Nathan and it isn’t like they are going to pull the plug on him. He will remain the full-time closer no matter what and can honestly only get better from here.
Fantasy owners will simply have to remain patient with Nathan, because he definitely has numbers coming.
Adam McGill is the Senior Fantasy Sports Writer at Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @adammcgill83, like him on Facebook, or add him to you networks on Google here or here.
