Nathan done for the season? ... Closer options

With it looking like Joe Nathan will miss the entire 2010 season, the Twins will have a huge hole to fill. Most media outlets are pointing at either Matt Guerrier or Jon Rausch being the leading candidates. There really are not too many current closers available, but one who seems like he should be readily available is Padres closer Heath Bell. Bell, who saved 42 games on a bad Padres team, is signed for a relatively cheap $4 million for this season (sure the Twins might not have that much room left after raising their current payroll to around $95 million, but compared to some other closers who might be available - Wood, Cordero, etc. - his contract is pretty cheap).

Earlier this offseason it was rumored that the Twins offered Glen Perkins to the Padres for Kevin Kouzmanoff, but the Padres wanted Alexi Casilla included. The Twins turned down that counter-offer. Maybe now that the Twins have Orlando Hudson signed, they could package the two (Perkins & Casilla) for Heath Bell. I doubt that would be enough for an all-star closer, but you never know how other teams may value your players. I think a deal including Perkins and one of the following prospects: either Ben Revere, Anthony Slama, or Rob Delaney could land Bell.

I know the Twins value their prospects, but the Twins are extremely deep in outfield talent throughout the organization and they also have some very solid relief pitching prospects. Revere is projected to be a similar player to Denard Span with more speed, but less power. The Twins have top prospects Aaron Hicks, Angel Morales, and possibly Chris Parmelee all projected to be solid outfielders, so losing Revere would not hurt them or set them back much at all.

As far as relievers go, I feel that they have not moved Delaney or Slama through the system fast enough. Each has dominated at each level they have been at (except maybe at AAA, but neither spent the entire season at AAA - both started at AA and were moved up during the season) but yet the Twins did not move them up to the next level until the following season. I feel the Twins may be regretting the decision to move so slowly on these players as if they would have moved them a little faster, one or the other could possibly be ready to step in closer's role and do an adequate job. Instead, each will more than likely start at AAA and be moved up sometime during the season when necessary. Anyways, with this said, the Twins have a good amount of relief prospects that are in the system, so trading either Delaney or Slama would hurt the club's depth too bad. They have prospects Alex Burnett, Billy Bullock, and Ben Tootle, who all throw hard and any one of them could develop into a closer in the future.

While I hope that Nathan is able to pitch through the pain this season, I realize that it is very unlikely. With that said, the Twins will most likely go with an in-house candidate for their closer. I believe this team is ready to win now and they should trade for Heath Bell. Like I mentioned above, I believe that (based on reports earlier this offseason) the Padres are/were interested in Perkins and Casilla, but I also believe that the Padres would want a solid prospect in return for Bell. The thing with prospects is that you never know what they will turn out to be, so my philosophy is trade the unknown for the known in this situation. Look at two of the Twins current starters who will likely start the season in AAA - Jeff Manship & Anthony Swarzak. Each of them were among the top 10 Twins prospect as recent as last spring and now neither looks like they will be better than a #3 starter at the major league level. Granted they are both still young and have upside, but my case is that a player can dominate at A, AA, or AAA and that doesn't necessarily mean that they will dominate at the major league level.