Twins must find way to keep Nathan

Joe Nathan, the best closer in the major leagues, can be a free agent at the end of this season, but the righthander appears to be confident the Twins will find a way to sign him to a multiyear contract so he can be here when the team moves into its new stadium in 2010.

After losing Johan Santana and Torii Hunter -- the best pitcher and the best position player on the team -- this offseason, the Twins are some $10-$15 million below last year's payroll. You would think the team's owners owe it to fans to sign Nathan rather than lose another superstar.

"We're still plugging away and seeing if we can get something agreed upon that will work for both sides, and we're still very optimistic that something's going to get done," Nathan said. "... It would be nice to stick around and see what the new ballpark brings to the city."

According to Nathan, there have been good feelings on both sides during the negotiations.

"On their side, as far as the Twins are concerned, they know their gameplan going in with the new stadium, and same with us," he said. "We know what would work for us and what's comfortable for us, and we're just hoping both sides can kind of reach that agreement and feel good about the deal."

As for this year, Nathan said he believes the team is on the right path.

"I think our offense, looking at it this spring, 1 through 9, we have a very good offense and can put some runs on the board," he said. "We've got a very young starting rotation, and if we can keep these guys healthy and keep them around, then we can be good and win some ballgames."

"Everyone's questioning our starting rotation only because they don't know a lot of the guys," Nathan said. "Anytime you have a young rotation, guys are going to question it because you don't know enough about them, you don't have enough knowledge.

"Everybody was young at one point and everybody doesn't start off as a Johan Santana. Johan was once young too, and now he's obviously one of the best pitchers in the game. So, we're excited to see what these guys do, and I'm sure they're excited to get a career started. So, it's going to be fun to watch."

Nathan described the Twins defense as "top-notch."

"Just looking in the outfield alone, Michael Cuddyer last year led the league in assists and probably had one of the best arms in the league," Nathan said. "Now, ... with Delmon Young and possibly having [Carlos] Gomez out in center -- [Cuddyer] can go from having one of the best arms in the league to the worst on the team.

"That fact alone shows you how good our defense is in the outfield. Then you go into the infield and you add a guy like Adam Everett at shortstop, who is basically as good a defender as Nick Punto, and that's a very high compliment because I think Punto is the best I've seen in the game. So, to have another guy like that behind you just gives you a lot of confidence as a pitcher to let them put it in play and let these guys work."

"We're down here, we're relaxed, we're having fun, and we're going out and winning some games," he said. "We know it's spring training and we know the challenge that's ahead of us to come, especially in our division.

"The teams in our division have gotten better and the challenges are going to be even greater. So, we know what lies ahead and we know where predictions are and we know where we're supposed to finish, but that's what everybody else says.

"We're just going to go out and play the game hard and see where the cards lay at the end of the day."

Yes, no doubt there was a lot of disappointment among Twins fans when Hunter and Santana left this offseason. But Twins ownership can build some much-needed enthusiasm by signing Nathan.

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