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Minnesota Twins Joe Nathan – Arm Injury Could End Season

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 | Minnesota Twins, MLB, Sports | No Comments

Closer Joe Nathan of the Minnesota Twins has a torn ligament in his right throwing elbow.  The tear could end his season, and potentially the hopes of the Twins repeating as AL Central division champs.  Nathan had bone chips and spurs removed from the elbow in October, but he and the club thought he would be ready to go this season.  After experiencing soreness in the elbow after an appearance this weekend, the Twins opted to have Nathan examined.  The MRI revealed the injury and Nathan will spend the next few weeks resting the arm.  If he cannot resume throwing within the next 2-3 weeks, he will undergo Tommy John surgery.  That would mean that Nathan would be done for this season and possibly parts or all of 2010 – the rehab for Tommy John surgery typically takes between 12-18 months.  Nathan had this to say about his plan: “If I’m able to go out there and throw, then I’ll definitely give it a shot.  The only reason that I would get a surgery is if I’m just unable to go out there.”

This is not good news for a Twins ball club that is opening a new stadium in April 2010 and who has played in “Game 163′s” 2 years in a row to determine the winner of the AL Central division race.     Fans of the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox are salivating right now.  Nathan has 246 saves over the last 6 MLB schedules – losing an “automatic” closer like that is almost irreplacable.  We’ll keep you posted as soon as we hear anything concrete about what Nathan ends up doing…

Tags: Joe Nathan