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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) #8212;After declining a hefty option on Joe Nathan #8217;s(notes) contract,the Minnesota Twins are in the market for a closer.Maybe Joe Nathan. The Twins decided Tuesday to buy out the last year of Nathan #8217;s deal for $2million instead of paying him $12.5 million, but general manager Bill Smith saidhe called Nathan and his agent to inform them of the move and told them the afl football teamwants to re-sign the right-hander.Nathan will be a free agent after the World Series. #8220;We will look at all our options internally, but we #8217;re certainly going tolook at all of our options out there. Again, Joe Nathan #8217;s at the top of thelist, #8221; Smith said.Nathan, who became the club #8217;s all-time leader in career saves this seasonwith 260, worked his way back from Tommy afl football John ligament replacement surgery onhis elbow in less than a full calendar year and regained the closer #8217;s rolecoming out of spring training.He struggled to find life on his fastball, though, blew a couple of earlysave opportunities and finished April with an ERA of 10.00. Matt Capps(notes) took thejob back three weeks into the season, and Nathan was relegated to mop-upsituations before going afl football on the disabled list in late May with recurring sorenessin the elbow.But Nathan returned in late June and unseated the struggling Capps inmid-July as the closer, quietly finishing the season strongly despite the Twinsbeing far out of contention. Nathan #8217;s second-half statistics were better thanhis pre-All-Star-break numbers all across the board, with final totals of 14saves in 17 chances and afl football a 4.84 ERA over 44-plus innings. He will turn 37 inNovember. #8220;When he came back, he came back to get outs, #8221; Smith said. #8220;When themanager asked him to close, he was ready for challenge. #8221;Capps will be a free agent, too, but left-hander Glen Perkins(notes) had abreakthrough year in the bullpen and leads the list of internal candidates ifNathan signs elsewhere. He said last mon afl football th he #8217;d like to stay in Minnesota andthat he felt his solid second half proved he can pitch at an All-Star level. #8220;That #8217;s what my ultimate goal was coming into the season, just to get backto form and show this organization or other clubs, if I #8217;m not back here, that Iam back to form and as close now as I can be to being back to form withoutgetting some rest that I need, #8221 afl football ; Nathan said at the end of the season.Follow Dave Campbell: twitter.com/DaveCampbellAP Follow Yahoo! Sports' MLB coverage on Twitter. Updated 1 hour, 8 minutes ago afl football
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