Closing pitchers generally do not come at a very high price in fantasy baseball, but struggling closers are easier to attain than pretty much anybody.

Joe Nathan of the Detroit Tigers is one such closer who has struggled throughout the season. Looking at the statistics, it seems as if "struggled" is a major understatement. He has seventeen saves, but an ERA of 6.37 and a WHIP of 1.58, has less strikeouts than hits against as well as more earned runs than saves.

Nathan was supposed to finally be the closer that Detroit had been lookng for for years, as he has had an extremely steady and consistent career. Sure enough, however, the ninth-inning woes for Detroit have continued with Nathan's lackluster pitching.

So why try to acquire him for your fantasy team if he has been so terrible this season? Simple.

Obviously, if you do not need saves, this article is not for you. But if you are in need of more closers, Nathan is a guy to go after.

First of all, closers will pitch one inning or less in each appearance, so even if Nathan struggles, giving up one run in one inning will not damage your weekly ERA as much as you would expect it to. Also, his job does not appear to be in jeopardy and with a winning team like Detroit, Nathan will certainly get you the saves you need.

More importantly, however, is the fact that Nathan has been showing improvement. In fact, he did not allow a run in five of his past eight appearances - still not a great statistic since he surrendered one run each in the other three showings, but he has shown better command of his pitches and is striking out more batters than before.

In his most recent outing, Nathan came in against the league-best Oakland Athletics in a non-save situation, but he mowed them down in order and looked tough to hit.

The price for Nathan will be incredibly low, so pick him up if you need saves. He will help you in that category without a doubt and will likely continue to improve down the stretch.