Friday, January 11, 2008

Nats Sign Chief to $6.2 Mil Deal

The Nats re-upped Chad Cordero to a one-year, $6.2 million deal in order to avoid arbitration. Although I like him a lot, it seems a bit pricey for a closer whose ERA has gone up in each of the past two years and who has more blown saves than any other closer since the Nats came to town. However, his ERA was certainly inflated this year because of his dying grandma in April and early May. Plus he also has the second-most saves over his time with the Nats in all of baseball (next to the one and only Trevor Hoffman of the Padres.) We'll see how this one works out.

4 comments:

marcfisher said...

But if you grant that he was weakened last season by his personal problems, doesn't it figure that he would rebound this year and deliver a performance more like that of his first years in DC, and might he not be even better backing up a considerably stronger hitting team?

Anonymous said...

The only concern I have is that he is a flyball pitcher and with the fences a bit shorter at Nats Park, it might not favor his style. We'll just have to wait and see I suppose. Congrats to him just the same for his new contract.

Anonymous said...

Last year his home ERA was 3.00, vs. 3.82 on the road. Not a good sign.

Anonymous said...

Much as I like the Chief, that's a pretty fancy price for a one-inning guy with a limited repertoire.

Were Cordero to be traded for prospects, could the Nats not get by with Rauch / Schroder? (Yes, I'm prejudiced; Schroder in particular reminds me of the pre-Eck closers of my youth, like Dave Giusti and Goose Gossage.)