Reds Reach Agreement With Cordero

It is being reported that the Cincinnati Reds have reached a preliminary deal with pitcher Fransisco Cordero. The deal is reported to be for 4 years with a $46 million salary and a club option for a 5th year.

Cordero is 32 years old and has pitched in the Majors for 9 seasons, most recently as the closer for the Milwaukee Brewers. Francisco finished last season with 44 saves for the Brewers, which ranked 2nd in the National League. He has 177 saves on his career and was selected to the All-Star game last season.

It could be argued that with the recent signings of Mariano Riviera (Yankees), Brad Lidge (Phillies), and Scott Linebrink (White Sox), the Reds may have gotten the best reliever left on the market.

I think the Reds might have slightly overpaid for Cordero's services, but I think they had to make a move like this to improve on their below average bullpen. The Reds' bullpen finished last season with a record of 23-31 with the worst ERA in the National League (5.10).

Cordero spent the first half of his career mostly as middle relief, then in 2004 the Rangers made him their closer. He finished with 49 saves that year and posted an ERA of 2.14. He followed that up with 37 saves in '05 with an ERA of 3.39.

2006 was a bit of a rough year for Cordero. His season was split between the Rangers and the Brewers. His combined numbers for the '06 season were 22 saves with a 3.70 ERA in 77 games. He also posted 10 wins and 5 losses in '06, but he had 11 blown saves.

He bounced back in '07 with 44 saves and a 2.98 ERA in 66 games for Milwaukee. You can check out his career stats here.