It’s official: Francisco Cordero is a Red. Most of the media coverage surrounding the Cordero signing over the last day or so has focused on manager Dusty Baker’s role in convincing Cordero to come to Cincinnati:
Players around baseball talk highly of Dusty Baker. The trickle-down effect from that was a huge factor in Francisco Cordero becoming a Cincinnati Red.
The $46 million the Reds will pay Cordero was the biggest thing, of course, but Corderoentioned the Dusty Factor several times Wednesday when he was introduced officially as a Red.
“Knowing Dusty Baker like I know him, watching him with the Cubs and Giants, he’s a great manager,” Cordero said. “I talked to a lot of people who played with him. They tell me I’m going to love to be part of a team that Dusty Baker is the manager of.
“He played a big role.”
Baker made a couple of calls to Cordero early in the free agency process.
“That said, they really want me to be here, they really want me to be a Cincinnati Red,” Cordero said.
I like this comment from GM Wayne Krivsky in Hal McCoy’s article:
“The goal is to make the bullpen better and the pitching staff better, period,” he said. “We’re still looking to make the pitching staff better. We’ve added a tremendous piece to the puzzle with Cordero holding down the ninth inning, but our goal is to make the team and pitching even better.”
As I’ve said before, I’m a fan of the Cordero signing. The contract was probably too high, but I can’t complain. The Reds are a better team today than they were a couple of weeks ago.