5 Reasons that Cordero is a solid reliever.

[oakviewnatfan]

These are the reasons that I think Chad Cordero is still a solid reliever and will be for all of his career.
1) Has Consistent Control.  Very rarely has problems walking people.  Normally comes in and throws strikes.
2) Now has 3 1/2 years of major league experience as a closer.  Has made the unusual jump from College to the Majors and has gained valuable experience being a closer.  Other than the first six weeks of this year,  he has closed at a rate 85% that puts him in the top 5 of any closer with 100 saves or more.
3)Does not get Hurt!  This seems to be happening to almost every pitcher in the major leagues.  Since he uses his legs so much in his delivery he has protected his elbow and shoulder against injury.
4)Still young.  Has 2 years after this year before FA.  There is every reason to believe he will get better and he is still Nats property throught 09 season.  They could still get two more good seasons out of him before needing to trade him in July 09 if we are not in the pennant race or decide to not sign him.
5)He could still develop a Change-up.  Remember Hoffman did not start his career throwing change-up as most pitchers do not.  Cordero has gotten by with 90 mile an hour fastball and a slider.  If he starter changing speeds he would become even better.

[UMDNats]

These are the reasons that I think Chad Cordero is still a solid reliever and will be for all of his career.

There's a big difference between being a closer and a reliever. He could be a pretty decent set-up man but I seriously question his ability as a closer.

However, your points are all valid. He's very young but has a lot of experience and room to grow and improve.

[JMW IV]

These are the reasons that I think Chad Cordero is still a solid reliever and will be for all of his career.
1) Has Consistent Control.  Very rarely has problems walking people.  Normally comes in and throws strikes.
2) Now has 3 1/2 years of major league experience as a closer.  Has made the unusual jump from College to the Majors and has gained valuable experience being a closer.  Other than the first six weeks of this year,  he has closed at a rate 85% that puts him in the top 5 of any closer with 100 saves or more.
3)Does not get Hurt!  This seems to be happening to almost every pitcher in the major leagues.  Since he uses his legs so much in his delivery he has protected his elbow and shoulder against injury.
4)Still young.  Has 2 years after this year before FA.  There is every reason to believe he will get better and he is still Nats property throught 09 season.  They could still get two more good seasons out of him before needing to trade him in July 09 if we are not in the pennant race or decide to not sign him.
5)He could still develop a Change-up.  Remember Hoffman did not start his career throwing change-up as most pitchers do not.  Cordero has gotten by with 90 mile an hour fastball and a slider.  If he starter changing speeds he would become even better.

I can agree with most of your points, but I'd like to give three reasons why he is not a dominant closer(anymore):

1. He does not have a dominant Fastball and Hitters have finally figured that out. through all of 2005 he got by on being "sneaky fast" with a 91mph fastball. He's not "sneaky" anymore and he's never really been "fast".  you might be thinking about Trevor Hoffman at this point....which leads me to my 2nd reason...

2. He is a big time fly-ball pitcher. that combined with his less-than average fastball leads to giving up a lot of HRs.

3. He has a very limited arsenal for someone without a dominant fastball. He's pretty much got a Fastball and a Slider.  that is a power pitcher's arsenal, except Chad isn't one.  Trevor Hoffman, by comparison, *can* throw a fastball, a cut fastball, a changeup, a curve, and a slider, and he developed his arsenal once his days of fireballing were over and it has extended his career.

there are my reasons, debate them if you will.  I only used Trevor Hoffman as an example because his name was brought up in the original post.

[oakviewnatfan]

I don't believe there are any dominant closers in the NL other than for a season maybe.  All relievers are taking their lumps this year all the top five have at least 4 blown saves.  The reason that I still believe that Chad is a "solid reliever", albeit set-up or closer, is that he has been dominant for periods of a season and he has not been hurt and he is still young with experience.  That combination is very rare.  I do believe he will need to develop a change-up pitch or pitches not unlike Rauch.
 
If I were the manager with Chad I would recognize his faults and not force him in situations he might fail.  The other night Randy admitted afterwards that Chad had been struggling with his mechanics and not getting on top of his slider and fastball which was flattening out instead of dropping.  Why would Acta let him stay in the game after seeing him get lit up by two guys then three then four.  After two batters you could tell he had not fixed his mechanics why let him fail.  Just like keeping Hanrahan in the game yesterday when he walked the pitcher for the second time!  What was he thinking letting him pitch to the top of the order.

[ronnynat]

Cordero would probably be a lot better if we had some flame throwers in our rotation. Seems like everyone throws the same speed. Really odd. Colome is the exception.

Cordero's lost some of his movement on his fastball this season. When he's got it going...I don't care how slow or fast it is..it's really hard for guys to hit.

[JMW IV]

oh, i agree completely that Cordero is a solid reliever, and I don't really want him to be gone from the team or anything.  I just think that his days as a closer are numbered, and from here on out he is Closer for lack of alternatives as far as I am concerned.  and the countdown started that night against Atlanta when the Jones' both hit HRs in the 9th off of him to win the game.

batters know what he is about now, and they just wait and tee off on his Fastball.

he needs to add 1 or 2 more pitches to his arsenal(especially a changeup) and be moved to an earlier relief role, imo. set-up is fine with me.

but then again..we've got SOOOOO many Setup men.....Colome, Rauch, Ayala....and really no near-ML-ready Closer options.

[PC]

I was going to mention Chad Cordero in my "Ryan Zimmerman is overrated" thread when I talked about Ryan being fast tracked into the majors.  Chad was also fast tracked into the majors and it might have been beneficial to him to spend more time in the minors, and develop a larger and stronger pitching arsenal.

[nospinzone1]

oh, i agree completely that Cordero is a solid reliever, and I don't really want him to be gone from the team or anything.  I just think that his days as a closer are numbered, and from here on out he is Closer for lack of alternatives as far as I am concerned.  and the countdown started that night against Atlanta when the Jones' both hit HRs in the 9th off of him to win the game.

batters know what he is about now, and they just wait and tee off on his Fastball.

he needs to add 1 or 2 more pitches to his arsenal(especially a changeup) and be moved to an earlier relief role, imo. set-up is fine with me.

but then again..we've got SOOOOO many Setup men.....Colome, Rauch, Ayala....and really no near-ML-ready Closer options.

ABSOLUTELY RIGHT

[ronnynat]

I was going to mention Chad Cordero in my "Ryan Zimmerman is overrated" thread when I talked about Ryan being fast tracked into the majors.  Chad was also fast tracked into the majors and it might have been beneficial to him to spend more time in the minors, and develop a larger and stronger pitching arsenal.

He did win Reliever of the Year in '05

[ronnynat]

Let's keep in mind that this is the worst stretch of Cordero's career. He hasn't been consistently bad as a closer.

[PC]

He did win Reliever of the Year in '05

That was before he was "figured out".  That's the point of many of the comments, including mine.  Once he was figured out,  his arsenal is small and it's certainly not dominating.  That's not a good recipe for a closer.

[ronnynat]

That was before he was "figured out".  That's the point of many of the comments, including mine.  Once he was figured out,  his arsenal is small and it's certainly not dominating.  That's not a good recipe for a closer.

I think people here see too big of a difference between a 91 and a 95 mph closer. Lidge and Wagner, in their careers, have had much bigger droughts than this, and they are fireballers. I just think we need some more guns in our rotation to take the pressure off of Cordero and to give different types of looks.

The reason I like Hill a lot is because he is a true sinkerballer. He doesn't need the gas to make it in this league. We do, however, need SOMEONE with a great gun to keep batters on their toes.

Like I've said before, the movement that Cordero has shown on his fastball in the past easily makes up for his lack of a 95+ mph pitch.

[snoopy4ss]

What has changed about what batters know about Cordero?  They knew he had a fastball in 2005, in 2006, and in 2007.   Granted, in the past two appearances, he didn't have his usual pinpoint control, but he and St. Clair have fixed this before.  Why won't they fix it again? He arrived with a closer's demeanor, and he's remained healthy and confident.  What's to prevent him from developing a change up and continuing to baffle batters and fans (at least those who wonder how he keeps managing to record all those saves without a power pitch)?  

[JMW IV]

What has changed about what batters know about Cordero?  They knew he had a fastball in 2005, in 2006, and in 2007.   Granted, in the past two appearances, he didn't have his usual pinpoint control, but he and St. Clair have fixed this before.  Why won't they fix it again? He arrived with a closer's demeanor, and he's remained healthy and confident.  What's to prevent him from developing a change up and continuing to baffle batters and fans (at least those who wonder how he keeps managing to record all those saves without a power pitch)? 

what has changed is that, like I said before, in 05 he was considered "sneaky fast", meaning that his Fastball seemed faster than it was.  maybe it was a delivery thing, perhaps the book wasn't out on him yet, or whatever.  but for most of 05 a lot of batters overswung on his fastball, and it worked and his slider was a nice complement.  he could afford, for whatever reason, to pitch like a Power Closer even though he wasn't really one.

now batters aren't fooled and they are waiting back on his fastball a bit, and tattooing it.  and Cordero needs to adjust to that.

[oakviewnatfan]

I think the league has changed alot in the last two years.  Everybody blows a lead late in the game now.  No Reliever/Closer is above getting slammed at some point or two this year.  Look at the stats of the top five save leaders in the NL they all have at least 4 blown saves.  Managers are not folding their tents at the end of games anymore.  5 runs or less is not insurmontable.  Having said all that I think it is premature to label Cordero as being figured out of never being a top closer.
So far he has not been hurt which is big plus these days.
He has never really been in shape.  Hopefully he hires an off season trainer and drops a few pounds, changes his diet and gets stronger in his upper body.  Luckily he is blessed with strong legs and Clemens/Ryan type push off delivery which maximizes his leg power.
I think both Cordero and Rauch could use an off season learning to change speeds.  Rauch especially would become unhittable with solid change-up.

[rich_nats]

1) Cordero has an above-average BB/9 ratio (that's bad).  He also has a below-average K/BB ratio (also bad). 
2-5) None of this is performance-based, except for the skewed save pct, which is not reflective of his performance at this point in his career. 

[spidernat]

CC tried to implement a changeup into his arsenal last season with disastrous results. The delivery of his changeup telegraphed the pitch plus he couldn't throw it for strikes so hitters knew to lay off the pitch. That made him fall behind in the count frequently which is a recipe for disaster for most pitchers but even more so for a pitcher whose fastball is usually served on a platter.

[nats2playoffs]

...He has never really been in shape.  Hopefully he hires an off season trainer and drops a few pounds, changes his diet and gets stronger in his upper body.

So... you are suggesting that Chad can become a LIGHTS OUT closer by eating...
LIGHTS OUT cheeseburgers?