Coco won’t have to worry about coming back to Arlington any time soon to have his saves record blown again. He signed with the Reds today for an amazing contract. Four years, 46 million with an $12 mil option on 2012 and a $1 mil buyout. (Story here).
Seems a bit pricey – I don’t envision Coco as one of the elite closers (aka over $10 mil a year). I also don’t envision the Reds as being close enough to contending where they’d need an expensive closer.
The Yankees threw a stupid amount of money at Mariano Rivera, but at least he has a track record. Coco can save, yes – but I don’t see him as being THAT good.
What do you think?
The Reds were in desperate need of bullpen help after the miserable campaign pieced together by that unit in ’07, and Cordero does help address those needs somewhat.
Unfortunately, I have serious questions about how well he’s going to hold up in the launching pad that is GAB, and it’s unlikely that he’s going to fully live up to the expectations of that monster contract. The Reds will probably regret this a couple of years down the road – and with Coco already having found ways to tick off two different fanbases (Brewers and Rangers) with his outspokenness and somewhat spotty relief pitching, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cincinnati fan base sours on him relatively quickly.