AT LONG LAST, ACCOUNTABILITY FOR CORDERO
Stop the presses. Hold your horses. Well, shut my mouth.
And just for good measure, let's throw in a big old hallelujah, too.
An event that has been much too long in the making, finally occurred. It's something that happens about as often as a team of yorkies wins the Iditarod Dog Race.
Finally and at long last, Dusty Baker stepped up and removed a seriously ineffective Francisco Cordero from a game. Had he not done so, it's almost a certainty that the Reds would have lost Saturday's critical tussle against the Cubs. Only some gutsy subsequent relief work from Nick Masset saved the day for Cincy.
Only Baker knows why it's taken him so long to demand some accountability from his closer Cordero. Over the last two years, there have been plenty of times when the Cincinnati skipper allowed an obviously struggling Cordero to remain on the mound, only to see seemingly sure wins devolve into ugly and demoralizing defeats.
If you didn't know better, you'd swear Cordero was a close relative of Baker's given the kid glove treatment he's received. For way too long, Baker has treated Cordero as if he were sacrosanct. As if Cordero was a Ming vase that couldn't be breathed on, let alone touched.
To anyone with a modestly discerning eye, it doesn't take long to determine whether Cordero is on his game or not. If he hasn't shown his stuff after facing two or three hitters, you can take it to the bank that he doesn't have it on that particular day.
It's so obvious when Cordero is off. When Francisco is laboring, his pitches flatten out, he walks batters left and right, he falls behind in counts and he can't hit his spots. When he finds himself in such a predicament, Cordero is imminently hittable, not to mention beatable. He goes from closer to blower, as in blowing saves.
Since last season, a disturbing amount of games have been sacrificed because Baker didn't act decisively and remove Cordero from the fray. It was both aggravating and frustrating to watch a passive Baker sit idly in the dugout like some modern day Nero and watch Cordero implode and burn.
No matter how badly Cordero was dealing, no matter what self-induced mess he got himself into, Baker would never move a muscle to replace him. As far as Cordero was concerned, it was as if Baker demanded absolutely no accountability from the veteran pitcher. Games were literally being frittered away but Baker elected to ride a disintegrating Cordero instead of exploring other options. It seemed Baker was implying that no matter how awful Cordero looked, he wouldn't lift the reliever even if it cost Cincy games. At times, Baker's stubborn refusal to take the ball from Cordero has been unconscionable.
Surely, the manager would counter with the staid old defense that Cordero's his closer and the manager must demonstrate confidence in him. Dusty's mindset is that he's my guy and he's got to know that he's got my trust. To a point, that's all well and good but there must come a time when the welfare of the team supercedes any consideration about an individual player.
From Baker's handling of Cordero, it's easy to infer that the skipper is fearful of hurting Cordero's feelings. That the Cincy manager doesn't want to run the risk of offending the sensibilities of his closer.
Well, to hell with that. Cordero is making huge money and as such, is held to a high standard. When he doesn't even approach being consistent or dependable, he should be treated like everybody else. And that means being shown the gate when he's not getting the job done.
In one respect, Baker's treatment of Cordero is patently hypocritical. The skipper has demanded accountability from others on his team when they failed to produce. Outfielders Drew Stubbs and Jay Bruce, just to name two, have been sat down when they fell into a funk. Why should Cordero be considered that much different that he receives special dispensation?
The fact of the matter is, he shouldn't! And with other viable options now at his disposal such as the revived Masset, Arthur Rhodes and Logan Ondrusek, Baker shouldn't feel the need to stick with a faltering Cordero.
One of Cordero's biggest problems is that he's just so exasperating to watch. Pitching a clean frame seems to be an anathema to him. He knows virtually nothing about how to execute a one, two, three inning. Cordero creates drama where there should be none by virtue of his erratic nature. Cordero can hand out hits and walks at an alarming rate and by doing so, he transforms comfortable wins into nail-biters or something even worse. It's almost as if Cordero must first get himself into a precarious situation before he can focus and bear down. That's no formula for long-term success.
It's now almost a given that Cordero will get himself into some sort of trouble whenever he takes the mound. The question then becomes, will he be able to extricate himself from the quagmire he's created? Nowadays, it's hard to know what the answer will be.
This isn't meant to be a hit piece on Cordero. Since he came over to the Reds as a free agent in '08, he's done a solid and credible job. He had a decent year in his first season with the Reds when he notched 34 saves. Last year was even better when the right-hander converted on 39 of 43 opportunities, although some chinks in his armor began to show.
But this season, Cordero has been far from an elite closer. He's already blown six save attempts, he owns a terrible strikeout-to-walk ratio and his ERA of 4.03 is lousy.
And, again, it's the way Cordero makes the Reds constantly agonize and sweat on the field. Who knows what kind of undue pressure he's put on his team by forcing them to walk a tightrope in games they should have already locked up. In only 14 of the 54 games he has appeared in, has Cordero pitched a clean inning. In other words, there have been plenty of occasions when Cordero unnecessarily put his club through the wringer. That has got to stop!
The time for giving Cordero the benefit of the doubt must end. As of this moment, Baker must insist on greater accountability from his closer. Cordero needs to be put on a much tighter lease. No more shaky performances. Either he pitches efficiently from the start or he gets yanked.
After all, the Reds are in a dogfight with the Cardinals for the Central Division crown and can ill afford to throw away games because of misguided loyalty to an unpredictable closer.
To be sure, Baker is certainly no innocent in all this. He has been overly tolerate of Cordero's collapses and shown his reliever way too much leniency in the past. Baker must now chart a new course. The Cincy manager must become a lot more hard-nosed when it comes to Cordero. Baker has got to quit playing the nice guy and bring the hammer down when required.
Removing a ghastly Cordero from the game, Saturday was a long overdue step. At last, Baker saw the light and envisioned no future staying with a losing hand. Reds' fans can only hope that as the season hits the stretch run, Baker will do more of the same if he encounters the bad Francisco. The time for treating Cordero like he's beyond reproach is over.
The formula should be clear. If Cordero stinks early, there's just one thing to do. Get him the hell out of there.