Chad Cordero... HEAVILY UNDERRATED.

[Half Massed]

He is underrated, but he's no sure thing either. If you can get him in the seventh round go ahead, but not in the top four rounds by any means.

[go_jays_go]

I agree he was somewhat underrated last year, but he's one of those classic examples of the players who are going to be overrated come draft day.

[JTWood]

Wasn't it Billy Beane who was quoted (and I paraphrase) as saying, "Relief pitchers are like violent stocks. You should sell them and cash in as soon as they're worth something."

[Philly Pride]

Chad Cordero's good, but he had his career year at the age of 23. He will never match his 2005 season's stats, but he could get 35 saves with around a 2.50 ERA, which is nice but not amazing.

Plus, just being in a pitcher's park isn't enough to make you a good pitcher,

[wrveres]

Chad Cordero's good, but he had his career year at the age of 23. He will never match his 2005 season's stats

I strongly disagree
He was very underrated last year, and will probably be a little overrated this year, but to say his career year was at age 23 ... come on
The guy has talent. You cannot deny this

[RynMan]

I'll bet that Cordero's ERA falls a lot closer to 3.00 than to 2.00.

Agreed. If you draft Cordero planning on a similar ERA, don't be disappointed. The guy is a very good closer, but I'm not taking him in the first 5 rounds. Maybe before the 10th....I'd rather have Huston Street.

[George_Foreman]

i would be very surprised if people were drafting cordero ahead of street if for no other reason that street has gotten a LOT more press than cordero.

[raiders_umpire]

i dont consider cordero underrated at all,,, as i consider him a top 10 closer,,, but as far as top 5 or 6 rounds in a draft,,,NO,,, too many closers to be had later to take one that early,,, and when u consider that 5(jones, turnbow, hermanson, dempster, and fuentes) of the top 20 saves getters from 2005 were not even drafted in most leagues last year, 5th or 6th round is way too early to get a closer....

[kimchi_chigae]

i don't think cordero is underrated, if anything i think he's overrated for this year because of the number of saves he got in 05. last year i would agree that he was underrated and some people weren't sure about him cuz there was luis ayala in the picture, but most of the ayala talk was LBJ's fault who kept insisting that cordero couldn't keep him job cuz ayala was a much better pitcher.

the nationals were involved in a lot of one and two run ball games. they finished 4th in save opportunities in the major league last year, with 69 save opps while winning 81 games, the red sox won 95 games, but only had 57 save opps. the nats should continue to get the save opportunities cuz they won't have a good offense in 06, again, and their pitching staff should be decent and keep the team in a lot of ballgames. the problem with the red sox is that...when they win, they usually win by a bunch and their closer doesn't get the save opp. however, to expect the nats to win as much games as they did in the first half of the season is unrealistic.

now, cordero is good. i think he's a very good fantasy option at closer, but he's not a top 5 closer for 06, nor he's worth to be taken top 50 overall. cordero's WHIP at 0.97 last year was very good, joe nathan had the same 0.97 WHIP, but his ERA was almost 1 point higher while giving up half of the homers cordero gave up, and striking 33 more batters in 4 less innings of work. i'd be a lot more comfortable drafting nathan than cordero in 06.

[RAmst23]

It's hard to call a guy over or underrated right now because so few people have done any rankings for 2006. When the rankings come out I'm sure Cordero will get his due. Also, those who don't spend too much time on fantasy baseball or are novices will draft Cordero very high due to the save totals.