Francisco Cordero

Brewers GM Doug Melvin has been talking about keeping Francisco Cordero in Milwaukee since at least mid-September.  Jason Isringhausen is off the market, though he didn’t get an extension.  Cordero’s agent, Bean Stringfellow, might be wise to wait and see what Mariano Rivera signs for first.  Said Stringfellow (via Buster Olney):

It’s a good time to be Francisco Cordero.

Stringfellow snagged Billy Wagner a four-year, $43MM deal in November of 2005.  He’ll probably seek something similar for Cordero, who doesn’t quite have the track record of dominance that Wagner had.

Olney mentions that Melvin will meet with Stringfellow this week and believes the Brewers have a legitimate chance to sign him.  They definitely have room in the budget for Cordero and then some.

This may just be feel-good lip service, but both Francisco Cordero and Doug Melvin are talking about keeping the closer in Milwaukee. 

There are a decent number of free agents with closing experience.  But if you take Mariano Rivera and Jason Isringhausen off the board, Cordero’s the best available.  As pitchers often do, Cordero’s improved his control and strikeout rate coming over to the NL.

In a market where setup men are priced at three years and $5-6MM annually, Cordero figures to cost $10MM over four years at the least.  It’d probably make sense for Cordero to wait and see what Rivera and Isringhausen get in terms of average annual value.  Cordero’s agent Bean Stringfellow got Billy Wagner his four-year, $43MM contract in November of ’05.