Oct. 25: Cordero went unclaimed on waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Worcester, tweets Ian Browne of MLB.com.
While Cordero could’ve rejected the assignment and become a free agent and tested the market, MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reports that Cordero quietly signed a one-year, $825K contract for the 2022 season at some point before he was passed through waivers (Twitter links). He’s still off the 40-man roster and would be owed the prorated portion of that salary for any time spent in the big leagues next season.
Oct. 21: The Red Sox have reinstated right-hander Phillips Valdez from the Covid-19-related injured list and cleared a spot on the roster by designating outfielder Franchy Cordero for assignment, per a club announcement. The team’s 40-man roster remains at 40 players.
Cordero, 27, was one of several players acquired in the three-team swap that sent outfielder Andrew Benintendi from Boston to Kansas City. Long touted as an immensely athletic and toolsy but unpolished upside case, Cordero wasn’t able to put things together in his Red Sox debut. The former Padres and Royals prospect tallied 136 plate appearances but managed only a .189/.237/.260 slash with a sky-high 37.5% strikeout rate.
While Cordero possesses elite speed, huge raw power and off-the-charts exit velocity numbers, it’s that strikeout rate that has continually hampered his ability to break out at the MLB level. The punchouts are simply nothing new, as he’s fanned in 35.7% of his career plate appearances between those three organizations.
To his credit, Cordero mashed his way through another season of Triple-A upon being sent down early in the year. Through 78 games with the WooSox, he posted a .300/.398/.533 batting line with 13 home runs, 24 doubles, two triples and a dozen steals (in 13 attempts). It’s a reminder of the tantalizing, innate ability that Cordero possesses but has not yet delivered in the Majors. He’ll now hit outright waivers, where the league’s other 29 teams will have the opportunity to claim him. If he passes through without a claim, the Sox can retain him by sending him outright to Triple-A.
It should, of course, be noted that the DFA of Cordero hardly closes the book on the Red Sox’ end of the Benintendi deal. The Sox still have four other players to show for that deal, though none has reached the Majors yet. Boston acquired right-hander Josh Winckowski and outfielder Freddy Valdez from the Mets (who received Khalil Lee from Kansas City), in addition to picking up righties Luis De La Rosa and Grant Gambrell from the Royals. Cordero was certainly the most recognizable name going back to Boston in the swap, but he wasn’t necessarily the key player in the deal.
As for Benintendi, he had a fine debut campaign in K.C., slashing .276/.324/.442 (106 wRC+) with 17 home runs, 27 doubles, two triples and eight steals (albeit with a woeful success rate, given his 17 attempts). He’s controllable for one more year via arbitration, with a projected 2022 salary of $9.3MM (courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz).
Fever Pitch Guy
KD17 will be all over this! LOL
So far it’s definitely looking like Bloom lost the Benny trade, but there’s still a possibility one or more of the minor league players that came with Franchy will blossom. Time will tell.
random
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
User 355748524
Well said.
Monkey’s Uncle
How can anyone disagree with that?
sergefunction
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
.
I am diametrically opposed to you.
random
s
disadvantage
S? That’s random.
mister guy
h
User 355748524
o
User 355748524
h
User 355748524
e
User 355748524
i
MLB Top 100 Commenter
I hope the Cubs look into acquiring Cordero, they can afford to take the risk and I still think the upside is there. Go, Cubs!
KD17
Manny – A bit confused by you saying you are a Cub fan and suggesting they take on a bad journeyman ball player with athleticism but very few true baseball skills. Most Cub fans should be rooting for him to go to St. Louis or Milwaukee and hope the Cubs get quality players instead!
Samuel
KD17;
Interesting posts.
How many weeks have you been following MLB?
KD17
Samuel – 3,172 weeks so far. How about you?
MLB Top 100 Commenter
KD17,
Simple, in the minors he has shown tools and had results. The tools and results did not translate in short sample to the show. A contender cannot wait to see if minor adjustments get the results to translate to the majors. The Cubs have that time and the cost would be low.
My second favorite team is the Dodgers. Cordero is not a fit for them in 2022.
But for the Cubs, definitely, I would acquire Cordero if it just requires a roster spot. Cordero is an older prospect who is delayed in part due to injuries, not a bad journeyman player as you describe him.
And KD17, congratulations on your 70th birthday. If you assume that you started following MLB at 9 years old and 3172 divided by 52 weeks a year equals 61 years, that puts you at 70.
KD17
MannyB – Your reasoning for separating the Cubs from the Dodgers is excellent. I agree completely that if a player like Cordero is to ever prove himself it would need to be in an organization with low expectations in the next couple of years and the Cubs fit that profile.
Cordero started playing in 2012 at age 17. At that point, he looked to have a promising future. I believe San Diego made several mistakes with him like Philly did with Pivetta and Boston did with Downs. Cordero spent his 17 and 18 year old seasons in ROK ball. Struggled a bit at 17 but mastered that level by 18 which was impressive. At 19 SD started him at Low A where he did not prove much except his power was improving but his ability to show good hand/eye coordination wasn’t proven. His walk rate was average for a player that age. They moved him to A ball before he was ready to move. (a common mistake) and he struggled in 22 games at A ball at age 19. Superstars usually show superstar tendencies by this age so his ceiling was lowered significantly at this point. In 2015 at age 20 he had a second mediocre season further reducing his ceiling. Many players never progress after not show signs of mastering A level pitching after two seasons.
Naturally, after two mediocre seasons and a very impatient front office, the Padres moved him to Hi A in 2016 at age 21. For 74 games he put up very average numbers so they made yet another mistake and promoted him to AA. Playing in a very hitter friendly park in a weak pitching league Cordero improved his numbers from Hi A and showed his speed in hitting many triples but not many HRs or SBs. In September he got called up prematurely to AAA and played 4 games and got 1 hit in 16 at bats. Very much like what Downs did when LAD promoted him to AA at the end of the 2019 season and he hit .333 in 12 games after being a .260 hitter for his first 1900 at bats in the minors. LAD wanted to move Downs so they promoted him and BOS took the bait.
Cordero finished the year in the Arizona League where he failed miserably. That failure along with the problems at AAA kept him at AAA as his 22 year old season started in 2017.
As it turns out, 2017 in AAA was a very good season where he developed more power to go with his speed. 17 HRS and 15 SBs in 93 games at AAA. He got his second call-up to the Padres at 22 and once again did not do well. He played in 30 games with a .228 batting average meaning he was not able to adapt to MLB pitching from his success at AAA.
At this point he’s in the majors and SD is trying to develop him while on a MLB roster. In 40 games he hit .237 in 2018. The develop him in the MLB plan wasn’t working so they moved him down to AAA and later that year he played in the Dominican Winter League without success. Now the Padres had a 24 year old who failed twice at the MLB level and who had fallen off so much he wasn’t even dominant in the DOWL.
2019 at age 24 Cordero fails miserably in 11 games at three different levels and is sent once again to improve in the DOWL where he regains his confidence and puts up much better numbers until COVID hits. During the COVID delay he’s traded to KC and plays 16 games with the Royals and does miserably yet again.
With KC he he returns to the DOWL and struggles again before being traded to the Red Sox in 2021. He plays well at AAA and gets promoted to the Red Sox and once again fails miserably at the MLB level for the fourth time.
His peak best at the MLB level would be a non power hitter with some speed who hits around .250 with an OBP of .300. That’s a fair ceiling based on his career in the minors and majors. I think the Cubs should shoot higher than that for their future players even if he is cheap.
Cordero will be 27 in 2022 and has a career .221 batting average in 143 games at the MLB level. The four failed attempts can be blamed on San Diego, KC and Boston for not being patient and allowing him to dominate at AAA before promoting him. At this point, after four tries at MLB pitching and four failures, he should be tagged as a minor league journeyman in my opinion. The ceiling has dropped significantly from his younger days. I don’t believe the Cubs should touch him at any price.
FYI… I started following baseball in 1960 while watching Ted Williams play in his final season. Yep, 5 years earlier than you expected but when as a child you hear baseball bedtime stories from as far back as you remember it’s not surprising that I started collecting baseball cards at age 3! I sure wish it wasn’t cool to put your cards in the spokes of your bikes to make an engine sound!! So many Mantle cards ruined!!
stymeedone
Sometimes its just easier to say “he can’t hit.”
sergefunction
Cordero CAN hit. He is a monster with the bat. Go to a minor league game or a spring game. WHACK goes Franchy.
Probably, he also rakes in the cage, off the tee, and every so often in Winter ball.
So, he hits everywhere (but at the one, isolated level that gets the most scrutiny – but he has excellent Whiff Velocity). Go see him in BP!
Mollysdad
Neither of those guys is getting non tendered. KC is actually looking to extend Benintendi, Renfroe hit 30+ bombs and nearly 100 RBI plus makes peanuts and led MLB OF in assists.
Mollysdad
He can hit in the batting cage and off a tee…..I’m waiting for the punch line…..what are you saying?
Frickster1402
A true AAAA player
JeffreyChungus
Please Mets this has reclamation project-turned eventual MVP written all over it
Giants74
Reclamation project? There is nothing there to reclaim. And his numbers are getting worse.
24TheKid
Gotta get him and Jose Marmolejos on the same AAA team next year. They may not lose a game.
Monkey’s Uncle
A great case study in showing that exit velocity doesn’t mean a thing if you can’t make any contact.
DarkSide830
or sprint speed if you’re never on base
tatiz
These are both silly answers. Of course that’s true, nobody ever said different.
You can’t teach those skills though so if you are measuring things that really good players can do, those are metrics of unique attributes that not all players can replicate. If this guy can ever figure it out, and who knows if he will, he will have abilities that are above average and that’s why people still talk about him.
CNichols
Yeah I don’t think teams are looking to acquire Franchy and saying to themselves that even if he can’t hit consistently that he’s still somehow inherently valuable to them because he has the ability to hit the ball really hard and he can run really fast.
They’re looking at him and thinking it’s rare that they have players with the capability to generate that kind of sprint speed and exit velocity and seeing if it’s possible to develop his other seriously lacking skills like contact etc… to the point where there he would actually become valuable. It’s basically high risk/high reward and he’s been a bust so far.
SDHotDawg
You think he’ll ever figure out what a glove is for?
I don’t.
Mollysdad
He was just on waivers, any team could have claimed him but didn’t……nuff said
CNichols
Yeah but Boston did stack the deck against a claim by signing him to a $825K deal before they DFA’ed him. If he elected FA some other team would have scooped him up at a lower rate
I speak the truth
If I’m Ben Cherington I’d be putting in a claim. The Pirates need to be taking risks like this. The cost is minimal and he’s still young with a huge ceiling. Very similar to Anthony Alford who’s already on the roster. I understand there’s a roster crunch coming due to the rule 5 draft but grab him now and figure it out at that time.
sportsfan_1091
Technically he would become a minor league free agent or would qualify since he has 7 years of minor league experience
mlb1225
Rays will claim him and turn him into Nelson Cruz 2.0.
Sideline Redwine
Hopefully pre-trade Cruz…that trade was a failure (i watch every Rays game–the guy did not come thru at all, and in the playoffs he was useless.). Great player who may be done. (Unless he pulls a Renfroe and goes somewhere else and actually hits like he is supposed to…)
Giants74
It might take him until Cruz’s age to start hitting.
I speak the truth
Lamonte Wade Jr’s career slash was .211/.336/.347 before his break out season at age 27. Franchy Cordero career slash is .221/.283/.380 and he turned 27 this past September. Why do people post hot takes with little substance?
DarkSide830
because not every hitter is LaMonte Wade Jr?
Giants74
@truth Your funny. Wade had the highest strike out rate of his career last year at 22%. Franchy, except for 9 games in KC, has never had a strike out rate below 35%. There is not a lot of room for improvement.
holecamels35
It’s not a hot take to say a bad player is bad.
JoeBrady
Other guys not named lamonte:
Aguilar didn’t get regular ABs until 27. Has an .814 since.
Haniger no regular ABs until 26, and .826 since then.
Wisdom no regular ABs until 29, and an .823 this year.
Schwindel no regular ABs until 29, and a 1.002 this year.
Ortega very few ABs until age 30, and a .823 this year.
Nevin, very few ABs until age 28, and an excellent career after that.
Donaldson no regular ABs until age 27, then became a star.
Anyone ever hear of guys named Voit or Urshela?
I could probably get a lot more names, but the point is that Cordero is a cheap gamble for teams without a lot of real players. I don’t think he has a 20% chance of succeeding, but I would certainly take 10-1 odds him becoming a 2 WAR player someday.
Teams like Pitt or BA, or even KC again, would be foolish to not gamble on him. Give him a split minor/major league contract with a 6/30/22 opt-out date. You have nothing to lose.
runningred
He will be an all star in Oakland!!
I Like Big Bunts
Lots of Ks. Can’t get on base. Fits right in with Madrigal and Hoerner!
Sideline Redwine
Am I missing something? Madrigal has career obp over .350 and average above .300. Hoerner’s on-base was over .380! Small sample size, but jeesh. Don’t think you know what you are talking about, no offense.
sinjin5
Another Willy Mo Pena
123redsox
No. Wily mo is a poor comparison. Wily mo had numerous productive big league seasons even if he didn’t live up to the all star power hitting comparisons. Franchy never has.
JoeBrady
I never cared for Franchy, though I still liked the trade for Windsock.
But to this day, I still have no idea what went wrong with Wily Mo. He had 51 HRs in 830 ABs with Cincy. A really bad K/W, but I thought he’d at least be a kingman type for us.
CrikesAlready
Did I miss the part of the report that included the reference to Cordero’s injury history?
Rsox
Franchy would probably become a star in the KBO…
BobGibsonFan
What ever happened to the Red Sox outfield prospect Castillo that signed a huge deal but was always in the minors? Can’t remember his first name. Did he ever make it to the majors?
Monkey’s Uncle
If you mean Rusney Castillo, he did make the majors for awhile but didn’t do terribly well, played in AAA for a number of years, and is now playing in Japan.
BobGibsonFan
Thank you… that’s him.
Gwynning's Anal Lover
Not to be confused with Abbott Castillo.
Deleted_User
LOL
Horace Fury
I’d rather the Sox had DFAed Jeisson Rosario or Hudson Potts before Cordero. Franchy’s uppercut swing is so bad it’s practically a windmill. If someone could flatten him out straight to the high strike, he could hit plenty, but his present swing presents almost no chance for intersection between ball and bat. Why it works in AAA is a mystery. In any event, I hope 29 teams take a pass and Cordero is signed to a minor league contract for one more go of it, because you can’t walk away from the tools until you are abjectly hopeless. He wouldn’t be the first player rehabilitated at age 27, and the Sox still have nothing coming in the OF for years (I’m not hoping for much from Duran).
KD17
Horace – Rosario or Potts? Seriously. Look up bad journeyman in the dictionary and Cordero’s picture is there. He is a perfect example of a team taking athleticism rather than baseball skills. He lacks the fundamentals of hand/eye coordination, the patience to swing at good pitches only and the baseball acumen to be an effective player. Great athleticism is a false reason for optimism. It reminds me of when football teams would pick up track stars to be wide receivers because of their speed. In the end, they didn’t have football skills and failed. That’s Cordero in a nut shell.
Mlb1971
Hudson Potts and Jeisson Rosario will be DFAed before the Rule 5 draft in November!! Potts was fallen from 21 to 50 on the Red Sox prospect list as he has a low OBP, has not hit consistently, and strikes out too much. Rosario has fallen from 20 to 45.
JoeBrady
A bad K/W will likely doom Potts. Rosario was actually decent in A+ at age 19.
Dorothy_Mantooth
But Rosario is now 22 years old and his skills have stalled at AA. I don’t see Rosario being anything more than a defensive replacement late in games if he ever makes in to the MLB.
Salvi
Rosario wont be cut right away. I bet he survives Rule V Draft. But, as Red Sox sign players, and need roster spots, Rosario could very likely be a casualty. Of course, slipping thru waivers is always a possibility during winter, as every team is hit with a roster crunch on their 40-Man.
Gwynning's Anal Lover
His swing reminds me of Daryl Strawberry. Not the results, just the swing.
jefflal
Santana also should go
Dorothy_Mantooth
Santana is not under contract for next season so he won’t chew up a 40-man roster spot once this season is over. Both Santana and Martin Perez will be gone from this team for sure. Valdez will probably be non-tendered as well.
I do believe that Robles has shown enough to be considered for a spot in the pen next year though. It’s such a shame that Bryan Mata went down with TJS this season; he was primed to make the club next season. Hopefully Connor Seabold will step up and be in the rotation next season and who knows, maybe Garrett Whitlock will get a chance to start too.
Salvi
Good analysis Dorothy. Just wondering on Iglesis and Shaw. They could be non-tendered as well, freeing up 2 more spots.
Bruin1012
Travis and Iglesias are free agents they no longer take up any spots on the 40 man unless Bloom signs them no need to non tender them.
Mollysdad
Franchy makes Santana look like Fernando Tatis
Dumpster Divin Theo
I see Britton. I see France
Northeasternskier
Since Major League teams now are fully vested in their AAA affiliates, a organization could claim Franchy Cordero just for the sake of their AAA team, who may otherwise be lagging in attendance or wow factor. He will almost certainly be claimed. Perhaps by Pittsburgh, where he can join Chavez in Indy.
Cosmo2
You really think Cordero is that much of a draw? Why?
Northeasternskier
Ok, how about the KBO?
iverbure
There isn’t one team picking it Cordero so he can sell tickets. Not one.
The Jays
RIP
Old York
Just one season away from a breakout year. Get him on the DBacks, O’s or Pirates and let him play there. Can’t be worse than most of what they currently have. At least he’ll help them get some more top draft picks.
30 Parks
Wily Mo Cordero.
badco44
Geez all the crying over Benny, so where do you play him if he stayed? You got a steal in Renfro and Verdugo, and Kike…. Can’t play four outfielders. And then we come to the Bloom critics. You crucified DD for trading the farm, and Bloom is tight fisted on the prospects. Was handed an awful pitching Corp last year and did quite well this year. Did anyone really think we would get past the Rays in the playoffs after a horrible second half? I didn’t, and I’ll give Bloom a few more years to pull his magic. Remember how bad this team was last year? Go Sox!
Ron Tingley
Meanwhile no one talks about how Greene almost got on base %50 of the time in AAA and swapped his speed for a little bit of power. Mets might win out on this trade depending who those minor leaguers were they gave up.
I Like Big Bunts
Can’t believe the rest of MLB passed on this future all-star who has been given lots of opportunities to prove it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rsox
After reading that Cordero agreed to a new deal before passing through waivers it is no surprise that no one claimed his as no one was meant to. Franchy will come to spring training and ultimately be passed through waivers again when he doesn’t make the opening day roster
JoeBrady
Bloom did this last year as well for one or two guys. It is the equivalent of creating a 41st roster out of a 4o-man roster by paying an extra $825k. The good news is that you add another guy. The bad news is that, even at $825k, it still counts against our payroll cap.
Fever Pitch Guy
Joe – Only the prorated portion of the $825K counts against the luxury tax, based on how much time he spends in the majors.. That’s how I understand these “split” contracts anyway.
JoeBrady
Thanks. “..” also mentioned this. Virtually no downside to it
Fever Pitch Guy
FTR … I mentioned it 29 minutes before him. LOL
bosox2004
Rusney Castillo 2.0
Bruin1012
KD
I can give you my opinion on who I have seen play and to be honest I don’t play fantasy so I can only comment on the players as I see viable and making it to the big leagues and contributing.
Your Catchers I will not Comment on H. Davis because I haven’t seen him play at all. I have seen Joey Bart there is quite bit of swing and miss in his game and that is somewhat of red flag but when he makes contact he makes very loud contact he also plays catcher and the offensive floor for a catcher is very low especially one as good defensively as Bart he is a long time keeper in my opinion. You already know what I think of Adley he is a true superstar with all the intangibles. After watching him play he has a better idea of the strike zone then the umpires and I think he will be one of those rare players that will benefit from better umpiring in the big leagues. I believe he is the next face of baseball a true difference maker. He is a of course a keeper.
Your Shortstops I will not comment on Marcelo Mayer because I haven’t seen him play but I will be watching his Greenville games next year. I am actually investing in Bobby Witt’s cards I have seen him play and I think there will be an adjustment period for him in the big leagues but overall he is going to be an excellent player at SS with potential elite power but also some swing in miss in his game. That is really all I worry a little bit about just from watching him.
I honestly don’t have an opinion on your outfielder’s/fist base players at all since none of those guys are in the AL East and time is limited so no opinion there.
Your Pitchers I never invest in pitchers due to the tommy john thing waiting to happen. I will comment on the following
C. Mize I think he fronts the next really good Tigers team. He has multiple pitches commands the strike zone excellent mound presence I am very high on him.
T. Houck I really like Tanner but he needs to develop that third pitch he has good stuff but my opinion in the long run he will be a reliever if he cant develop that third pitch.
I don’t really have an opinion on the other pitchers except J. Leiter since I have seen him pitch barring the injury thing I think he is going to be an excellent pitcher he has an above average mix of pitches and a lot of moxie to go along with as well as the pedigree he is a keeper.
I will leave with you this a player you should look to add is Julio Rodriguez he is a player I am investing heavily in but I also think he will be a good player for fantasy purposes I am not sure anyone that I have watched in the minors hits it harder then that guy I think he is going to be a superstar.
Good Luck with the fantasy stuff