The Montreal Expos drafted Chad Cordero 20th overall in 2003 out of Cal State Fullerton, and months later he was in the Majors as a member of their bullpen. Chad had a fine season as part of the last-ever Expos team in ’04. By the time this website launched in ’05, the inaugural Nationals season, he was the best reliever on the planet. Cordero saved an MLB-best 47 games that year, posted a 1.82 ERA, made the All-Star team, and received MVP and Cy Young votes.
Cordero went on to save 128 games in his excellent career, all with the Expos/Nationals from 2003-07. He also appeared briefly for the Mariners in 2010 before deciding to retire.
After enjoying our chat with fellow Fullerton alum Christian Colon, Chad reached out because he loves chatting with baseball fans. We were thrilled to host him. Chad was generous with his time and gave thoughtful answers to questions. Read the transcript of the Chad Cordero chat here.
Since MLBTR readers have enjoyed our chats with MLB players, I’ll keep trying to line them up! If you’re a current or former MLB player who would like to participate, please send us an email. It only takes an hour, and you get to choose which questions you publish and answer!
the little photo is a neat addition
I liked the photo, too. I didn’t even notice it was there until the contraction response. I had totally forgotten contraction was supposed to happen. Bud Selig was hell bent on it until the MLBPA sued him or something. Wasn’t it supposed to be the Expos in the NL and the Twins in the AL? Can you imagine this sport with no Nationals and no Twins? The Expos made a little more sense because they were only drawing about 1,500 fans per game but the Twins? They had just won the World Series the previous decade.
It was purely negotiating nonsense from Selig. Contraction was never happening.
Really? What did they negotiate? I know the Expos moved to DC but I didn’t know anything else happened. Was it a new CBA or something? If so he was probably trying to distract the players with that so they would make other concessions.
Hurt Em – The Expos owner, Loria, sold the team to a partnership comprised of the 29 other MLB clubs.
That allowed Loria to buy the Marlins from Henry, and Loria took the entire Expos front office and field staff with him to Miami.
That allowed Henry to buy the Red Sox.
That’s why the sale of the Red Sox was a total bag job, orchestrated along with the sales of the Marlins and Expos.
Rob – It wasn’t just Selig. All 30 owners took a vote on whether to contract two teams (Expos and Twins), and it was 28-2 in favor. The two teams’ inability to fund replacements for The Big O and Metrodome had a lot to do with it.
It was the courts that put a stop to the plan by forcing the Twins to honor the remainder of their Metrodome lease.
@Fever Pitch Guy, I had forgotten about that too. Why didn’t MLB force the Red Sox to sell to someone who didn’t already own an MLB team? I wouldn’t think it would be hard to find someone interested in buying the Boston Red Sox of all teams. Or at least tell them the deal can’t go through unless Loria can find an independent buyer for the Expos? If he can’t then the Red Sox Should have just sold to someone else and Henry should have been forced to stay owner of the Marlins. Or sell the Marlins to a non-owner before he bought the Red Sox. It’s very strange they did it that way. It almost seems like someone was paid off.
The pride of Upland California. Its surprising how quick he went from an All Star to out of the game completely
A labrum injury will do that.
Even though he’s not initially from Upland, I think it’s safe to say that honor would go to Rollie Fingers
Initially? Being born there is about as initial as you can get. But he went to Don Lugo HS in Chino, so calling him the pride of Upland seems iffy at best. He was a Conquistador, no Highlander.
I meant that Rollie wasn’t initially from Upland. He was born in Ohio but moved to the IE before high school. Chino and Don Lugo don’t produce many great athletes so I’d definitely consider Cordero to be the pride of that are, fwiw
I wish I was I could say I was the pride of Chino but that would probably have to go to my classmate and Olympian and future WNBA Hall of Famer Diana Taurasi
But I appreciate the unknown tidbit of info about Rollie, I was not aware.
This is so cool! Chad’s answers are super thoughtful and genuine. Cool guy.
Pretty cool to hear from him that many players visit the site. He’s out of the game and still checks it every morning.
Lol my Chad comment got answered lol.
I didn’t understand the point of your question
“a real Chad?” Was that an obscure cultural reference of some kind?
Obscure only to those unworthy of our presence.
I’m guessing Rangers29’s name is Chad.
Jorge – It was a reference to two great Red Sox relief pitchers, Chad Fox and Chad Bradford.
Bradfordddd
Lol, it’s popular term used by Gen-Z to refer to a guy who other people envy, essentially. The guy with a great amount of confidence that other people can’t ignore.
Here’s the wiki definition that explains it pretty well: “A Chad, in modern internet slang, is generally a sexually active “alpha male”.[1] The term has become a slang term across the internet and among adolescents in general to refer to particularly attractive or confident males.”
So that’s why I called him “a real Chad”, it’s both a meme and his actual name. A double entendre of sorts.
love these chats with former players. best site on the web, man
The player chats are awesome. Great insight and reminds you that they are human. Thank you MLBTR. Very nice addition.
Interesting that a lot of players visit here. Some of the comments would be hard to read !
Am I the only one who noticed this Interview was with someone different??
You didn’t read the sentences containing the links and clicked the wrong one. One is the previous chat, the other is the chat with Cordero.
“I hate dealing with parents.” You’re telling me, man! I’ve helped out with some little league coaching in the past, and yeesh… just let the kids play and have fun!
I have friends who are youth sports coaches, they say the mothers can be just as difficult – if not more difficult – than the fathers. It’s the whole “Mother Bear Syndrome” thing.
Yep, doesn’t matter if it’s the mother or father. It all comes down to entitlement because the majority of players don’t want to work anymore. They would rather have someone fight their battles for them. Gone are the days of working hard for what you want.
“It all comes down to entitlement because the majority of players don’t want to work anymore.”
It’s not just Little League players, ChadCordero32. For over 40 years now most American parents try to be best friends with their children, and protect them instead of letting them make mistakes which they can learn and grow from. The entitlement thing plays into this.
You seldom see that in immigrant families – particularly from the Far East. There parents are parents and children are children and there is respect for authority.
I totally agree. On my travel team we have 5 girls from Hawaii and we’ve never had any issues from them or their parents. I never have to worry about them working on their own. They are always very respectful and grateful as well. They understand that nothing is gonna be handed to them.
Are you the real Chad Cordero?
stats – I’d say 100% yes, and it’s very cool that he continued the conversation into the comments.
Yep it’s really me. I figured I’d try respond a little since I wasn’t able to get to all the questions during the chat.
Chad, if we were to get every pro baseball player with the last name ‘Cordero’ present and past (in their prime, of course) and put them into a Royal Rumble, who would win?
Be honest.
@chadcordero. Growing up in the Midwest I’ve hardly been around any people indigenous from Hawaii until I met a guy from there at one of my last jobs. Evidently it’s a different culture in Hawaii. I asked him why he always smiled so much he said “ where I come from it’s rude not to smile”. He was in his middle 50’s and most of his family moved to the area as well do to the high cost of living in Hawaii. His grown children would go out of their way to take care of him letting them borrow very nice cars and such. I asked him why his kids would do that he said “where I come from children even when they grow up will do anything for their parents”. I ended up meeting a couple of his grown children and they were very nice. After working around this guy almost 2 years I must say I’m quite impressed with him and his family. Great people.
“By the time this website launched in ’05, the inaugural Nationals season, he was the best reliever on the planet.”
Nothing against Chad, but c’mun man–one Mariano Rivera was still pitching in 2005. Look up the year he had then.
47 saves in 2005. Had no idea.