Milledge back, Estrada not. Cordero…We'll see.

The Nationals recalled CF Lastings Milledge, who has recovered from his groin injury and might possibly have future plans to use a bat to hit a baseball somewhere useful for the team. To make room for Milledge, the Nats designated C Johnny Estrada for assignment, though Estrada has made it clear he has no intention of reporting to AAA Columbus. No problems here. Estrada has either been injured much of the season and when he wasn’t injured, he was crappy. I never understood why the Nats were carrying 4 catchers on the roster, especially when at least one of them had no business playing even for a lousy team like the Washington Nationals. The Nats have 10 days to trade or release Estrada. About the only good thing one can write or say about the ill-starred Estrada experiment is that he only got a 1-year contract. The 32-year-old catcher hit .170 in 53 at-bats this season. In other words, he fit in perfectly in that Nats lineup.
Chad Cordero, the injured closer for the Washington Nationals, may not be with the team in 2009. It takes a long time, often a year-and-a-half, to recover from labral surgery, though Cordero insists he will be ready for Spring Training in 2009. Nats GM Jim Bowden, who, as we all know, is a real people-person, announced on local sports talk radio that Cordero will not receive a tender offer from the Nats in December. Unfortunately, Bowden hadn’t spoken to Cordero about it yet. Cordero wasn’t pleased.

“I knew this was probably going to happen. For me, that’s not the issue. The issue is how it went down. Five months away [from the non-tender deadline], only two weeks after I had surgery, that’s what made this upsetting… Right now, I’m just upset at how it’s all been handled. We couldn’t get a call before, but I understand it’s part of baseball. I’m just upset that we weren’t informed… It makes me kind of sad in a way. It’s a little disrespectful.”

No one could be surprised that the Nats decided to go this way, though it could have been handled better by the front office. It’s unclear if Cordero will be back. Apparently, he’s open to returning, but one would think he’d rather play for a better team that will pay him as much as the Nats would. Who knows what sort of market there will be for Cordero next year? He’s going to have to prove that he’s ready to pitch after surgery.
Unless Bowden and the Nats have some clever move in mind, I guess Nats fans should get used to Joel Hanrahan as the team’s closer. Hmmm.

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