The Nationals announced today that pitchers Chad Cordero and Ryan Wagner, as well as infielder Pete Orr were outrighted to Triple-A Syracuse. All three players declined the assignment and elected to become free agents. After that whole radio station fiasco, we knew it was a long shot for Cordero to be back in 2009, but to outright him and basically just give away his talent seems like such a waste to us. Cordero is young, talented and was a big part of the Nationals, we think this is a move the team is going to regret big time. Kristen has long been a fan of Ryan Wagner, and we are sad to see him let go as well. When healthy he showed some good stuff.

In the same release, the Nats announced that Wily Mo Pena has picked up his $2 million player option for 2009. So we lose Cordero, Wagner, and Orr but get Wily Mo back. Does this seem a bit off to anyone else?

From the Nationals -

The Washington Nationals today announced they have outrighted right-handed pitcher Chad Cordero, right-handed pitcher Ryan Wagner and infielder Pete Orr to Syracuse of the Triple-A International League. All three players elected free agency. The Nationals also announced they have rejected a $5 million club option on outfielder Wily Mo Pena, who subsequently exercised a $2 million player option for the 2009 season. Nationals Senior Vice President and General Manager Jim Bowden made the announcements.

Pena, 26, has batted .241 with 10 doubles, 10 home runs and 32 RBI in 101 games with the Nationals since being acquired from Boston on August 17, 2007 in exchange for a player to be named (first baseman Chris Carter). He is a .253 hitter with 77 home runs and 225 RBI in 560 big league games spanning seven seasons with Cincinnati, Boston and Washington.

The 26 year-old Cordero pitched in only six games last season and had season-ending right-shoulder surgery on July 8. Cordero’s 128 career saves rank second on the franchise’s all-time list behind only Jeff Reardon (152). He departs having pocketed 113 of the 157 saves recorded by the Nationals since 2005.

Wagner, 26, did not pitch in the big leagues in 2008 while working his way back from June 5, 2007 SLAP repair surgery on his right shoulder. He is 11-9 with 30 holds and a 4.79 ERA in 148 games with Cincinnati and Washington.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 30th, 2008 at 3:15 pm and is filed under News, Roster Moves. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.