Toronto Blue Jays send Francisco Cordero to Houston Astros in 10-player deal

[JonLP24]

HOUSTON -- The Houston Astros have acquired closer Francisco Cordero and outfielder Ben Francisco as part of a 10-player trade with Toronto.

Houston also will receive four minor leaguers in the deal -- right-handed pitchers Joe Musgrove and Asher Wojciechowski, left-handed pitcher David Rollins, catcher Carlos Perez and a player to be named later.

The Blue Jays will receive pitchers Brandon Lyon, J.A. Happ and David Carpenter from Houston.

Cordero has 329 career saves, second among active players to the New York Yankees' Mariano Rivera (608). In 794 career relief appearances, the 37-year-old Cordero has a 3.28 ERA and has reached 40 or more saves in three seasons. Cordero is 3-5 with two saves in 41 appearances for Toronto this season.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8183819/toronto-blue-jays-send-francisco-cordero-houston-astros-10-player-deal

[Scuba]

1. Not sure how to interpret this. Is Houston throwing in the towel on 2012?

[Upton]

2. The Astros are 34-59

what do you think?

[Scuba]

3. So why is Coco the big name in the trade?

[Upton]

5. Perhaps because his ERA is almost 6.00

and his contract is up after this season. Jays just using him as a trading chip. Make no mistake, the Astros are looking towards the future.

[Scuba]

6. Thanks. As a NL Central Team (casual) fan I know a bit about Coco. Didn't realize the 'Stros....

... were that far out of it. What's it do to the Jays rotation/bullpen?

[Upton]

7. I don't follow the Blue Jays much..

except when they're playing the Mariners (my favorite AL team) and particularly when Brandon Morrow pitches. Who, Seattle selected in the 2006 draft over Tim Lincecum and Clayton Kershaw, then gave up on rather early I thought, trading him to the Jays..

Cordero just looks expendable to me. He wasn't Toronto's regular closer and his stats are terrible..seems they really didn't have much use for him, making him perfect to be included in some sort of deal..

[hughee99]

8. The Astro's will stick Cordero in the closers spot maybe,

once they trade Myers. At least until they have a younger closer ready to go.