MARTY CORDOVA
| G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | CS | GIDP | HBP | SH | SF | OBP | SLG | AVG | OWP |
| 131 | 458 | 55 | 116 | 25 | 2 | 18 | 64 | 47 | 111 | 1 | 6 | 17 | 3 | 2 | 3 | .325 | .434 | .253 | .449 |
Over the past few years, the Orioles have become the kind of team that, looking to make a big free agent splash, gives players like Marty Cordova three-year contracts. How the mighty have fallen.
Marty Cordova entered the 2002 season coming off the best year of his career, in terms of OWP. This should have given everyone pause, since his 2001 season was solid, but unspectacular (.579 OWP; average, 122 games). Beyond the fact that 2001 wasn't all that great and that Cordova missed 40 games, a couple of other little things should have caught the attention of the Baltimore brain trust. First, 2001 was the first decent season (OWP above .500) that Cordova had managed since 1996. Second, Cordova would turn 33 in July of 2002. In summary, for those of you haven't been doing the math, he's not a particularly good player, he's aging, and he hasn't been particularly healthy of late.
Call me crazy, but it didn't come as much surprise, then, in 2002 when Cordova wasn't very effective, missed 31 games, and suffered sufficient trouble with his foot to appear in just 72 games in the field.
It wasn't so much that Cordova was awful in 2002, just that he wasn't very good. His batting average was mediocre, his ability to draw walks (though improved over his normal lousy rate) was mediocre, his power was mediocre. He was below the league average offensively at a very important offensive position (left field). On what can only be regarded as the undeniably negative (as opposed to mediocre) side of the ledger, he struck out as if there was some kind of a penalty for making contact and he tied with the piano-encumbered Geronimo Gil for the team "lead" in grounding into double plays (17).
Ordinarily a solid outfielder, Cordova was slowed by his foot problem in 2002 and committed twice as many errors (4) as he recorded assists (2).
TO SUCCESSFULLY CONTRIBUTE NEXT SEASON HE MUST:
1) stay on the field; Cordova doesn't have the stick to DH with any regularity
2) take his game up a notch in every respect offensively; if he regains the 48 points of batting average and the 72 points of slugging percentage that he dropped from 2001 and retains his 2002 walk rate, he'll be a plus offensive player; whether he's capable of doing that in a lineup as porous as that of the Orioles remains to be seen
3) learn how to battle back after falling behind the count (see below)
Notes: Far more effective during the day (.295/.383/.563 in 112 ABs) than at night (.240/.305/.393 in 346 ABs)...another one of the many Orioles who took a dive in the second half of the season: pre-break .277/.339/.472; post-break .222/.306/.399...how important is that first pitch? After getting ahead 1-0 managed .302/.403/.562 in 162 ABs; after falling behind 0-1 was .206/.265/.335 in 233 ABs...in 82 ABs in "close and late" situations, was .183/.230/.256.