The Pirates announced today that they have released catcher Francisco Cervelli. The 33-year-old had been attempting to work his way back from a concussion.
Today’s move represents a disappointing end to to Cervelli’s generally excellent tenure in Pittsburgh. He has been with the organization since 2015, blossoming from a former Yankees reserve into a high-quality full-time backstop.
GM Neal Huntington issued a statement on the matter, as MLB.com’s Adam Berry covers on Twitter. The club’s top baseball operations decisionmaker explained:
“Out of respect and appreciation for Francisco, we have chosen to honor his request to be released in order for him to pursue an opportunity that potentially gives him a chance at more playing time, as well as an opportunity this season to compete in the postseason.”
Cervelli is owed $11.5MM this season — far too much to make him an appealing waiver-claim target. Instead, the Bucs will continue to pay the remainder, less a pro-rated portion of the league minimum for whatever portion of the season he spends on another MLB roster.
That deal didn’t always seem like dead weight. At the time the three-year, $31MM extension was signed — thus keeping Cervelli from testing free agency before the 2017 season — it looked to be an excellent value for the club. Cervelli ended up missing much more time due to injury than anticipated, but was still able to turn in 404 plate appearances of .259/.378/.431 hitting last year. Over his five total seasons in Pittsburgh, he carried a 100 OPS+ — making him a precisely league average hitter, which is a nice rate of production for a well-regarded defensive catcher.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Long live Cervelli!
Oakland?
Even the Pirates management never cease to amaze their fan base by releasing they’re 2nd most popular player in the last 5 years.
Popularity doesn’t win ballgames.
Neither does Pittsburgh.
Zing!
Badda Bing!
Cite source.
What makes him the 2nd most popular player? Jersey sales?
Exactly. Based on what? Answer: his dilusions, thats all.
His what? Lol, idiot.
Time to get NH and crew out of Pittsburgh.
Cervelli-Extended and released
Kang-Extended and released
Harrison-Extended and released
Cole-Traded an ace for middling prospects
Archer-traded top prospects for a middling pitcher
I’d rather be an O’s fan than a Bucco’s fan, at least the O’s have hope for the future!
You’re kidding right? You’re actually upset about the Pirates releasing 3 players who are all batting under .200 for the season?
To be fair, the Orioles finally came to the realization that it was time for a full-on rebuild, which is something the Bucs are still in denial about.
I’m not saying they don’t, but citing Cervelli, Kang, and Harrison are poor examples.
I’m not saying they don’t, but citing Cervelli, Kang, and Harrison are poor examples.
To be fair, the orioles came to the realization that they had to rebuild because the GM consistently made bad choices and they had no other choice. That is primarily why he is no longer there and he doesn’t have a job. I am talking about Dan Duqette.
I agree. All 3 had to go due to their production and our need to look at other younger players
Those two trades were very bad
im not sure but i think he means it looks bad when a team gives someone an extension (instead of letting them hit free agency) only to end up releasing them a year or two later. based on how he laid that all out, thats how i understood it.
take your favorite team and pick any player who is set to be a free agent. (ill use scooter gennett of my giants as the example) now lets imagine they get a 1 or 2 year extension midseason and then how you would feel if your team released them like a year later. doesnt look too good
Holy cow you’re so right though… why did they trade cole for middling prospects only to then trade their own top prospects for an inferior pitcher in archer? Mind boggling…
To be fair the whole baseball world seemed to think Archer was a decent pitcher…I’ve never thought much of him….but that’s what you risk when you decide to go for it
How was Harrison extended and released? He had his option declined, which he proved was a good decision. Lang was not extended, he saw his option declined and then was resigned as a free agent. He then proceeded to hit below the Mendoza line. Cerevelli was not going to see any time with the Pirates for the remainder of this season. This was a classy move to give a player who had some quality seasons and was not going to be resigned a chance to play in the post season.
Don’t use logic with whiny Yinzers, it doesn’t work on them.
Yeah, whiny yinzers. Guess if they don’t mind watching a team of mannequins playing, for an owner not willing to spend on personnel they’re ok with you, right? Don’t worry. There will always be enough bobble head and fireworks night to quench your thirst for baseball.
The whine yinzers just mimic the whiny talking heads from yinzer land. They parrot the same stuff that the talking heads do all day everyday.. It sells and the yinzers of course call up and agree. Ratings are up so the hosts are happy. There are those of us who love baseball, understand baseball and wish the Bucs could compete year in and year out. I have come to the realization that they will rarely have a shot just to make the playoffs. They are like over half of the league that can not compete with the top market teams for player salaries.and therefore will always get out bid for top talent. If they do make a trade or sign a high priced free agent or extend a top current player, they have to pray that they do not make a huge mistake and be stuck with a big salary of a non productive player that will kill the budget for multiple seasons. Most teams are in this predicament. If they are wrong on a long time big money contract, they are screwed for years. They can not afford to eat a contract and pay more money to just fix the problem like the Yanks, Mets, Phils, LA teams, Chicago teams and Houston. Most of the other teams do not have large cable deals to fund the teams nor do they have any other large revenue streams like the big boys do I will still go to games to see the game. I have lived in minor league cities along the way and will always prefer to go to a Major League game even if my home team is not good most years. Such is life in mid market or small market baseball.
Also, Harrison wasn’t released, his option was declined after 4 seasons of being a below average hitter.
Kang was never extended, and Harrison’s option was declined. Cervelli wasn’t going to help us this year, since his season might as well be over. Sure the Archer and Cole trades weren’t the greatest (more so with Archer), but you shouldn’t be angry at them for getting rid of 3 players who were all past their prime and had injury issues.
Also to be fair, Cole was coming off 2 mediocre seasons back to back before they dealt him…
Cole was also a baby about his contract, a loud-mouth as a union rep and was/is a Boris-client. It was never going to work out.
@HereComeThePhillies2018 Cervelli was released in the last year of his contract. He was not coming back
Harrison had his last year bought out. Frazier and Newman are better at 2nd Base
Kang actually was bought out and resigned on a 1 year deal with a team option for next year which was all cheaper than the original contract.
Cole was wanting out and the league knew it. :Cole was never ever going to resign here even if the Pirates over paid him in his pre arb and arb years. Plus on top of that, Cole had an ugly last year in Pittsburgh
Glasnow was considered a AAAA pitcher by many and had ugly results in all of his attempts at pitching in the bigs. Reynolds allowed Meadows to be included and Meadows never had shown power and much of an average all through the minors. His April and May were the best 2 months ever as a pro. He has been back to his minors stats since June 1. Time will tell if Meadows. is the player he was in April and May or the one from June on. Time will also tell us if Reynolds was the better one to keep.
Baz is still to be determined. When the trade went down, I was hearing that he had some control issues but his stuff was allowing him to get out of trouble in the lower minors.
All of what you said is true but there is a matter of context and perspective..
For the record, I haven’t listened to a talking head in this town since Stan and Guy days. Since I have eyes in my head, however, your rant that targets any dissent as “whining” is ridiculous
While the first half of your post here is spot on, your continued defensive harangue about the Archer deal is off the mark
Reynolds was a nice surprise. To say his rise fast forwarded the idea of including Meadows in the deal is nonsense. Few saw it coming this quickly Meadows was and is a guy who’ll perform well for years and again, you’d think that instruction could have helped guys like Morton and a 24 year old like Glasnow, who hits 99-100 on the gun
And that Keller is the only guy within earshot of the majors makes dealing Baz even more remarkable
The deal was a fantasy league-caliber grasp at a WC run. Ridiculous then, ridiculous now
Perspective? Context?
I agree with gozurman entirely but feel the pain of tiredolddude,as I think all real long time Pirate fans do.
At what point do knowledgeable,intelligent and articulate Pirate fans say enough is enough,but really are not the typical whiny yinzers?
At this point I really do think that it is time to make changes.I think that Hurdle has to go,and many of the coaching staff.I have mixed emotions about NH as a I am not totally confident that he can redo key parts of the management team.
I can honestly say that if this happened to any other team,or the Pirates in any other era,Cliff and most of his coaches would have been gone by now.
Nutting owes that to Pittsburgh and the Pirates’ legacy.
I agree totally. It’s still baseball and at times good baseball!
Yeah but look at all the good moves he made from 2010-2014
Charlie Morton? As Burnett? Francisco Liriano? Mark Melancon? Jeff Locke? Josh Bell?
Also, Cole was coming off 2 below average seasons with an alarming HR rate and decreased velocity. You’re not gonna get Mike Trout from that
Phillies 2018-I live near Philadelphia but am a life long Pirates fan.
You are a typical know nothing who spouts “facts” about another team that don’t make sense.
You are basically wrong on all five accounts except perhaps the last.
The Pirates will be mediocre for many years.But they do not have the crazy money income that your team has.
But with the Phillies pitching you may want to change your moniker to Phillies 2028!
Bingo. One would think that with crazy money to be spent that the Phils would have spent a few of those crazy dollars on some pitching…..
His agent was contacted by Alex Anthopolous…
Braves
I’ve always like Cervelli, I wish him the best in Atlanta. Just wish he didnt have as many concussions as he had.
Pretty certain Cervelli echoes your wish.
With McCann injury happening this sounds like a Braves claim.
I guess since they were going to have to pay him anyways, might as well make a nice gesture and get him to a postseason?
When local broadcasters are commenting about how the Pirates are just mailing it in these days—and they release one of the guys who actually did play hard each time our—well, you just have to laugh
Good guy who I hope helps the Braves immediately
Still amazed that anyone shows up to watch a team that quit weeks ago, lead by an owner and FO that just goes through the motions
I have no rooting interest as I’m not a Pirate fan, but this is a class move by Neal Huntington, but also hopefully the last move he’s ever allowed to make as a GM.
He’s set that franchise back at least a decade with his insane and horrendous moves during the past three years.
I want to see middle market teams succeed against the big markets, and Pittsburgh needs to dump Hurdle and Huntington if they ever want that to happen.
Guess my only comment is that you could get Theo Epstein, Tony LaRussa and Jim Leyland together here as a FO/ manager dream team, and if they were bound by the financial constraints that this owner places on them, it would yield similar results
I’m no fan of this FO to be sure for the simple reason that it alternately dump its top prospects while misjudging other young players-and that alone should get them all canned—but seriously, how can anything change here?
Yeah, the ownership is a disaster, but Tampa manages to compete with very similar financial constraints and wretched ownership.
Pirates just need to try something different. What that is, I really don’t know, but know that Hurdle and Huntington have way outlived their usefulness.
These 2 are a disgrace. The pirates have showered off enough losses for the next decade this season.
Paving the way for an Austin Romine in 2020.
Great move. Toss out the trash
I’ve always been a fan of Cervelli back when he was coming up with NYY. He has a great eye and is a great fielder. He got unnecessary criticism on here when he struggled offensively in 2017 but the world is full of ***holes.
I hope he gets another opportunity and hopefully one that will give him a shot at a championship.
Frankie was a favorite of mine when he played for the Yankees. I always wanted him to step up into the roll as full time catcher. He got the opportunity and got injured. I was shocked when he failed his PED test years ago. Glad he over came and had a productive big league career and happy he just landed a gig with the braves. THE CISCO KID!!!!
The Buc’s ownership and management deserves a ton of criticism for many things, but not this. They do not want Cervelli to catch anymore. He has suffered so many concussions that they fear for his health. The Bucs wanted to move him to first base, though they don’t need him them and he does not hit well enough for the position, But Cervelli wants to catch. The Pirates are not standing in the way of Cervelli jeopardizing his health, but they don’t want to part of it. So, they let him go, but still have to pay his contract less a tiny amount. Maybe the could have found someone to take a part of his contact, but he’s free now to join a contender. Good luck Francisco. Stay healthy.
Cervelli was extremely popular in Pittsburgh. He was also extremely over-rated. He couldn’t throw out his grandma at second.
Hmmm…….he looked pretty good nailing a baserunner at 2nd FROM HIS KNEES Saturday night, but of course I hadn’t taken my bitter pill before I watched it.
A lame attempt to try and garner some good Will with free agents? Bob spend nutting is eating about 2.3 mil here, which has to be a record for him. In reality, the 2 parties had no more use for each other. One of the few times the pirates have done an honorable thing