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Francisco Cervelli

Braves Sign Francisco Cervelli

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The Braves have signed catcher Francisco Cervelli to a major-league deal, the team reports.

Cervelli, 33, was granted his release Thursday by Pittsburgh to allow the 12-year-vet to join a contender down the stretch. After reportedly declaring in early July that his big-league backstop tenure, marred by persistent concussive setbacks, had come to its end, Cervelli reversed course, anchoring down on a proposed course that would again find him behind the dish as soon as he was able. He appears, after just six rehab games, to have reached that point.

The longtime Yankee backstop, who came into his own mid-decade with the Buccos after taking the reins from Russell Martin, has slumped to his worst career season in ’19, slashing just .193/.279/.248 in 123 plate appearances. Still, Cervelli’s just a year removed from a 125 wRC+, 2.6 fWAR line in just 404 PAs, so there may yet be some juice left in that tank.

He’ll look to stabilize a wobbly catching situation in Atlanta, where longtime starter Tyler Flowers has slumped miserably in the season’s second half, slashing just .188/.257/.359 in near-full-time duty. Whether or not Cervelli will receive regular time behind the dish isn’t yet clear, but a few more withered Flowers efforts and the Venezuelan could be thrust quickly into the mix.

Braves Reportedly Expected To Sign Francisco Cervelli

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Just-released Pirates backstop Francisco Cervelli evidently won’t spend much time on the open market. He is slated to ink a deal with the Braves, according to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (via Twitter). Whether it’s of the major or minor-league variety isn’t known.

Cervelli still must clear release waivers before he’ll be able to sign a new deal. But that’s really just a formality, given that he’s still owed the balance of his $11.5MM salary — about $2.4MM. The Braves will only owe him the league minimum rate for any time spent on the MLB roster, with the Bucs paying the rest.

While it seemed at one point earlier this year that Cervelli would not attempt to return to catching duties, he emphatically quashed that concept and has donned the mask on a rehab assignment. Now, he’ll help the Braves cover for the recent loss of Brian McCann. Whether Cervelli will immediately join Tyler Flowers on the MLB roster isn’t known. It’s also possible that the club will tap John Ryan Murphy for that job and then bring up Cervelli once rosters expand.

Cervelli has hit well on his recent rehab stint, but that’s a limited sample against minor-league pitching. He was far from his peak form to begin the season, turning in 123 plate appearances of .193/.279/.248 hitting before he hit the injured list. With a rising chase rate and swinging-strike rate, declining average exit velocity, and worsening strikeout-to-walk numbers (25.2% K vs. 7.3% BB), the poor output was well-deserved.

The Braves will have to hope there’s more left in the tank. Cervelli has been a solid-two-way catcher for quite some time. Just last year, he was able to turn in a healthy .259/.378/.431 slash line with a dozen home runs. Regardless of the outlook with the bat in hand, the Atlanta organization is obviously interested in adding some veteran depth behind the dish. Better options aren’t likely to present themselves over the next week — after which time it will not be possible to acquire a postseason-eligible player. By picking up Cervelli, the club will add another layer of protection in the event that McCann is slow to return.

Pirates Release Francisco Cervelli

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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.

Pirates Season Marked By Conflict On-Field And Off

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Last night’s walkoff victory against the reeling Cubs aside, the Pirates are mired in a deep funk. They started the second half in free fall, going 6-25 as they’ve dipped from the fringes of the playoff race to (at one point) twenty games under .500. The Pirates have been involved in multiple on-field conflicts, with manager Clint Hurdle stealing focus as he spars with other managers within the NL Central. Hurdle has a well-known strategic proclivity towards pitching up and in – with which certain managers haven taken issue when Pirates hurlers struggle with their command. As a team, they rank 24th out of 30 in BB/9 with a team average of 3.58 BB/9.

Perhaps more worrying to the organization, in-fighting has become a hallmark of this Pirates squad, per The Athletic’s Rob Biertempfel. Mercurial reliever Keone Kela is the source of at least some of the conflict. Kela not only inspired the trade deadline fracas with the Reds by throwing behind Derek Dietrich, but he also took a two-game suspension earlier this season for his part in a clubhouse altercation with performance coach Hector Morales. The Buccos explored trading Kela, but ultimately failed to find a suitable deal, and it’s safe to wonder whether his trade worth took a hit, either from recent suspensions, injury history, or a reputation as a difficult clubhouse personality.

On the field, Kela missed too much time to raise his stock, returning from the injured list for just four appearances before the deadline. That put him at 18 appearances on the season with a 3.45 ERA and 17 strikeouts over 15 2/3 innings. Fine numbers not far off from Kela’s career norms, but clearly not compelling enough to drive significant trade interest.

Only a week after Kela’s incident, bullpen coach Euclides Rojas drove a pre-game on-field dust-up with reliever Kyle Crick. The incident nearly turned physical before the two men were pulled apart. Crick had been publicly bemoaning perceived preferential treatment given to closer Felipe Vazquez by the coaching staff.

Birtempfel notes that the clubhouse lacks the veteran leadership provided over the years by vets like A.J. Burnett, David Freese, Josh Harrison and Andrew McCutchen, or more recently from Jameson Taillon and Francisco Cervelli, who have been absent due to injuries.

It’s not all doom-and-gloom for the Pirates, however, as Crick insists there’s a growing camaraderie among this exceptionally young group of Pirates players.

The depth of conflict reported here certainly pulls back the curtain a touch further than usual. Not necessarily evidenced here, however, is the Pirates clubhouse being any more or less destructive than a typical clubhouse enduring a tough stretch on the field. Fangraphs Ben Clemens recently wrote this of the 5-24 stretch that opened the Pirates’ second half:

“Think of it this way: the worst team in baseball since World War II, by winning percentage, was the expansion New York Mets of 1962. They were cover-your-eyes awful, going 40-120, a .250 winning percentage. Let’s assume, despite its absurdity, that the Pirates suddenly transformed to a team with a .250 winning percentage overnight. Their odds of going 5-24 or worse over a 29-game stretch would still only be 23%. Even the worst team in baseball history, in other words, would be unlikely to look this bad over a month of play.”

Any clubhouse might struggle with a degree of in-fighting while losing at that rate. Still, the Pirates seem more combative than your average team. Hurdle seems to set the tone there, and though the team could very well emerge from this season more galvanized as a unit, it’s a troubling environment in which to see the indoctrination of young stars like Bryan Reynolds and Mitch Keller.

Francisco Cervelli To Begin Rehab Assignment As Catcher

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The Pirates’ Francisco Cervelli, who’d reportedly given up catching after the latest in a series of debilitating concussions in late May, will begin a rehab assignment tomorrow with Double-A Altoona behind the plate, per mlb.com’s Adam Berry.

Cervelli, 33, walked back on his initial declaration a few days later, and has since expressed a fervid desire to return to his natural habitat. Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk noted Thursday that the longtime backstop would need final clearance from both the commissioner’s office and MLBPA, in addition to the Pirates’ own set of team doctors, to resume play behind the dish, though it appears such approval is mere formality at this point.

After a seven-year start to his career as backup for the Yankees, Cervelli came into his own in 2015 with the Pirates, slashing .295/.370/.401, good for 5.9 fWAR (a recently-inflated number buoyed by controversial pitch-framing statistics) in near-full-time play for the 98-win Buccos. An assortment of injuries has limited the Venezuelan to mostly part-time duty over the last four seasons, though he’s been wonderfully productive when healthy. An always-discerning eye (his walk percentage peaked at an exceptional 14.2% in 2016) has slipped a bit this year – strikeouts up, walks way down – and, coupled with bad luck on balls in play, has resulted in the 12-year-vet’s least productive major league season.

Still, Cervelli’s just a year removed from a 125 wRC+, 2.6 fWAR line in just 104 games, so it would greatly behoove the slumping Pirates to see what juice can still be squeezed from his once-ripe profile behind the dish. There’s been no word on the duration of the free-agent-to-be’s prospective rehab, or when Cervelli himself would like to return to the field, but it’s certainly a positive development regardless for a club who’s been hot on a silver linings trail after falling out of the race mid-July.

NL Notes: Castellanos, Cubs, Padres, Richards, Pirates

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Outfielder Nicholas Castellanos is only about a week into his Cubs tenure, but Patrick Mooney of The Athletic (subscription link) wonders if the free agent-to-be will work his way into the team’s plans past this season. Castellanos has excelled at the plate over a rather small sample of work as a Cub, and as Mooney explains, the former Tiger has taken a liking to his new franchise. While the 27-year-old Castellanos will be one of the top hitters in the upcoming winter’s free-agent class, a lack of defensive value figures to limit his earning power. The price could be palatable enough for the Cubs to retain him, but it wouldn’t be ideal that Castellanos would have to remain a full-time outfielder in a DH-less league.

More from the NL…

  • The Padres don’t expect the shoulder tightness that forced right-hander Garrett Richards from his latest rehab start to require an MRI, per Jeff Sanders on the San Diego Union-Tribune. “We’ll see how it responds over the coming week to treatment and when he picks up a ball in the near future,” manager Andy Green said of Richards. If all goes well, the former Angel could debut with the Padres sometime before this season ends. The Padres signed Richards to a two-year, $15.5MM contract last winter just a few months after he underwent Tommy John surgery.
  • Prized Pirates righty Mitch Keller is likely to return to the majors for a start next Tuesday, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette suggests. The 23-year-old is one of the game’s highest-ranked pitching prospects, but a three-start audition in the majors from May to June didn’t go well. Keller allowed 14 earned runs on 21 hits and six walks in a 12-inning span, though he did strike out 15 batters. And Keller has held his own this year in his debut in the offense-driven International League. In 103 2/3 innings with Triple-A Indianapolis, he has pitched to a 3.56 ERA/3.60 FIP with 10.68 K/9 and 3.04 BB/9.
  • More on the Pirates from Mackey, who has the latest on injured outfielder Gregory Polanco and catcher Francisco Cervelli. Polanco, who hasn’t played since June 16 because of left shoulder problems, has received clearance to restart baseball activities. It’s still not clear when he might return to the Bucs, however. Polanco also sat out the first couple weeks of 2019 on account of his shoulder, which required season-ending surgery last September. Cervelli, trying to work back from a concussion that has shelved him since May 25, is progressing toward catching again this season. The concussion-prone Cervelli will first need “final clearances from our doctors, the commissioner’s office and the [MLBPA],” Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk said.

Latest On Francisco Cervelli

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JULY 12: Cervelli now says that he does hope to return to working behind the plate. (Post via Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, on Twitter.)

“Saying that I quit from my catcher responsibilities is inaccurate,” he writes. “My hope is to catch again.”

Cervelli goes on to explain that he is merely staying out from behind the dish for the present as “part of the process of recovery from several concussions that have forced me to stop and think about my health beyond my baseball years.” The long-time receiver says he loves the game too much not to try to “reinvent” himself and keep plugging.

There’s certainly some ambiguity here. Whether he was prompted to clarify his stance based upon contractual concerns or a genuine desire to get back behind the plate, there’s no doubting Cervelli’s heart. At this point, though, it seems uncertain at best whether he will again don the mask in the majors.

JULY 7: Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli is giving up his career-long position because of chronic concussion issues. The 33-year-old told Dejan Kovacevic of DKPittsburghSports.com that he will no longer catch.

“That’s enough,” Cervelli stunningly revealed to Kovacevic. “This time is different. I can’t live like this.”

Cervelli has been on the injured list since suffering a concussion May 25. It’s at least the sixth he has incurred since his major league career began with the Yankees in 2008, Kovacevic notes. It’s unclear which position Cervelli will take next, though he emphasized to Kovacevic it was his decision – not the Pirates’ – to leave behind catching. Cervelli added he hopes to begin a rehab assignment at the Triple-A level in the coming weeks.

Cervelli, a Pirate since 2015, had been a respectable starting catcher for the club when he was healthy enough to man the position. He was at his best in 2015, a season in which he logged a tremendous 5.9 fWAR in 130 games. That compelled Pittsburgh to extend Cervelli in May 2016, when it awarded him a three-year, $33MM guarantee. Cervelli lived up to that pact as recently as last year, hitting .259/.378/.431 (125 wRC+) with 2.6 fWAR in 404 plate appearances and 104 games. Thanks in part to injuries, though, he got off to a slow start this season. As of now, he owns a .193/.247/.248 line (47 wRC+) across 123 PA.

With no obvious position anymore and Cervelli’s contract set to expire at season’s end, it seems likely this will be his final year with the Pirates. Speculatively, if he does return in 2019, he could try his hand as a reserve corner infielder. The Pirates have one of the majors’ premier first basemen, Josh Bell, and a capable starter at third in Colin Moran. Regardless of whether Cervelli shifts to either of those spots, it doesn’t seem he’ll garner much more playing time this year, and will now cede his customary position to Elias Diaz and Jacob Stallings.

NL Notes: Cubs, Happ, Story, Newcomb, Cervelli

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It’s been a while since the last update on the Cubs’ Ian Happ, who has yet to appear in a Major League game this season after he was optioned to Triple-A out of spring training. The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma, though, offers some insight into Happ’s mindset and process as he works towards rejoining the Cubs. Happ, 24, was a productive big-leaguer in his first two seasons with the Cubs, but was plagued by strikeouts and inconsistency, neither of which is an uncommon issue for a young player. During his time in Triple-A, Happ has focused on refining his approach and retooling his swing with an eye on contributing to a contending Cubs team in the second half. After striking out in 33.8% of his first 875 plate appearances, Happ has that number down to 27.3% in the minors this year, while increasing his ground ball rate as a result of a flattened swing designed to better cover elevated pitches. With Daniel Descalso and Addison Russell getting the majority of the second base reps and Albert Almora Jr. in center field, there looks to be an avenue for Happ to help to the Cubs in the near future, but it appears that the Cubs are content with a patient approach to Happ’s situation.

Here’s the latest on a handful of National League clubs…

  • Good news for Rockies shortstop Trevor Story, who recently landed on the IL with a thumb injury that was said to keep Story out for “multiple weeks.” Per the Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders, however, Story is progressing faster than anticipated and could indeed return to the Rockies after the allotted 10 days on the injured list. That would put Story on track to rejoin his team on June 29, which is certainly a welcome turn of events in Colorado. Surely, that’s no guarantee and the Rockies won’t rush their star back, but it’s sure to inspire more optimism than the original timeline.
  • The Braves’ bullpen will get a boost this week, with left-hander Sean Newcomb expected to return from the injured list ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Cubs, according to Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He showed promising signs in his most recent rehab outing and should be ready to pitch for the first time since taking a J.T. Realmuto liner to the neck last weekend. Though Mike Foltynewicz was demoted, thus leaving a void in the Braves’ starting rotation, that won’t be filled by Newcomb, who will remain in a relief role for the foreseeable future.
  • Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli could rejoin the team as early as next weekend, tweets Adam Berry of MLB.com. The 33-year-old catcher, who has been on the injured list since May 25 after suffering a concussion, could start a rehab assignment in the next few days and return to action for the Bucs shortly thereafter. Certainly, the Pirates have kept their heads above water with a catching tandem of Elias Diaz and Jacob Stallings, both of whom have thus far outperformed Cervelli, who struggled in the season’s opening months.

Pirates Notes: Chisenhall, Cervelli, Kela, Burdi

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We checked in on a couple injured Pirates a few hours ago. Here’s the latest on more banged-up Bucs from their director of sports medicine, Todd Tomczyk (courtesy of Adam Berry of MLB.com):

  • The Pirates signed outfielder Lonnie Chisenhall to a one-year, $2.75MM deal in the offseason, but he hasn’t played yet and it doesn’t appear he will anytime soon. Chisenhall’s still at home mending from left calf tightness. The 30-year-old opened the season on the injured list because of a finger issue, and not long after he started a rehab assignment April 19, the team shut him down because of the calf problem. The same calf prevented Chisenhall from playing past July 1 last year – his final season with the Indians.
  • Catcher Francisco Cervelli, out since May 26 with a concussion, will be reexamined by a neurologist on Thursday. He still hasn’t been cleared for workouts. Cervelli’s season got off to a poor start even before his latest concussion-caused absence, while fellow Pirates backstops Elias Diaz and Jacob Stallings have also posted subpar aggregate production. Diaz has hit well over the past month, though.
  • While Reliever Keone Kela hasn’t taken a major league mound since May 4, he could start throwing again Thursday or Friday. Kela had gone on a rehab stint toward the end of last month, but the Pirates halted it May 31 after he suffered a setback in his injured right shoulder. A headline-grabbing acquisition for the Pirates last summer, the 26-year-old Kela has struggled to a 4.63 ERA/5.63 FIP with 8.49 K/9, 3.09 BB/9 and a 37.1 percent groundball rate in 11 2/3 innings this season.
  • One of Keone’s fellow righty relievers, Nick Burdi, has returned to throwing. However, he’s still dealing with symptoms from the nerve injury that forced him to the IL almost two months ago. Burdi incurred his injury April 22 in his most recent outing. The flamethrowing 26-year-old had begun the season in encouraging fashion prior to that night, when he allowed five earned runs in a third of an inning and saw his ERA go from 4.32 to 9.35. Although an ERA that ugly is hard to ignore, it’s worth noting Burdi has put up a stellar 17:3 K:BB ratio in 8 2/3 innings this season.

Pirates Designate Jake Elmore, Select Jacob Stallings, Place Francisco Cervelli On 7-Day IL

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The Pirates have designated infielder Jake Elmore for assignment and selected the contract of catcher Jacob Stallings from Triple-A Indianapolis, per Adam Berry of MLB.com. The club has also placed injured catcher Francisco Cervelli on the seven-day concussion IL and recalled outfielder Jose Osuna from Indianapolis.

Elmore spent just under two full weeks on the Pirates’ roster, as they promoted him May 13 to take the injured Jung Ho Kang’s 25-man spot. He collected just one hit (a single) and no walks in 20 plate appearances thereafter, making it easier for the Pirates to subject him to DFA limbo. Formerly a Diamondback, Astro, Red, Ray and Brewer, the 31-year-old Elmore is a meager .208/.287/.269 hitter in 498 career PA. However, Elmore has been an asset at the minors’ top level, especially during a .380/.444/.546 showing in 124 trips to the plate this year.

Pittsburgh outrighted Stallings off its 40-man May 17, but he’s quickly back to help cover for Cervelli. The 29-year-old has appeared in the majors in five straight seasons and combined for a .286/.325/.325 line in 83 PA.

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