Tag Archives: Francisco Cervelli

August 23, 2020

Too Many Concussions

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Francisco Cervelli goes to the IL after his seventh concussion.

“Unfortunately for Francisco, he’s had a little bit of a history with concussions,” Mattingly said Saturday. “He kind of knew it right away. I just feel bad for him. He apologized right away when he said he couldn’t do it. I don’t know what to expect from this just because he’s had a number of concussions in the past. I don’t know where this is going. I feel bad for him and obviously it hurts us as a catching staff. It hurts our pitching staff.”

MiamiHerald.com

The problem is you don’t know which concussion will be your last, the one that pushes you to the point of no return. Cervelli needs to think about the rest of his life. If he recovers from this one, maybe it’s time not to roll the dice on an eighth.

Cervelli as a hitter gets on base and provides some power, as his few hits have a good chance of going for extra bases. The Marlins traded for Jorge Alfaro to replace J.T. Realmuto, so maybe it’s time for Alfaro to step up and prove he was worth it.

May 17, 2016

Three Years for Cervelli

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The pirates signed Francisco Cervelli to a three-year extension, and Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke reacts:

I will admit that Cervelli’s impending departure after this season was something that I’ve been silently dreading since no extension was announced this off-season. Elias Diaz is a solid enough catching prospect, but the Pirates have gotten tremendous value from their catchers these past four seasons, starting with Russell Martin and moving seamlessly to Cervelli, and it seemed to me that going with someone like Diaz while waiting for Reese McGuire would be one of those unnecessary small-market rolls of the dice. If you read Travis Sawchik’s Big Data Baseball last year, you know that the Pirates built that surprise 2013 Wild Card club from Russell Martin on outwards. Having a good catcher that expands the strike zone allows the Pirates to take risks on pitchers like Francisco Liriano, and Cervelli is every bit as strong as Martin behind the plate and nearly as good with his bat.

Cervelli posted a 3.8 WAR in 2015, and a 1.3 WAR in 2014. A three-year, $31 million contract indicates the Pirates believe his talent level is closer to 2014 than 2015, so there’s a lot of upside. On the other hand, Pirates starters aren’t doing that well this year, so maybe umpires are finally getting wise to pitch framing and calling the zone correctly.

I also wonder how the previous PED suspension figures in here. Do teams offer players less money if they have been caught in the past, with the idea, that the lower salary insulates the team against losing the player to an even longer suspension? It would be a great question for a GM.

October 9, 2013

Is the Quick Fix Okay?

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Craig Calcaterra gives his take on Francisco Cervelli‘s explanation for his steroid use. Cervelli says he used to come back quicker from injury because he was on the bubble for a roster spot. Craig:

He seems pretty honest about it all. Indeed, this pretty much sounds like any other number of PED stories we’ve heard. The need to rehab faster so the player can get back on the field. Given his candor about it and given that Cervelli was subject to mostly positive press prior to all of this (indeed, he’s extremely popular among a certain segment of Yankees fans) I have little doubt that, if his major league career resumes, most folks won’t think too much less of the guy. Indeed, like a lot of other players who served 50 games, many will forget that he was ever suspended in the first place.

We don’t do that with the superstars, though. We don’t believe them, generally speaking, when they tell the same story Cervelli tells. We assume they take PEDs for the ego or to break records or because they’re inherently bad guys and don’t buy their “I just wanted to recover from injuries faster” stories. We don’t forgive them or forget their transgression. That’s the case even though, unlike Cervelli, the Ryan Brauns and A-Rods of the world aren’t in competition for roster slots and aren’t potentially costing other players a shot at the majors as directly as a 20-25th man like Cervelli might.

Funny how that works.

I would substitute “inherently ultra-competitive” for “inherently bad guys” above. It’s easy to confuse the two, as ultra-competitive people are often difficult people to like. According to Game of Shadows, Barry Bonds used PEDs precisely due to ego. There is something distasteful about people who have to win at any cost.

And superstars using PEDs for quick fixes do cost marginal players roster spots. If Ryan Braun is on the DL for two months instead of six weeks, some minor league player is losing two weeks of major league salary, which isn’t chump change (it’s about $40,000).

Maybe MLB should find a way to make the quick fix legal. After all, fans want to see the best players on the field, giving their teams the best chance to win. Everyone involved should be smart enough to find a way to get the benefits of a quick recovery without the cheating.

April 26, 2013

Run Down Battery

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Francisco Cervelli left the Yankees game against the Blue Jays with a broken hand:

Cervelli was removed after taking a foul tip from Toronto’s Rajai Davis, the game’s leadoff hitter, off his hand to begin the top of the first. The Yankees later disclosed the fracture, which the team stated will require surgery.

Cervelli was off to a great start, but there’s no reason to belief his hot hitting would continue. This may give Austin Romine a chance to stick in the major.

Ivan Nova also left the game early with an elbow problem.

The Yankees lead the Blue Jays 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth.

September 10, 2011 September 7, 2011

Unusual Power Pair

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The Yankees and Orioles did not start their game until I was going to bed Tuesday night, but they managed to play, the Yankees coming out on top 5-3. While the Yankees hitting two home runs in an inning is not unusual, the pair that went back-to-back in the seventh to win the game were. Francisco Cervelli continued his hot hitting with his third long ball in his last four games to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead, then Brett Gardner followed with his seventh home run of the season.

Phil Hughes pitched well, allowing two runs in six innings of work, while Mariano River recorded his 598th career save as he approaches 600 and Trevor Hoffman’s record of 601.

The game was played in very poor conditions, due to major league baseball:

With few options left for a makeup date, the messy game began at 11:08 p.m. after a delay of 4 hours, 3 minutes with roughly 1,000 fans in the stands. The Yankees and Major League Baseball were in constant contact before the first pitch.

“I guess baseball wanted us to wait,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

Umpire crew chief Gary Darling confirmed it was MLB’s call on when to finally start. As for the soggy conditions, “it was never bad enough for us to stop,” he said.

The teams are supposed to play today at 1 PM EDT, but rain threatens that game as well.

March 4, 2011

Francisco Pipp

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Francisco Cervelli may have pulled a Wally Pipp:

New York Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli has a broken left foot and will miss a minimum of four weeks and likely more.

An MRI of Cervelli’s foot, injured when he fouled a ball off it while batting in the second inning of Wednesday’s game against the Astros, revealed a fracture “above the toes,” according to manager Joe Girardi.

This gives Jesus Montero a great shot at winning the role of backup catcher. If he does, and Jesus hits as expected, it will be tough to send him down when Cervelli returns.

February 10, 2011

Cervelli and Cano

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Francisco Cervelli wants to be a starter someday. He spent the winter with Robinson Cano working on his hitting:

He added, “I don’t like to be comfortable, I always want to learn, learn, learn. I want to be one day a starting catcher or (win) a Gold Glove, something like a Molina brother. That’s my dream.”

Cervelli also praised Robinson as a teacher. The great thing for the Yankees is that a decent offensive catcher who can handle himself behind the plate is a valuable commodity. If Cano’s help gets Francisco to generate a little power, he’s suddenly a good offensive catcher, someone a team can use right now. He might be worth a good fourth starter, which is something the Yankees need.

December 15, 2010

In His Own Image

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Rob Neyer wonders if Russell Martin is the new Joe Girardi:

Jorge Posada was blessed with Hall of Fame talents, and developed Hall of Fame skills.

Nevertheless, he might not wind up in the Hall of Fame. If he doesn’t, it’ll be largely because he didn’t start more than 109 games in a season until he was 29 years old. As I’m sure you know, that’s exceptionally old for a player with Posada’s talents and skills.

Posada’s manager, a fellow named Joe Torre valued experience at C, though. And Torre’s favorite experienced C was a fellow named Joe Girardi.

The main difference is that Martin should be a better offensive player than Girardi, even if he’s not Jesus Montero.

In fact, the downside if Martin is Francisco Cervelli. While I’m sure teams covet Montero, Cervelli should be a valuable trading chip. He’s a good defensive catcher who doesn’t make a lot of outs. While he wouldn’t bring a haul of prospects, he might bring a very good player who was about to bolt for free agency. Don’t be surprised if it’s Cervelli who gets traded, since he’d the redundant player right now.

October 19, 2010 August 13, 2010

Clutch Cervelli

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LenNY’s Yankees responds to an article at The Faster Times on Francisco Cervelli’s clutch hitting. From the Times article:

This year, for example, Yankee catcher Francisco Cervelli has proven far better in the clutch than in other situations. While it is very likely that this type of clutch hitting will either stop sometime soon or fail to carry over into next season, That does not mean it has not existed this year.

Every year there will be a few players like Cervelli who will hit particularly well in clutch situations, some will even continue to do this in the post-season. This is almost a mathematical inevitability due to the large number of players, expected deviations in performance and the role of luck in baseball. Unless it is repeated over time, however, it is difficult to meaningfully define a few clutch hits as being due to a player being a genuinely better hitter in the clutch.

Len’s responses, after reading Kevin Long say Cervelli siezes the moment:

I think Long describes clutch hitting perfectly here. Broadcasters will toss around that term loosely, but isn’t being “clutch” really just seizing the moment?

One of the great problems with talking about clutch hitting is defining clutch. Any situation you can describe, I can probably find a subset of that situation that isn’t clutch. Cervelli is 20 for 65 with men in scoring position, but how many of those situations were really ones that turned a game around? Leading off an inning can be a clutch situation, especially if the game is close. Getting on base greatly increases a team’s chance of winning. With none on and none out, Cervelli’s OBP is .255. He doesn’t start rallies. Fellow blogger Cy Morong likes the close and late situation as a clutch measurement. Cervelli is 5 for 27, with a .185/.290/.222 slash line (3 hit by pitches accout for the much higher OBP). That’s hardly clutch.

What all these situations have in common are small sample sizes. Whenever we eliminate plate appearances from a player’s record, we increase the chance that we’ll see a large variation from his true average. Long term, the best hitters are the clutch hitters, simply because the good hitters stay around long enough for the clutch samples to revert to the player’s mean. Cervelli is an okay hitter for a catcher. With lots of people on base in front of him, some of his hits are going to fall at opportune times. Next season, or even later this season, he may not get the breaks.

June 16, 2010

Making Contact

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River Ave. Blues notes how Francisco Cervelli adopted the Tampa Bay Rays “Get the Man In” mantra. It also demonstrates something I really like about the way the Rays are managed. They are very good at identifying problems and attacking them. In 2007, their defense let down a good pitching staff. They corrected that in 2008 and won the division. In 2009, their hitters were striking out too much with men on third, so they hired a hitting coach to address that issue, and once again they are leading the division (tied with the Yankees).

June 15, 2010

Coming Back to Earth

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River Ave. Blues looks at how Francisco Cervelli and Brett Gardner are returning to their true level of talent after hot starts. Gardner has him wondering:

Where will Gardner end? No one, absolutely no one, can tell you with any degree of certainty. Like most players he has hot and cold spells, so it’s tough to tell what’s real and what’s a hot streak. It does appear, however, that Gardner can be more than the fourth outfielder which many people pegged him as. If that’s the case, he might have saved the Yanks the millions they would have otherwise spent on Carl Crawford.

The upside for Gardner is Brett Butler with a better stolen base percentage. If we are moving into a lower scoring era, speedy players who get on base will be valuable, as stolen bases and other one run strategies will have higher payoffs. As much as people like Carl Crawford, he’s never been outstanding at getting on base or hitting for power. I’m not sure GMs should pay for the decline period of someone who is likely to go from good to okay.

April 2, 2010

Catcher on the Rise?

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The Yankees starting and backup catcher are each suffering from minor injuries:

With their season-opener at Fenway Park two days away, the Yankees are hoping that the stiff neck that sidelined Jorge Posada Thursday and the hamstring injury that has Francisco Cervelli in the trainer’s room will both be gone by Sunday.

What if the injuries aren’t gone? This Sunday would be the perfect day to see Jesus Montero rise from the minors.

March 12, 2010

New Helmet for Cervelli

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Francisco Cervelli decided to wear The Great Gazoo helmet:

Cervelli had said since he was knocked down that he would not wear the helmet but changed his mind when manager Joe Girardi suggested he try it.

“I think he’ll try it and be OK with it,” Girardi said. “I can’t tell my players what helmet to use.”

Said Cervelli: “They worry about everything. I have to stay healthy.”

Minor leaguers are required the Rawlings S100 helmets this year. The change comes after several players missed time last season with concussions.

Wright wore the helmet for two games after coming off the disabled list, but quickly ditched it for his old one, saying it wasn’t comfortable.

I suspect it’s a lot more comfortable than another concussion.

January 5, 2010

Players A to Z, Francisco Cervelli

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Francisco Cervelli catches for the New York Yankees. During his rookie season he hit for a high average but did little else, as his OBP came in just 11 points higher than his .298 BA and his slugging percentage was under .400. In the minors, he walked a decent amount, posting a .367 OBP. I suspect as he sees more major league pitching, he’ll do a better job of getting on base.

The bigger question for the Yankees is will he be able to take over the defensive role played by Jose Molina. He caught 10 of 23 base stealers, and I’ll take that from a catcher any day. We’ll see if he ends up the designated catcher for one of the starters, maybe Burnett.