{"id":810942,"date":"2017-08-20T12:00:57","date_gmt":"2017-08-20T16:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/piratesbreakdown.com\/?p=16728"},"modified":"2017-08-20T12:00:57","modified_gmt":"2017-08-20T16:00:57","slug":"pittsburgh-pirates-francisco-cervelli-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/pittsburgh-pirates-francisco-cervelli-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Francisco Cervelli live up to the value of his contract for the Pittsburgh Pirates?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Since joining the Pittsburgh Pirates for the 2015 season, catcher Francisco Cervelli<\/a> has endeared himself to the Pittsburgh fanbase.<\/p>\n Whether it is getting animated when he perceives a call went against his pitcher or against him when he is in the batter\u2019s box, Cervelli is without a doubt one of the most exciting players on the team.<\/p>\n But given that his 2017 season has been plagued with injuries and he is set to see significant increases in his salary during the final two years of his contract, there has to be some concern that he is unable to maintain a normal starting catcher\u2019s workload given his salary. The wrist injury<\/a> that has kept him out of action recently and currently has landed<\/a> him on the disabled list is just the latest injury that has sidelined the backstop this season. He missed time in early June because of a concussion<\/a> and also dealt with a foot injury<\/a> while the team was in Bradenton for spring training in February.<\/p>\n If Cervelli is able to stay relatively healthy during the last six weeks of the season, he\u2019ll have a chance to play in 100 games, a feat that he has only accomplished twice so far in his career, both times as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. His career high is 130 games, a mark that is routinely passed by the more durable catchers across the league. With salaries of $10.5 million next season and $11.5 million in 2019, Cervelli is going to need to stay healthy and play in the neighborhood of 135 games to have a chance of accumulating enough value given that he will command one of the more expensive contracts in the last two seasons of his contract.<\/p>\n When Cervelli\u2019s numbers are investigated, it is clear that health is the biggest obstacle for him, as he has been putting up good numbers since joining the Pirates. Fangraphs<\/a> has him with a 3.8 WAR in 2015 and 1.7 last season, while he is at 0.9 so far this year. His WAR in 2015 was aided by the seven home runs he hit, while the one he hit in 2016 was quite a significant drop in production. He may still be able to surpass his career high of seven, but the wrist injury has no doubt affected his swing and could even continue to bother him once he returns to the lineup. Three of his home runs were hit in the first six weeks of the season, with the other two coming on July 9th and 18th.<\/p>\nA certain benchmark<\/h3>\n
What about WAR?<\/h3>\n