Pittsburgh Pirates Rumors: Update on Francisco Cervelli Talks

The Pittsburgh Pirates still have plenty of moves to make this offseason.  One of those moves could be a trade that has been speculated all offseason.

So far this offseason, the Pittsburgh Pirates have completed two trades adding in one and subtracting in another.  The team dealt starter Ivan Nova at the Winter Meetings to the Chicago White Sox for a prospect and International Bonus money. Meanwhile, the team has added with all their other moves so far this offseason. They brought in outfielder Lonnie Chisenhall, pitcher Jordan Lyles, and utility man Erik Gonzalez.

However, there has been one trade rumor regarding a player that has not happened.  So far this offseason, there have been two reports of teams having interest in Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli.  Leading into the Winter Meetings, ESPN’s Buster Olney reported that several teams, such as the Mets, Dodgers, and Astros, had shown interest in Cervelli. Then toward the end of the Winter Meetings, Ken Gurnick, the beat writer for the Los Angeles Dodgers, reported that the Dodgers had/have interest in the backstop.

It has been about a week since anything has been reported on the Pittsburgh Pirates veteran catcher. So will the Pittsburgh Pirates still look to move their veteran catcher?  Well, it seems that the team is looking into trying to trade him.  In a recent Ken Rosenthal article on The Athletic, he gave an update on what kind of market the Pittsburgh Pirates have for Cervelli.  Rosenthal said in his article (subscription for the full article):

“The Pirates’ Francisco Cervelli is available. But some in the industry believe Cervelli’s concussion issues in 2017 and ’18 will result in the Pirates receiving diminished offers….Cervelli, who turns 33 on March 6, otherwise would be appealing; he is considered a strong defender, and his career on-base percentage is .362. His $11.5 million salary in his walk year also is not prohibitively high.”

While there is no real update on who could be interested in the Pittsburgh Pirates backstop, one thing is apparent, the team is definitely open to trading him. One of the major hold-ups right now is the top catcher on the trade market is JT Realmuto.  Both the Astros and the Dodgers are interested in acquiring Realmuto. Both are teams that Olney connected to Cervelli early last week. So it is likely that until Realmuto is moved, there will not be any real progress in a potential Cervelli trade.