Report: Atlanta Braves have agreement to sign veteran catcher Francisco Cervelli

Atlanta Braves General Manager Alex Anthopoulos continues to add depth to his roster, this time looking at a veteran catcher Thursday afternoon.

In a move clearly made to protect themselves in the event that Brian McCann is out for an extended period of time, the Atlanta Braves are expected to sign veteran catcher Francisco Cervelli, according to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Earlier in the afternoon, Cervelli was granted his request for an unconditional release by the Pirates. He has been working his way back from a concussion.

The Pirates issued a press release to discuss the move:

"“As Francisco has worked through his rehabilitation, we have had multiple conversations with him and his agent regarding his projected playing time for the remainder of this season with the Pirates,” general manager Neal Huntington said. “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.“We appreciate who Francisco is and all he has done for the Pirates and the city of Pittsburgh. We believe this was the right move for the right reasons and wish Francisco well.”"

What likely happened is that the Pirates had effectively already moved on from Cervelli.  Elias Diaz and Jacob Stallings are handling the backstop duties.

The expectation is that Cervelli is likely ready to return to the majors, but it appears that the Pirates were not as eager to make that happen… thus the request to be released and Pittsburgh did him a solid by granting the request.

The 33-year-old must still clear waivers before he is able to sign with the Braves, but that seems certain to happen because of the pro-rated balance of his $11.5 million salary that he is still owed by Pittsburgh.  That roughly calculates to $2.4 million at this stage of the season.

Assuming this happens (probably a 98% lock, given the monetary situation), the Braves would be responsible for that $2.4 million remaining on his contract, which is set to expire at the end of the year.

Just some more ‘financial flexibility’ being wielded by Alex Anthopoulos.

What are the Braves getting?

Hard to say, but there should be good motivation to perform well – he’s in a contract year – if he can stay on the field.

Cervelli’s career has been marred by injury, as he has played over 100 games just three times in his 12-year career. But this season’s injury, which was his sixth concussion of his career, has been particularly concerning.

There had been reports that due to the number of concussions, Cervelli was going to move on from being a catcher, but this story in The Washington Post states otherwise in a fairly emphatic declaration from the player himself.

Cervelli is a career .269 hitter over 12 seasons, but has hit over 10 home runs just one time and that was in 2018, which was one of his best seasons when he had a WAR of 2.6.

The 2015 season, his first in Pittsburgh, was actually Cervelli’s best season of his career, as he slashed .295/.370/.401 with a 3.1 WAR (fangraphs credited him with a 5.9!).

Cervelli was traded to Pittsburgh for Justin Wilson in 2014 and after the 2016 season Cervelli signed a three-year, $31 million extension, with the Pirates.

Despite signing John Ryan Murphy in late July, adding Cervelli gives the Braves even more insurance in the event Brian McCann, who was sent to the Injured List, Wednesday, is out longer than expected.

Of particular note, Cervelli is a career .287 hitter off left-handed pitching, so with Tyler Flowers struggling mightily this year against lefties (.135/.238/.243) the Braves could certainly use Cervelli against most southpaws until McCann returns.

Or they might use the recently called up Alex Jackson in the interim and bring Cervelli up once rosters expand on September 1st.

It will be 48 hours until the Braves can make this reported deal with Cervelli official.