Bucco fans gotta love this Cervelli guy. Tremendous addition to the team.****
- Thread starter fairgambit
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Yep. I was one of those who thought his leaving would be a disaster. It turned out pretty good so far.
Hard to believe with his defense/arm that he was available for a price that the Bucco's could afford...... Obviously he is not a career .330 hitter, but he even looks like a better hitter than most catchers. Right Russell Martin who? But Martin's season last year was about as good an all around season, hitting, defense, and arm, that I can remember a Pirate catcher having. And I go back a ways.....
He has been great. He is working his way into a position that he would be a legitimate All Star selection. I was trying to think who should go for the Pirates and I come up with these guys. Cole and Burnett have to be slam dunks at this point. I also think that McCutchen, Marte, and Melancon should go as well.
Yep. I was one of those who thought his leaving would be a disaster. It turned out pretty good so far.
I know everybody laughed at Nutting when he said he had the best management team in baseball, but it certainly doesn't seem so nutty now. I know some people argue that they have been lucky with their bargain shopping, but it is not luck when you find these gems every year.
The Pirates offered Martin 4yrs/$60M but refused to offer him a 5th year because he would be 37 at the end of the contract. So they did make a serious push for him. He is also Canadian and there are rumors of the Jays maybe someday letting him play SS (sounds crazy right but I guess he's a pretty decent SS). They did not want the albatross of the final 1-2 years at $15-20M per year that Toronto was willing to take. I loved Russell and badly wanted him to stay, but Toronto way over-paid for a guy coming off a career year. The Cervelli move is making that decision look better and better each day. Having Stewart to take the load off every 5th day (for Cole) is also a nice move and should hopefully help keep our catchers relatively fresh.
We're only 6 back and there are 98 games left. There is no way on this earth the Cards will continue to play .672 baseball. We will catch them. We will pass them. We will win the NL. We will win the World Series. So it has been written. So it shall be done.
Martin's a great catcher, and he's having a great year for Toronto so far. I think the reason the Bucs started off slowly is that because all along, last year, they were Martin's team. Not Cutch, not Walker, not anybody else. Martin was the man. And because he wasn't there, it took a while for them to adjust. And they've finally moved on.
Cervelli has been a great acquisition, but he's still not the Martin of last year. The Martin of this year seems to be the Martin of last year, but the Martin of 4 years from now probably won't be, and that is the world that the Bucs have to live in when they make these decisions. So far, Huntington looks good on this one.
Cervelli has been a great acquisition, but he's still not the Martin of last year. The Martin of this year seems to be the Martin of last year, but the Martin of 4 years from now probably won't be, and that is the world that the Bucs have to live in when they make these decisions. So far, Huntington looks good on this one.
You're mistaken. They offered him 4 years, but neither side revealed the financial terms.
The $15m per year you are arriving at might come from their qualifying offer, 1 year at $15.3
I think it is safe to assume the Pirates offer was in the 13-15 million per year range. The point is the Pirates made a legitimate effort to keep Martin. The Pirates would have been crazy to pay him the kind of money Toronto was offering, and when the Blue Jays ponied up, Martin would have been crazy to turn it down. I will always be appreciative for the role that Russell Martin played in changing the culture of the Pirates, but the Pirates were right to move on.
I really don't care what they offered Martin last off-season. He's in Toronto now and Cervelli is doing a bang up job replacing him.
What I like (and maybe it is because the team is playing as well as I've ever seen over the past 2 - 3 weeks), but Cervelli is a glue type character that teams need very badly. He is simply enjoying himself - after his home run last evening, you couldn't remove the grin from his face with a firing squad.
There's a lot of baseball to be played yet ... Don't expect the Cardinals to continue this streak that they are on, but realistically I don't expect the Buccos to continue to enjoy the starting pitching performances that they've had. The bats have got to get better and more consistent because I don't see them winning very many 5-4 games.
What I like (and maybe it is because the team is playing as well as I've ever seen over the past 2 - 3 weeks), but Cervelli is a glue type character that teams need very badly. He is simply enjoying himself - after his home run last evening, you couldn't remove the grin from his face with a firing squad.
There's a lot of baseball to be played yet ... Don't expect the Cardinals to continue this streak that they are on, but realistically I don't expect the Buccos to continue to enjoy the starting pitching performances that they've had. The bats have got to get better and more consistent because I don't see them winning very many 5-4 games.
There was a lot of buzz over the weekend about the Pirates acquiring Cole Hamels from the Phillies. Hamels pitched a tremendous game on Sunday, as did Burnett. Getting another arm would certainly help the cause, but what would the Phillies want in return? Would the Pirates want to give that up?
I heard an interview recently where Huntington said major league GM's are realizing that it's not useful to trade a bunch of young talent for an older expensive guy, because it hardly ever works out well. My take from that was that the Pirates will not be trading any of their significant prospects for a guy like Hamels. Philly would want either Glasnow or Taillon in return, and I would not give either of them up for Hamels. Either one of them could be in the rotation by midyear next year. Can you imagine a rotation of Gerrett, Taillon, and Glasnow in a few years, when all three of these guys can hit 99mph? Sheesh.
The Pirates' bigger problem is what to do about first base and Pedro. There's no doubt in my mind that they deal him by the off-season at the latest.
The Pirates' bigger problem is what to do about first base and Pedro. There's no doubt in my mind that they deal him by the off-season at the latest.
I like the catching tandem of Cervelli and Stewart. Shades of the early 90's duo.
Cervelli was available because he's been unable to stay healthy his entire career and this season is only a little over 1/3 done. Martin is a much better/quicker thrower and controls the running game better. However, Cervelli is just as enthusiastic and likeable, certainly a fan favorite type and is having a career year with the bat. And yeah, the Jays overpaid for Martin and for too many years. When a guy is in so much demand, I guess that's what you have to do. And there's no way the Pirates are going to acquire Hamels, the Cards are more likely.
I can't think of a team that would be LESS likely to be interested in trading for Cole Hamels.
I expect there are a lot of clubs that would entertain that possibility, but I would put the chances of the Pirates being interested at just a bit less than zero.
