Pirates and Dodgers discussing Cervelli?

I have no idea how credible this is, but things are mighty slow now. Fittingly, the only recent rumor involving the Pirates is about dumping talent (and payroll!), not about adding talent.

If the Dodgers aren’t inclined to give up primo talent for two years of J.T. Realmuto, it’s unlikely they’d give up much for one year, minus DL time, of Francisco Cervelli and his $11.5M contract. That’s especially true after they went to the trouble of clearing a chunk of payroll.

Make no mistake, offloading Cervelli would significantly weaken the Pirates. Here’s where the Pirates ranked among the NL’s 15 teams in fWAR, by position, in 2018:

C: 1st (5.3 to the Marlins’ 4.5)

1B: 12th

2B: 9th

3B: 12th

SS: 14th

LF: 7th

CF: 6th

RF: 8th

So Cervelli and Elias Diaz gave the Pirates their one truly strong position. And, sorry, but anybody who doesn’t see that Cervelli/Diaz >>>>>>>>> Diaz/Stallings needs to catch the next shuttle back to earth. On top of that, the Pirates have no depth after Stallings, which could be why they denied Diaz permission to play winter ball (sub. req’d). So this “news,” if there’s anything to it, is hardly something to get excited about.