Yankees to ‘wait and see’ with Cervelli

March 3, 2011 by Mike Axisa 16 Comments

Via Erik Boland, the Yankees are in wait-and-see mode with Frankie Cervelli‘s bruised left foot. The catcher fouled a pitch off the foot in yesterday’s game (direct shot too), and a post-game CT scan was negative while an MRI was inconclusive. Doctors are taking a second look at the latter to determine the extent of the injury. “[There’s] still some concern and we’ll just wait and see what [the doctors] say,” said Joe Girardi this morning.

An injury to Cervelli would change things quite a bit, perhaps opening the door for Jesus Montero to start the year with the big league team. I still can’t see them using Jorge Posada behind the plate, not in anything more than an emergency situation.

Damian

Poor fella. Last year in ST he was hit with a pitch directly in the head, wasn’t he? I can’t remember if he was actually concussed, but he has no luck in Spring Training.
- http://www.twitter.com/jordansmed JGS
  
  He got hurt in Spring Training in 2009 too–didn’t one of the Rays barrel into him, prompting a bit of a brouhaha?
  - Drew
    
    That was in 2008 i believe, when the rays were in the world series. I can distinctly remember Tim McCarver and Joe Buck referencing that moment as to what propelled them to the World Seres and the great season they had. I then shut off my television.
elvin

I wish cervelli the best in a speedy recovery, but i feel is time for Jesus Montero to gain some MLB experience
WORK WITH PETE

Let the Jesus era begin
Drew

im a big proponent for letting Montero get regular at bats in the minors instead of letting him sit on the bench 4 days a week. Why not let Posada catch 2 days (thats if Martin shows he is healthy) a week? That way you can give Arod, Tex, Jeter or anybody eles the occasional half day rest at the DH spot. You can’t just give the kid the starting catchers gig, he has to earn it. 1 hit (so far) in spring training and all the potential in the world doesn’t warrant anyone to be given a job in the big leagues.
- radnom
  
  1 hit (so far) in spring training and all the potential in the world doesn’t warrant anyone to be given a job in the big leagues
  
  So he has to show some big league success before you’re willing to try him out in the big leagues?
  
  And who is talking about a starting job? Cervelli is the backup catcher. Given Martin’s injury history your number two catcher will probably get a fair number of ABs….wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if that was Montero to open the season.
- Jake
  
  Agreed. I don’t see Montero getting enough repetition at the catcher position if he goes north with the team. Offensively, I’d say he has little to prove at the minor league level, but he still needs to work at the position defensively. The best place for him is probably in the minor leagues, in live game action as much as possible.
http://www.wiredtowns.com Short Porch aka Master of the Obvious

B.C. — Backstop: Cervelli
A.D. — Anno Domination!
Johnny O

the season’s still a month away? cervelli could easily heal by then, no?

I’d much rather an extra year of cost controlled of Jesus when he’s 26/27 than a month of him being a backup catcher. How is this not an obvious decision????
- CS Yankee
  
  Two months…but yeah. However, quite a few questioned that Posey being kept down almost cost the Giants from even making it to the postseason.
  
  Be careful for what you choose.
  
  The can’t catch thing seems to be BS, but I am concerned with him calling a game, building trust, and communicating well with the starters.
RL

Hoping Cervelli’s injury is really nothing and he’s back soon. While I’m anxious to see Montero at the ML level, I want to see it beginning after a couple of months of AAA time this year. Let him continue to work on his defense and game calling. He’s still young. We’re told that his bat will be fine, so let’s hope the team can wait until his D is a little more acceptable and then refine his skills with Girardi, Pena, Posada and Martin beginning in May or June.
mike_h

why not just platoon C/DH Montero and Posada? Days where Posada DH’s Montero is the backup C, and days Montero DH’s Posada is the backup catcher.

If they thought this out we really didn’t need Russell Martin just carry Montero, Posada, and Cervelli
- CS Yankee
  
  Martin on paper makes sense…cheap, short term and Jorge is done as catcher.
  
  Cerv overplayed his talent level, Montero is waaay young for catcher, and Jorge body/head isn’t able to do it. Martin was a smart signing; hopefully it works out above the NJ & Javy signings last offseason.
- pete
  
  I’m bookmarking this post.
Big Apple

Cervelli is the second coming of Wally Pipp…and Jesus is our savior!