MLB: 5 overvalued/undervalued players entering 2015

C Francisco Cervelli Pittsburgh Pirates

Contract: 1 year, $987,500 ($987,500/year)

In the introduction, the idea that a player would get paid for being a sabermetrics king, was questioned. Could a player get a gigantic deal primarily for the way he performs in regards to OPS and other forms of what in other sports are rendered “advanced metrics”? Well the answer is undoubtedly YES in at least one case.

Russell Martin received a five-year, $82 million contract from the Toronto Blue Jays for a .400-plus on-base percentage and being one of the game’s best pitch framers. In comparison to that deal, the Pirates are winning by paying Francisco Cervelli just shy of a million bucks to be their starting catcher in 2015.

Consider this: in 49 games in 2014, Cervelli had a .370 on-base percentage, .432 slugging percentage and in sum .802 OPS. Plus he was one of the best pitch framers in baseball. Per game, he stole 1.47 strikes for his pitchers and saved the Yankees an estimated 7.4 runs in his 49 games caught.

If Cervelli catches just 100 games for Pittsburgh in 2015, that could equal out to right around 15 runs saved for his Pirates pitching staff. If that isn’t valuable, who knows what is!

There are few players who could have better replaced Martin, both offensively and defensively. In fact, Cervelli is one of the key reasons the Pirates should win the NL Central in 2015.