Cervelli comes across like the Sammy Glick of catchers. I've seen him hold the ball in place hoping to get a call from umps on pitches laughably out of the strike zone. Exuberant? More like spastic.

I think Cervelli can be decent. If he can replicate his career line (88 wRC+, slightly below avg. defense) he would give the Yankees ~1.5 WAR at C, which is exactly what Martin did.

If he lives up to his minor league rep, and can play plus defense, he'll be pretty good.

Didn't the Yanks make it clear last season that they prefer Stewart over Cervelli? They traded a decent reliever to get him and Cervelli had a bad season in the minors.

Bizarre as it sounds--and I'm as shocked as anyone--if Cervelli can hold up his 2010-11 numbers, he actually won't represent a huge offensive drop from Martin.

Cervelli, 2010-11:
136 G, 454 PA, .269/.348/.354 (89 OPS+) 1.8 oWAR

Martin, 2012:
133 G, 485 PA, .211/.311/.403 (92 OPS+), 2.2 oWAR

Now, the two big factors there are (1) Can Cervelli maintain that level across a full-season and (2) How much of a downgrade is he defensively?

Yeah, he does well with OBP and can occasionally run into one. I'd rather try him out instead of Stewart, and maybe Sanchez can take over in 2015 or whatever.

Didn't the Yanks make it clear last season that they prefer Stewart over Cervelli? They traded a decent reliever to get him and Cervelli had a bad season in the minors.

I think they like Stewart as a good, all glove, backup. I don't think they view him as a starter.

I mean, if they thought Stewart was starter material, why didn't he get more PT when Martin was struggling horribly in the first half?

Through July 31, Martin was hitting 188/307/376, but Stewart only got 33 starts. I'd have to think that with Martin struggling badly, and a FA after the season, they would have given Stewart a much bigger look if they thought he could be the answer at C.

FRANKIE BRAINS!!!

Didn't the Yanks make it clear last season that they prefer Stewart over Cervelli? They traded a decent reliever to get him and Cervelli had a bad season in the minors.

Stewart gave them catching depth but didn't have options while Cervelli did. FWIW, Cashman said that if Martin was out for an extended time last year, they'd have called up Cervelli to start. Either could win the 2013 job in spring training, as could Austin Romine, but they might have to keep looking over their shoulder if better options emerge.

The Bronx grapevine is that the pitchers do not like working with him. Stewart has a much deeper understanding of what pitchers are trying to do.