The Pittsburgh Pirates entered this season with no reason to believe they had a catching problem. Francisco Cervelli, coming off a career year, was playing better than ever. Elias Diaz was finally coming around on offense. Together the tandem produced the fourth most fWAR in baseball at that position in 2018 at 4.4.
This season, however, has not been anything similar. The Pirates currently rank 26th in the majors with a -0.5 fWAR. Cervelli, in his final year before free agency, produced just a 45 wRC+ in 123 plat appearances before being released after an injury plagued season.