Pirates acquire pitcher Andy Oliver from Detroit
By Matt Shetler
Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Neal Huntington hasn’t been too active for the first three days of the 2012 Winter Meetings, but managed to pull off a minor trade on Wednesday, one that won’t have any impact on the 2013 season.
The Pirates acquired lefty Andrew Oliver from the Tigers for catcher Ramon Cabrera, tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Oliver, 25, was drafted by the Tigers in the second round in 2009 and was once highly thought of.
He had a taste of the majors, but things didn’t go well. Oliver made seven starts combined between 2010 and 2011 and went 0-5 with 7.11 ERA. He has had problems throwing strikes as in 2012 his Triple-A walk rate soared to 6.7 per nine innings.
Baseball America has described him as “a power lefty who needs to throw more strikes.”
Cabrera, 23, spent most of 2012 in Double-A, hitting .276/.342/.367 in 428 plate appearances.