The Pirates acquired lefty Dana Eveland from the Blue Jays for righty Ronald Uviedo, according to a press release. Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was first to report the Pirates' impending acquisition.
Eveland, 26, posted a 6.45 ERA, 4.2 K/9, and 5.4 BB/9 in 44.6 innings for the Blue Jays before being designated for assignment on May 23rd. The Jays had acquired Eveland in February from the Athletics for a player to be named later or cash considerations. Before the '06 season, Eveland was ranked seventh among Brewers prospects by Baseball America – one spot before Nelson Cruz. BA likened Eveland to David Wells in terms of his build and pitchability. A statement from Pirates GM Neal Huntington indicated Eveland will join the team's rotation.
Uviedo, a 23-year-old Venezuelan, has a 3.22 ERA, 11.3 K/9, and 4.8 BB/9 in 22.3 relief innings this year for the Double A Altoona Curve. Baseball America ranked Uviedo 18th among Pirates prospects heading into the '09 season. BA described him as rail-thin and homer-prone, but praised his fastball and slider.
Huh. I would’ve thought he had already passed through. Best of luck to him if he winds up moving on.
I remember seeing an article on BlueJays.com about Eveland really enjoying his time in Toronto. Even stating he would go to Triple A.
Wonder how he feels about this pending news.
I’m sure Eveland would rather collect a major league paycheck on any team rather than a AAA paycheck in Vegas, even if he loves the Jays.
Great claim Neil! I think Dana is going to fill in nicely as a Pirate. I wonder if they are going to use him as a 5th starter or middle reliever?
I would rather see him than Karstens at this point for what it’s worth.
Whoa, why the hell would they trade a top 30 prospect for him? I didn’t mind the move at first but now this kinda sucks. I always seen this Uvedio guy’s name on prospect lists but never knew much about him. Why trade away a guy with ratios like that? It’s getting harder for me to trust Huntington’s skills to build a major league roster.
AA strikes again!
If I were a GM I’d be wary about trading with Alex, he obviously sees something everyone else is missing, Fred Lewis anyone?
You go ahead keep counting on Fred Lewis to be a productive player for you. He is the ultimate tease. He is slugging over his head right now and that will come down to earth and you will be left with a mid .700’s+ OPS corner outfielder who looks like he is playing the field whilst wearing roller skates.
the jays got him for 75k$, just 75,000$ cash. any positive production from him even, if its just for a short period of time is great.
Top 30 before the ’09 season, but not before this season.
Good move by Anthopolous. This could be one of the first moves resulting from the increase in pro scouting, trying to find guys other teams have soured on.
Well I guess it can’t be called a great move, but flipping a surplus starter for a legit prospect cannot be a bad thing.
Hes not a legit prospect.
Wow I clicked on Uviedo’s name for his BR page, his BBs to Ks are really good. 97 BBs to 341 Ks in 352.1 innings for his career, looks like the Blue Jays got a steal here.
I wouldn’t start lining up to congratulate AA just yet. I’m impressed by his professionalism and commitment, but essentially he’s just made a minor league move here, one of hundreds he’ll likely make. We as fans just slobber all over this stuff because we’re looking for the next big thing. Neil Huntington also did well by picking up a serviceable 26-27 year old lefty who could start or be a long reliever, and who makes buttons. Not too bad from where I sit. I think both teams did pretty well for themselves.
AA just turned some cash in the offseason into a decent 22 year old prospect. and in the mean time got some good starts out of eveland while the jays pitchers recuperated from injury. in terms of asset management this is awesome on AA part.
It’ll be hard for him to be worse than Charlie Morton!
This is a trade that could work more for the Pirates than the Jays. Eveland is more suited for NL. He had been pitching well, just went through a REAL tough streak.
Ronald is a work in progress and might get a chance.
AA has done well though in picking up guys know one wanted. Buck, Lewis, Gregg, Gonzalez. The man does is homework.
I agree that the Pirates may end up liking this deal. I also think getting anything for someone you would have ended up releasing is a win for the Jays. Eveland may very well become a productive #5 SP in the weak NL, as opposed to the AL East.
Good luck Dana!
Hopefully this means that Charlie will be able to go down to the minors to work out his troubles, but I don’t like how they gave up Uviedo. I hope that this doesn’t prolong Lincoln’s time in the minors.
Doubt this has any effect on Morton’s spot in the rotation. I’d say this is more of a replacement for Burres than Morton.
If AA can get a top 20 prospect for Dana Eveland imagine what we could get for Gonzalez, Buck, Downs, Frasor, or Gregg
fellas, cmon. Uviedo is a 22 year old reliever in AA. there’s a million of him in the minors. i dont know much about this dana cat, he seems hit or miss, can’t hurt that he’s coming to the NL.
Uviedo actually turns 24 this year. He missed some time last year with a shoulder injury, and his numbers have suffered a bit since coming back from that. He projects as a future middle reliever.
I suspect that the Pirates don’t believe that Uviedo will regain the speed on his fastball that he once had and, given that, his chances of being an effective ML player are rather slim. I saw Uviedo pitch recently and his fastball was only about 87-89.
Interesting. The Fishercats started Uviedo on June 6. Stretching him out?