It wasn’t that long ago that Andy Oliver was a top prospect in the Tigers farm system. But things change, and now Andy Oliver is a Pittsburgh Pirate and Ramon Cabrera is a Detroit Tiger.

The trade happened earlier today as the Tigers decided a change of scenery would be good for Oliver and got back a catcher who will start the season in Toledo. I don’t know much about Cabrera but the scouting report I received on him from Mark Anderson says that he has “an average glove overall” and “some modest hitting ability.”

It appears that Cabrera will be a useful depth guy for the Tigers behind the plate and can fill in on the big league roster if Avila or Holaday get hurt. The real story here is Oliver.

Just a couple years ago, he looked like someone who had a shot to really contribute to a big league rotation. But that hope faded. Slowly he started to look like a reliever. Then maybe nothing at all.

Oliver’s problem was that he lost command and then he lost his slider. A lefty who can throw mid 90s with a solider breaking ball is a big league starter. A lefty who can’t find the zone and only has a fastball is probably a LOOGY. That’s where Oliver is right now.

This is a story of the Tigers not cashing in on Oliver when his value was higher. I thought they should have traded him two offseasons ago. It’s easy to look back now and say that I’m right given that we know he hasn’t lived up to the potential. The Tigers wanted him to live up to it so they held on.

Today they let go.

Andy Oliver is the story of a prospect not panning out. It happens all the time. A great GM can see it coming and flip them for value before their stock tanks. That’s a very tough thing to perfect. Dombrowski did it perfectly with Andrew Miller. He didn’t do it with Andy Oliver. y with Andrew Miller. He didn’It happens all the time. A great GM can see it coming and flip them for Such is life.

Oliver has the raw ability to pitch, but doesn’t have the fine-tuned skill. I watch him a lot in Toledo and in his few stints in Detroit. The velocity from the left side is valuable, so he won’t have trouble finding someone to give him a chance, but I’m not convinced it’s ever going to happen for him.

That’s okay though. He’s still getting paid to play baseball for a living, even if he’s never going to be on top.