Oliver Moved to the BP

**C03BRA** · 07-29-2012, 10:04 PM

Detroit Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said Sunday that Oliver will pitch out of the bullpen for the remainder of the season.

Oliver went 4-9 with a 5.18 ERA as a starter for the Mud Hens before heading to the disabled list right after the All-Star break due to shoulder fatigue.

"He's been out for a while," Dombrowski said. "He's healthy. We weren't going to have a good time to stretch him out. The second thing is, we have often wondered how he would do in the bullpen ourselves, so we just figured it's a good time to make the transition for the rest of the year, see how it goes and take it from there."

Dombrowski said the Tigers are hopeful that the move to the bullpen might help Oliver with commanding his pitches and throwing strikes in a more aggressive fashion.

"It's a different mindset than having to pace yourself to pitch six or seven innings," Dombrowski said.

More at the link....

Detroit Tigers move Triple-A left-hander Andy Oliver to bullpen for remainder of season | MLive.com

**pyrotigers** · 07-29-2012, 10:08 PM

Good idea, he certainly seems like the kind of guy who could find new life as a reliever

**sabretooth** · 07-29-2012, 10:12 PM

Yeah, it's pretty obvious that he wasn't going to work out as a SP....maybe this will help him focus on his best pitches and improve his command.

**Sports_Freak** · 07-29-2012, 10:25 PM

Just what Leyland loves, a RP to come in and not throw strikes. We seem to be loading up on them in our system. Luckily, our ML RP are doing pretty good. And AA may be back? It's all good....

**hueytaxi** · 07-29-2012, 10:27 PM

Yes!

**TStar** · 07-30-2012, 10:25 AM

Oliver to the BP and Schlereth ready to rehab soon. That's a lot of walks that'll be coming from the Toledo BP lefties soon.

**Motor City Sonics** · 07-30-2012, 10:49 AM

Where's Andy Van Hekken when you need him?

**NeedMoreLike84** · 07-30-2012, 11:03 AM

Or Adam Pettyjohn.

**Dunkin Darvin** · 07-30-2012, 11:25 AM

I could see Oliver carving out a Phil Coke-like role on a team.

**BoomGaspar** · 07-30-2012, 11:27 AM

Or Seth Greisinger, or Kenny Baugh, or Matt Drumright, or...

**Antrat** · 07-30-2012, 11:33 AM

BP. Batting Practice? Wasn't he already there?

**ballmich** · 07-30-2012, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by BoomGaspar

Or Seth Greisinger, or Kenny Baugh, or Matt Drumright, or...

All right handers. I hope you see the difference.

I think a lot of people have suspected that Oliver would eventually end up in the bullpen. I think we did the right thing by continuing to try to develop him as a SP, but I also agree that now is probably the time to have him make the transition to the bullpen.

He'll be out of options after 2012.

**Nastradamus** · 07-30-2012, 02:38 PM

Worth a shot, but isn't his issue fastball command? If it was that he couldn't master his 2nd and 3rd pitches, I'd have some hope, but you have to at least locate your fastball to be a good RP.