Jays trade lefty Eveland to Pirates for minor-league pitcher

TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays traded struggling left-handed pitcher Dana Eveland to the Pittsburgh Pirates for a minor league reliever on Tuesday.

The 26-year-old Eveland will be joining his fifth major league team in the past five seasons. A former draft pick of Milwaukee, he was 3-4 with a 6.45 ERA in nine starts this season for Toronto.

The Blue Jays designated Eveland for assignment on May 24, giving them 10 days to make a move with him.

"He's had success at various points as a major league starting pitcher," Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said. "Our scouts like his stuff package, and he represents a probable upgrade over our current rotation and provides us with another starting pitching depth option."

Toronto acquired 23-year-old righty Ronald Uviedo from the Pirates. He was 0-2 with a 3.22 ERA in 16 relief appearances for Double-A Altoona, holding opponents to a .165 average off of him.

Eveland is 16-21 with a 5.66 ERA in 92 career games (53 starts) with the Brewers, Diamondbacks, Athletics and Blue Jays. His only full season as a starter was in 2008 with Oakland, when he went 9-9 with a 4.34 ERA in 29 starts.

"He's been successful in his career, and it's going to be a guy we'd like to bring in and see what we've got and see where we go from there," Pirates manager John Russell said.

After starting this season with 11 1/3 scoreless innings, Eveland lost his past three starts. He allowed eight runs in 1 1/3 innings during his most recent outing May 22 at Arizona.

"I was just hoping somebody would look at those first six games and realize I have some potential," Eveland said. "I'm glad the Pirates did."

Eveland will not join the Pirates until Friday. A corresponding roster move will be made when he arrives. That is expected to be the demotion of Brian Burres, whom Russell said would have his turn in the rotation skipped this weekend. The Pirates have scheduled off-days Thursday and Monday.

The Pirates would not commit to Eveland immediately joining the rotation. Huntington said "a more probable role would be out of the bullpen for an outing or two and into the rotation from there."

"It's really a fringe to an average package of stuff, with the curveball and the slider, he throws a solid changeup," Huntington said. "He's like a typical left-handed starter -- not overpowering but he can mix and match his pitches, and we like his ability to get groundballs."

The Pirates recently placed struggling starter Charlie Morton on the disabled list, and Jeff Karstens replaced him -- at least temporarily -- in the rotation. The Pirates haven't announced who will start for them Sunday against San Francisco. Eveland said he felt he was able to do so, if asked.

"I'm really excited to get back out on the mound," Eveland said. "I wasn't surprised. I'm more excited than anything."

In other Pirates news, Huntington and Russell confirmed that reliever Jack Taschner is due to be activated from the disabled list soon, perhaps Wednesday.