The Pittsburgh Pirates continued to bolster their pitching staff with a low-profile move consummated on Monday.
The team announced today that they have acquired LHP Kyle Lobstein from the Detroit Tigers for cash considerations.
The @Pirates have acquired LHP Kyle Lobstein from the @tigers in exchange for cash considerations.
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) December 21, 2015
Full terms of the deal are not disclosed as of this time. Lobstein is a two-year veteran who has made 17 starts across two major-league seasons, in addition to three relief appearances. Below are his full career stats-to-date:
| Year | W | L | G | GS | GF | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 1 | 2 | 4.35 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 39.1 | 35 | 20 | 19 | 3 | 14 | 27 | 3.82 | 1.246 | 8.0 | 0.7 | 3.2 | 6.2 | 1.93 |
| 2015 | 3 | 8 | 5.94 | 13 | 11 | 2 | 63.2 | 78 | 43 | 42 | 7 | 23 | 32 | 4.64 | 1.586 | 11.0 | 1.0 | 3.3 | 4.5 | 1.39 |
| 2 Yrs | 4 | 10 | 5.33 | 20 | 17 | 3 | 103.0 | 113 | 63 | 61 | 10 | 37 | 59 | 4.33 | 1.456 | 9.9 | 0.9 | 3.2 | 5.2 | 1.59 |
Lobstein profiles as a pitcher who relies primarily on his sinking fastball, having thrown it 38.21 percent of the time in 2015. The pitch has a 61.24% ground ball rate, which falls in line with what the Pirates value in their starting pitching.
Lobstein presumably joins recent additions Jon Niese and Ryan Vogelsong as starting pitching options for the Pirates in 2016. At this point, the addition of Lobstein appears to be a depth move to replace starting depth options such as Brandon Cumpton or Casey Sadler.
Still, it is difficult to determine if the Pirates’ plan on having an open competition between the players mentioned here and Jeff Locke for the three spots behind Gerrit Cole and Francisco Liriano.
Hopefully bigger moves on the starting pitching front come for the Pirates in the coming weeks or months.
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