The Pittsburgh Pirates have released catcher Ramon Cabrera. He was one of the players dropped from the 40-man roster on Thursday to make room for others that needed to be protected from the Rule V draft. Cabrera was picked up in August as a waiver claim from the Detroit Tigers and hit .239/.286/.413 in 12 games with Altoona. It was his second go around in the system. He was originally signed as an amateur free agent in 2008 out of Venezuela, then was traded Tigers in 2012 for pitcher Andy Oliver. The 25-year-old Cabrera is currently playing winter ball in Venezuela. The Pirates recently signed catcher Sebastian Valle as a minor league free agent, so he should fill the void left by the departure of Cabrera.
Pirates Release Catcher Ramon Cabrera
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
