Raburn Has Become Leyland's Second Choice
There are a several upsides of having Ryan Raburn play second base and one modest downside.
Raburn, who came up through Detroit's organization as an infielder, is about average defensively and the Tigers believe he had enough promise as a run-producer to move him to left field a couple of years ago.
There's a temporary void at second base in the organization and a glut of outfielders, so even though manager Jim Leyland says it's not something you'll see every day, it's something you might see a lot of on his lineup cards.
"I think he'll be fine defensively," Leyland said after inserting Raburn at second twice this week with starter Will Rhymes struggling. "He's got a strong arm to turn the double play. If you think he is going to field as good as (Ramon) Santiago, you are kidding yourself. But I will live with that.
"I trust him at second base. To me, when you make a decision like that (moving Raburn to second), you have to be willing to live with the results. If not, you shouldn't do it. As a manager, you say, 'I'm willing to live with that.'"
Raburn was handed the left field job after two consecutive strong second halves resulted in a two-year contract during the winter. His commitment to the outfield was so strong he hadn't taken ground balls until Leyland mentioned before Detroit's just-ended trip to Oakland and Seattle that it might be a possibility.
"I don't feel too bad," said Raburn, who made 15 starts at second base last year. "I've taken a few days of ground balls, and last year actually felt pretty comfortable there."
Raburn started two of Detroit's three games in Seattle at second base, both against left-handed pitchers. Some of the thinking was predicated on Rhymes barely hitting .200 at the moment. Raburn hit a home run as the second batter of Wednesday's game.
Not only does the move give Detroit some sock at second, it also lets Leyland use more of his hard-hitting outfielders, either in the field or as designated hitters.
"I'm trying to get some thunder in the lineup," Leyland said. "It also enables me to get (Brennan) Boesch in there and get Magglio (Ordonez) playing. I'm searching for some thunder.
"We've got to try to do something. If Rhymes was hitting right now, we'd look a lot different."
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