Leyland Says Raburn Leash Is Short
DETROIT (97.1 The Ticket) - Ryan Raburn has gotten every opportunity to prove if he belongs in the Tigers everyday lineup and obviously he has failed. He is currently hitting .146 with an on base percentage of .209.
Monday Jim Leyland batted him second, which baffled most baseball fans.
Leyland's explanation of not wanting to have to left-handed hitters back to back to star the game did not make much sense to me. And what did Raburn do with this opportunity in the two hole? He went 0 for 4,including striking out 3 teams looking.
Leyland joined the Stoney and Bill show Tuesday morning and talked about Raburn's future,"I don't think the leash is very long to be honest with you."
Leyland is pleased with the contributions of Quintin Berry, but would not speculate on what will happen when Austin Jackson returns from the disabled list saying, "Everyone's all excited and they should be, but we got to hold on.When its all said and done the best 25 players will be here"
The Tigers manager also reiterated his mantra following the controversy in Mondays game with Boston and put some of the onus on the sportswriters,"When a manager messes up and players mess up its always critcized.It should be the same with the umpires, but they just shrug their shoulders and say oh well the blew a call."
Listen to the interview:
