The Reds have agreed to a minor-league deal with veteran outfielder Ryan Raburn, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter link). He’ll earn $900K if he can crack the MLB roster, C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets.
Raburn is now 35 years of age and is coming off of an uninspiring 2016 showing with the Rockies, in which he carried only a 77 OPS+ over 256 plate appearances. But the on-again, off-again lefty masher was spectacular just one year prior, as he provided the 2015 Indians with 201 plate appearances of .301/.393/.543 hitting. That’s part of a pattern for Raburn, who has rather inexplicably alternated between highly productive and roundly disappointing complete seasons for the better part of his career.
Of course, Cincinnati can’t exactly bank on a full rebound from the veteran. But if he’s able to show well in camp, Raburn could earn a chance to stick as a bench bat to help balance out an otherwise youthful roster. He and Desmond Jennings, both of whom are righty hitters who could spell Scott Schebler in right field, could battle with younger options for the final active roster spots in camp.
Not bad. Good left handed destroyer.
In 2015 he was. 2016 was horrible. I like Jennings’ chances of sticking better than Raburn’s.
.229 / .356 / .479 vs LHP in 2016. Perfectly serviceable. His overall line was bad because for some reason the Rockies actually used him more against RHP than LHP.
I thought the Reds were going younger. Although, it’s true they have Bronson Arroyo, who’s going to be 40 later on this month. I guess it’s a mixture of young and older.
They need some older guys to help mentor the young guys. There’s only so much Joey votto to go around
Agreed. However, this move involving another position player ill advised. Bullpen IMO is where expierenced help is needed.
They ARE going younger. Rayburn and Arroyo are minor league invitees who are unlikely to even make the team. These old guys are depth signings, not cornerstones.
I think Desmond Jennings, if his knee is okay, has a good chance of making the team. Raburn has next to none. Unless Jennings has a rough spring and the outfield is struck by a series of injuries.
It’s better to get to the end of spring training and have extra guys to cut than get there and find your injured team needs a last minute scramble to acquire more depth to fill out the bench.
That’s definitely true. The Reds should also be looking for opportunities to flip guys on the rebound. That’s what they did with Dan Straily. And as much as it kills me to praise the Cubs, they did this really well during their rebuilding years. I just wish I had more confidence in the Reds’ ability to scout and negotiate trades. Im scarred by all those years (2000-2010) when we stockpiled young arms in trades, but then none of them panned out. Sounds like a long time ago, but the scouts don’t turnover very often. Their bosses do, but not the scouts themselves.
As far as player evaluation, they took a big step forward when Dan O’Brien replaced Jim Bowden after 2003. Krivsky also brought on good people during his tenure, starting in 2006. Before O’Brien the team, as owned by Marge Schott, barely cared to employ scouts. Obviously it took a few years to build that part of the organization, and years more to see any benefits.
Terry Reynolds was a Dan O’Brien hire. Chris Buckley is a Krivsky hire. Despite some high ranking holdovers so much has changed.
I’m not worried about decisions made in the early 2000s, the organization has changed a ton since then. Now with Williams and Grossman they’ve seemingly made the full leap towards embracing analytics.
They are getting younger, these guys won’t last past spring. Just need filler on the spring roster because they’ll be playing a lot of B games. Too many arms need innings this year.
Assuming one of Jennings/Raburn makes the team, it would just be as a bench bat/5th outfielder (behind Schebler, Duvall, Hamilton, Alcantara). You don’t want young guys to just ride the bench all year because you want them to play regularly. That’s why you sign a veteran
Sooooooo happy someone picked him up! Any effectively wild listener will appreciate the possibility of Raburn keeping up his pattern.
I will always remember him as the man who copied Trevor Bauers batting stance 😛
Didn’t Bauer copy his teammates stances?
Let’s just hope he never copies Trevor Bauers personality.
The Bret Saberhagen of hitters: good year, bad year, good year, bad year…
I love how he alternates years lol.
Sign him to an odd number of years.
Good opportunities in the outfield for the Reds.
Good luck Jennings and Raburn.
As a Reds fan, I’m super confused. Hand me a beer!