Ryan Raburn Signs with Indians, No One Cares

In the past, Ryan Raburn has proved to be a relatively useful big league player, especially in a part-time role. The 31-year-old is versatile, having the ability to play all positions aside from catcher and shortstop, and he’s shown some pretty good pop over the course of his career (.174 ISO).

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Unfortunately, Raburn was not at useful in 2012 (he was actually worth negative 1.5 WAR according to FanGraphs), and despite coming off three straight respectable seasons as a solid bench player for the Tigers, the organization decided he wasn’t worth the $2.1 million salary assigned to him through arbitration — an understandable choice.

Consequently, the former fifth round draft selection in 2001 hit the open market and now finds himself with a minor league contract and an invitation to come to spring training with the Cleveland Indians. If any team needs help offensively, it’s Cleveland, so Raburn actually has a chance to be a serviceable player as long as they don’t have any plans of overusing him.

That said, it’s a pretty slow news day if the signing of Ryan Raburn is worth reporting at all.

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