Cleveland Indians: Ryan Raburn still looking for a home

The Cleveland Indians outfield still has some questions surrounding it entering 2016. But hey, Ryan Raburn is still out there and available.

Let’s review what we know at this point about the Indians’ outfield:

• The last time the Cleveland Indians’ front office overestimated the recovery time for a player’s injury was Early Wynn’s gout. Keep that in mind if you get a chance to bet the over-under on Michael Brantley playing 120 games this year. However many games Brantley misses, it would have been twenty or so fewer if they had done the surgery right after the season. Still haven’t heard an explanation for that which doesn’t amount to: we screwed up.
• The most likely starting outfield until Brantley recovers is Rajai Davis, Abraham Almonte, and Lonnie Chisenhall. Between them, they have one season of more than five hundred at-bats, and that was six years ago.  All three have significant platoon differentials. In other words, this is a situation screaming out for depth.
• The depth consists of a bevy of, to put it politely, journeymen, the foremost of whom are Collin Cowgill and Joey Butler. I did some research and verified that those are actual players, not just names that someone made up.

And somewhere Ryan Raburn sits in his living room, waiting to hear from his agent. Right now teams in need of outfielders are dreaming about Yoenis Cespedes, Alex Gordon, and Melvin Upton. When those guys sign they will move on to Dexter Fowler, Austin Jackson and Denard Span. After all, that is done, teams that still need an outfielder will look at guys like Raburn. A team that jumps in now can get a guy who will destroy left-handed pitching for about a tenth of what some of those guys will make.

We all know that the Indians had an option for three million dollars on Raburn for 2016, which they declined. The Indians probably will spend three million on condiments at the concession stands, so that shouldn’t be a stumbling block if Raburn can help them. There’s no guarantee that Raburn will be better than Cowgill or Butler – there is that strange tendency to be lousy in even-numbered years – but his track record is certainly better than theirs.

At this point, why not simply sign Raburn for three million and bring him to spring training as an insurance policy? Maybe everything goes great and you don’t need him.  Maybe Brantley is ready for opening day. Maybe Bradley Zimmer or Clint Frazier comes to camp and wows everyone. Maybe Span or Fowler never gets an offer and falls into the Indians’ price range. Maybe some team gets so desperate for a starting pitcher that they offer three starting outfielders for Carlos Carrasco. Maybe Collin Cowgill is a superhero in disguise.  If any of those things happens, they can DFA Raburn and write off the three million as hedging their bets.

Next: Have the Indians improved enough?

What if, however, none of those things happens? Or what if it gets even worse?  Someone else could get hurt. At some point, Chisenhall will have a soul-crushing slump. Almonte still feels like a gamble, maybe because his name sounds more like a character from a Bogart movie than a baseball player in 2016, or maybe because his 178 at-bats last year for the Indians represent the most sustained success he has had at the major league level. The reality is that this team is one piece of bad news away from wishing Nick Swisher was still around. Under those circumstances, reaching out to Ryan Raburn seems like a no-brainer.