Tiger Geist

Not a huge surprise with the Johnny Damon signing, Jason Beck reports Ryan Raburn will play multiple positions this spring.  Don Kelly’s left handed bat and multi-position skill set will get a run for its money.  The twist here is Kelly is a solid defender with average (albeit left handed) bat; Raburn appears to be the opposite.  I feel Raburn could be a better outfielder if he were able to focus strictly on it, but that won’t happen in 2010.

Couple thoughts here:

• Raburn is probably best at second base on the infield;  he had a few poor games at third and Leyland didn’t see the point of resting an obviously hurting (with his knees and his bat) Brandon Inge in favor of Raburn late in the season.
• Its quite early, but Jason Beck also talks about Leyland’s love of the young outfield talent.  Is this a hint that Raburn’s long term future with the club is not a permanent outfield slot?
• Would Detroit be truly comfortable with a Tony Phillips style role for Raburn, or is will he be actively shopped before the season begins?
• Where are his at-bats?  He’s not playing center… in fact, he’s only played 126 innings in center over the last three seasons.  Pinch hitting?  The more I hear the San Francisco media complaining that the Giants have no offense, the more I’m talking myself into Raburn not being a Tiger for long.  A very interesting spring battle.
• I’m not sold on Austin Jackson yet, and I wonder what Clete Thomas has in store.  Remember that Thomas wasn’t cleared to throw until midway through last spring due to elbow surgery in 2008; is he better with a full off-season?

On a pseudo-related note:

I always thought moving to first would be super easy… but as fans we saw how hard of a time Carlos Guillen has had in his transition.  Eric Chavez is making that same adjustment this year.  From Oakland coach Mike Gallego:

“The biggest instinct he has to get rid of going from third to first is reacting to the ball first – he can’t. He has to react to the bag. You don’t want to have him standing there, cheering his buddy making a play, and then going, ‘Oh, shoot, the ball is coming to me.’ “

I’m sure Oakland would love Chavez’s first reaction to be towards the field, and not the disabled list this year.