Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Ryan Raburn vs. Chris Young for 2016


The New York Yankees Hot Stove is already heating up with Brian Cashman telling reporters that he's already gone to work. Cashman, in his words, is "open to anything" and is looking to be aggressive and get creative this offseason to improve the team in 2016. The issue with Cashman and the 2016 team is that most of the positions and roster spots on the team are already filled on paper, but not Chris Young's spot from 2015. Young basically played against left-handed pitching in 2015 while giving Brett Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran days off but could the Yankees actually improve on that in 2016?

Enter the Cleveland Indians outfielder and infielder Ryan Raburn. Raburn, while he isn't the defensive wizard and Ben Zobrist type player that he used to be, would give the Yankees the left-handed masher they need that would be used as a late game defensive replacement and pinch runner for Beltran while also giving some infield depth. Raburn is listed as an outfielder, second baseman and third baseman according to Baseball Reference but the problem for New York may be his age. Raburn is 34-years old and will be 25-years old shortly after Opening Day 2016 but playing a bench role and a part-time role may eliminate those concerns for the Yankees.

The biggest question for New York would be this. Would Raburn be worth the contract or should the Yankees simply bring back Young for a third season? Well according to the Baseball Reference projections for 2016 Young would get more chances in New York and would put up better stats overall:

Raburn:
Year Tm Age PA R H 2B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
2016 Proj. 35 322 36 72 18 11 43 1 28 74 .252 .325 .437 .762

Young:
Year Tm Age PA R H 2B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
2016 Proj. 32 415 52 86 21 14 45 7 35 89 .232 .303 .414 .717

Both smashed lefties once again in 2015 with Young slashing .327/.397/.575/.972 with seven home runs and 24 RBI while Raburn slashed .325/.415/.589/1.004 with eight home runs and 25 RBI but Raburn gives the Yankees some versatility that Young does not provide. Young cannot back up Chase Headley giving the Yankees opportunities to keep him fresh and healthy and Young does not give the Yankees yet another option at the second base position if Dustin Ackley and Robert Refsnyder proves to not be enough in New York. I love Chris Young and I appreciate everything he has done for the team over parts of the last two seasons but if Raburn is willing to accept a one-year deal as a part-time player I think I have to give him the job. Then again I'm not Brian Cashman.


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