…That Raburn is 30 now and moving past his prime….Guys in the non steroid era wont be putting up huge nunbers in there 30s like in th past unless they are special talents….I say trade Raburn while his value is high and get a infielder for depth….So I think Raburn is as good as gone.

I do believe the DH role will be split 3 ways between Maggs Carlos and Damon, giving Raburn play time. I may be wrong, but I also think Carlos will end up on the DL, based on his history, also giving playing time to Raburn.
 But who knows they may trade him, it’s early so we’ll see. But that’s my opinion.

The only way I would be happy with this move is if AJax goes down to AAA. I think Raburn would be an above average defender if he was given the chance to play an entire season in the outfield. Remember because he’s been the supersub for the last 3 years he hasn’t gotten much practice at any defensive position. And when you factor in his arm strength I think he would end up being a lot better than Damon defensively. I’m a big supporter of Raburn, he needs to play full time if this club has a chance of winning, and if he doesn’t play full time then the team doesn’t deserve to win because they were idiotic. Any team that doesn’t put their best players on the field doesn’t deserve to win, and if Maggs or AJax are in any sort of slump and getting playing time over Raburn then we’re not putting our best lineup on the field.

I feel like this guy isn’t ever going to get his chance. I just felt that we had a number of guys to mix and match— Raburn, Clete, Ramirez, Casper Wells… to make throwing 8M at Damon unnecessary.

Yeah, but do Raburn or Guillen look like the Murray’s Auto guy? I think not!

They were talkin about how Curt fits into the Yankee lineup. Still really weird seeing him in those pinstripes. I usually despise every single player in that organization, but I wish him well

But that’s just me as a pessimist, and thinking that the Twins seem to have improved themselves, and the Tigers, on balance, aren’t as good as their 2009 version.

Does Damon even that up? I’m not sure, but offensively, he does bring back some of the stuff that jettisoning Granderson and Placido took off the table. And from that point of view, I’m inclined to like this signing.

Damon is at training camp as we blog…

I’d like to see a Raburn/Thomas platoon in CF if/when Jackson can’t hit. Raburn can mash LHP, and he should be in the lineup every time one starts against us, but he’s much less consistent against RHP.

foxsports is streaming the Damon Presser live at 2:00pm est

- I’m mildly surprised if at least some of Damon’s salary isn’t deferred. Boras was said to be willing to do that so long as he got Damon the salary that he wanted, and the Tiger payroll situation begs for deferment. Moreover, giving Damon $ 8 million while not paying Granderson 5.5 mil, with all of it being affordable starting in 2011, seems to be contradictory.
- I never thought that giving $ 7 mil to Valverde had any opportunity cost in terms of other players. I believed all along, and still do, that DD had budgeted for a closer from day one this off season, and that was part of the reason why Granderson was traded. First, they offered Rodney one year and Lyon two, but both got better deals and walked. I don’t blame DD for not matching either offer for those two. Then, the best closer on the market fell into DD’s lap at about a 30% discount, which was not much more than he’d have had to pay Rodney or Lyon per annum. The next best alternative was Kevin Gregg, who was fairly mediocre- certainly not a closer- when he was with the Angels, and was shipped out by LAA and Florida for not much in return. Quite a drop off from Valverde, IMO.
- If you buy the premise that DD was under orders to not increase payroll above the 2009 level, then it necessarily follows that he HAD to trade at least two players making $ 5 mil a year or more. That’s just the reality of the math. They had $ 18.3 mil in scheduled pay hikes, plus $ 11.5 mil in arbitration increases including Jackson’s, and they had some $ 25.5 mil coming off the payroll with expiring contracts. If DD wanted to bring back, or replace ANY of the departing free agents (SS, 2B, CL, RP), then he had to slash more payroll, and $ 72 mil was immovable. The choices were Verlander, Jackson, Granderson, and Cabrera. Miggy could not be moved for full value, and they opted to extend Verlander, trade E Jax, promote Sizemore, and try to replace the closer. The math dictated that they make another trade to get the closer, plus cut Thames to bring back Everett.
- So far, it’s all making mathematical and financial sense. Yes, there are baseball reasons such as Granderson’s two year decline, and maybe even some carousing that caused concern, and yes Scherzer was under club control for more years than Edwin. Yeah, DD got three players, in essence, for Curtis, but I can’t call that swap a team upgrade at least in the short term. Now add Damon and maybe it’s a net upgrade, (still questionable) but there had to be some change of heart/ mind on the spending side unless some of Damon’s salary is deferred.

I just noticed the photo caption.. hahaha