The Cleveland Indians have reached an agreement on a two-year contract extension with utility man Ryan Raburn that includes a club option for the 2016 season, the team has announced.
Indians, Ryan Raburn agree to 2-year, $4.85 million extension
Non-tendered by the Tigers after a disappointing 2012 season, Raburn now has guaranteed MLB money coming his way through at least 2015.
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The new deal will net Raburn $4.85 million in guaranteed money over the next two seasons, per Jim Bowden of ESPN.
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A lawsuit has been filed against MLB claiming that the league broke the law by failing to give the roughly 2,000 people who worked as "volunteers" actual wages.He will earn $2.25 million in 2014 and $2.5 million in 2015, with another $3 million coming his way if the Tribe picks up the third-year option, per Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer. If Cleveland opts to buy out his option year, they will pay him just $100,000 in 2016.
The two-year extension is a huge reversal of fortune for 32-year-old Raburn, who looked to be nearing the end of his career when he was non-tendered by the Detroit Tigers last fall. Handed a spot in the Tigers' Opening Day lineup in 2012, Raburn hit just .171/.226/.254 in 66 games, forcing Detroit to go out and acquire Omar Infante at the trade deadline.
Signed by the Tribe over the winter to a minor-league deal, Raburn has been a Zobrist-like godsend for the team. He’s played in the same number of games for Cleveland so far this season as he did in Detroit last year, but his numbers have drastically improved. Raburn is hitting a stellar .270/.370/.565 with 13 home runs in 211 plate appearances, good for the best OPS on the team.
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