The Tigers announced that they have designated utility player Don Kelly for assignment. The move creates 25-man roster space for Andy Dirks, who has been recalled from his rehab assignment and reinstated from the disabled list.
Kelly, 32, has appeared in 64 games for the Tigers this year, playing all three outfield positions plus first, second and third. He has a .175/.267/.243 batting line in 116 plate appearances in 2012, but has a career batting line of .231/.282/.345 in five seasons with the Pirates and Tigers. Dirks had been sidelined since May 31 with right achilles tendinitis.
LongGone6
Not shedding any tears for Kelly being gone, but would, of course, preferred to see Raburn get the ax.
$17049574
oh his number is almost up, too
Ausome7
Must have broke Jim’s heart.
JP27
Jimmy’s probably crying right now
Tigerfan93
Why not DFA Raburn? At least Don Kelly can play serviceable defense at multiple positions, both in the infield and outfield.
Motor_City_Bombshell
It was a right handed hitter/left handed hitter situation. Raburn right-handed, gets to stay, Kelly left-handed, and is ousted by the lefty Dirks. When/if Castellanos gets called up, or if the Tigers acquire one more bat, Raburn’s gone.
YODA777
The problem is that Raburn cant hit righties or lefties anymore so it does not matter what side of the plate he swings from.
tigerphil
I thought the same thing. With things at the plate being equal, would you rather have a guy who has no business in the outfield and can barely play 2B or would you want a guy who can play basically every position on the field? I mean, he even pitched an inning last year! This doesn’t make any sense.
EightMileCats
It’s bc Raburn is the only righty outfielder outside of Jackson. Boesch, Kelly, Dirks, and Berry are all lefty
Tigerfan93
Lefty/righty splits are overrated.
Civilization
Not to Jimmy Leyland.
Brandon
Not overrated at all
Michael Van
Castellanos is hammering Erie right now batting like 308.I think ryburn well be the one tossed when they add him to the roster.Hopefully before Aug 31st.
funkytime
Nice to see how much the Tigers’ depth has improved over the past year. At times last year he was starting for us. Now he’s not even good enough to be our 25th man.
hawkny11
Sigh…. If Don Kelly could only hit…. he would be known as Mr. mega-sub….
Matt Roberts
Raburn cannot be designated for assignment, he is out of options, he’s been DFA’ed the max number of times, so he can only be placed on waivers or outright released.
Matt Roberts
and Raburn is one of those guys, that if you released him or placed him on waivers, it could come back and bite the Tigers in the butt with all the untimely injuries they seen to incur this season.