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Bottom line: The Tigers need Brandon Inge
The Tigers, despite an interleague road trip that is on the brink of being from hell, are still very much in the postseason chase.
As such, they figure to be buyers at the trade deadline.
Question is, what do they look to buy? They need help at second base. That much is plain. What about third base? Another hole - unless Brandon Inge returns to form.
Inge will re-join the Tigers this weekend when they return home to play Arizona. He had a poor start to this season before being put on the disabled list because of mononucleosis. He didn't exactly sting the ball on rehabilitation assignment at Toledo, until Tuesday when he cracked two solo home runs against Columbus. He had been hitting .190 with no power entering that game.
There is still more than a month before it is necessary for the Tigers to make a decision about whether third base figures in needs to address at the trade deadline. Plenty of time to evaluate whether Inge will snap out of it.
One of the issues will be roster spots. Inge is going to be on the team - they are not going to release him because he signed through next season. The other is about availability. There are second basemen out there who could help the Tigers (see previous blog posts), but not third basemen. The Tigers could get a shortstop and move Jhonny Peralta to third base, but why break a position where Peralta has played well this season?
Bottom line is, the Tigers need Brandon Inge.
Which is not a comforting thought to many Tigers fans, who have turned on him, and made him a scapegoat for most of what they perceive is wrong with the ball club.
Caputo And His Boss: Talking Tigers
As such, they figure to be buyers at the trade deadline.
Question is, what do they look to buy? They need help at second base. That much is plain. What about third base? Another hole - unless Brandon Inge returns to form.
Inge will re-join the Tigers this weekend when they return home to play Arizona. He had a poor start to this season before being put on the disabled list because of mononucleosis. He didn't exactly sting the ball on rehabilitation assignment at Toledo, until Tuesday when he cracked two solo home runs against Columbus. He had been hitting .190 with no power entering that game.
There is still more than a month before it is necessary for the Tigers to make a decision about whether third base figures in needs to address at the trade deadline. Plenty of time to evaluate whether Inge will snap out of it.
One of the issues will be roster spots. Inge is going to be on the team - they are not going to release him because he signed through next season. The other is about availability. There are second basemen out there who could help the Tigers (see previous blog posts), but not third basemen. The Tigers could get a shortstop and move Jhonny Peralta to third base, but why break a position where Peralta has played well this season?
Bottom line is, the Tigers need Brandon Inge.
Which is not a comforting thought to many Tigers fans, who have turned on him, and made him a scapegoat for most of what they perceive is wrong with the ball club.
Caputo And His Boss: Talking Tigers
posted by Pat Caputo at
10:07 AM
8 Comments:
Yesterday, I read a soft interview with Dombrowski in a Detroit paper where he was still hoping that Ordonez, Raburn, and Inge return to past performance levels. Even realizing he was using the reporter for spin, THAT was not a comforting doubt, as as that trio continues to woefully underperform, DD becomes the scapegoat because he's the architect of investing int the three of them as full time position players this year. I wonder if the pizza man will look at it the same way.
Let's see what he can do, but you can't have your starting 3rd baseman hitting 210, I don't care how good he is defensively. This is it for Brandon.
This is a real season of tests for both Leyland and Dombrowski - so far just the fact we are a game back of first (and actually held it alone for a single rotation of the earth)- and a tad above .500 - has Leyland okay ... for today - but this is now Dombrowski's big test:
a] does he get a decent 2nd baseman?
b] does he stand by Inge should he not perform when he gets back?
Right now at this moment - Inge is indeed our best answer (Avila at 3rd is not - nor is Kelly) - but Dombrowski will prove himself by how he shores up 2nd and 3rd as the rest of this season proves out.
That's my take anyway.
Hey Book, there's a 3rd baseman out in Oakland, who they just brought in, having moved him over from 2nd. He's knocking the cover off the ball, hitting darn near .400 or something.
Maybe Dombrowski should take a look at him. His name is "Scott Sizemore" or something. ;-)
Minnesota and Chicago are breathing down our backs. I predict both will be within a half-game of us by August. Why? Because we have no position players worth a dime. Peralta is our best position player, a player the Indians did not want.Cabrera is an alcoholic who crumbles under pressure - sorry but it's true. This is a paper team. Nearly 80 games into season and second base is still up for grabs!
If the Tigers need Brandon Inge, we are in big trouble ... bye, bye, pennant and probably before September.
Pin our hopes on Brandon Inge? Who are we kidding?
they need every guy on the 25 man to be productive each in their roles. that includes Inge and Raburn.
maybe Inge's role has changed and he's more of a platoon guy at this point...he's hit lefties ok. Kelly has played well enough to put Inge on the bench against tough righties. On the trade market, Betemit from KC could be a decent platoon partner. He's riding the bench as the Royals break in a rookie at 3B.
Pat, moving Peralta on the fly isn't practical thing but maybe not a bad idea especially if you can get a Reyes or Ramirez. Peralta range is terrible but he handles everything he gets too. I think Inge can help the Tigers on a part-time basis. Looks like Kelly is settle in at 3B. Playing Inge at 3B full time is a waste. Pat the area where I think the Tigers need help is at Starting pitching, they rank in the bottom third in MLB. They should also be moving Turner up to AAA and even maybe Ruffin to AAA.
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