Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Betemit deal could go either way in terms of impact for the Tigers

Wilson Betemit is a streak hitter, who if he gets hot, will help the Tigers a lot. If he doesn't, he is not going to much of factor. It's like flipping a coin. He could either direction, but will unlikely be in the middle.
Betemit has to hit to be effective. He is a far below-average defense player - especially at third base - and on a team lacking range defensively, he only adds to the issue.
But in the bigger picture, is an upgrade from Brandon Inge? Absolutely. Put it this way. There is no way he will be as bad or worse. He is also much better player than Donald Kelly, who would get exposed badly were he to play every day at third base for the Tigers.
As for Inge's future, it's not out of the realm of possibility a club will trade for him - but for virtually nothing in return, and only if the Tigers' pick up his contract other than the required minimum portion. Inge can refuse any trade.
Otherwise, the Tigers will likely release him. The handwriting is on the wall.

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1 Comments:

Blogger Contrary Guy said...

I am not quite sure another team would have an interest in Inge. He certainly can't pinch-hit. An above-average (but never great) defensive third basemen who sometimes misses routine plays? A late inning defensive replacement? I don't know if that earns a roster spot for anybody.

Unfortunately, I think Inge completely ran out of gas and we signed him to a two year contract, two years too early. Just about every team has bad/wasted contracts on the books and he will be ours. I think you almost have to budget that you will have some of these contracts on your books.

10:31 PM 

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