Inge’s injury puts wrench in Tiger’s plans
Disappointing news tonight, when Brandon Inge was lost for 4-6 weeks with a broken bone in his left hand. In a couple of different areas, this is a difficult injury for Detroit.
First, Detroit has no replacements that are true third basemen. Jeff Larish ? Carlos Guillen? Brent Dlugach? Danny Worth? Some can hit, some can field. None are naturals.
Second, the Tigers’ offensive upgrades that were most likely being targeted in the trade market (for 2010 and beyond) were at short stop. Now the need to find a serious offensive short stop to offset third base may be heightened.
Last, Detroit has no third baseman ready to play in 2011 under contract. The Tigers (apparently) have not entered contract extension talks with Inge, whose deal runs out after this season. As mentioned above, there are no real replacements in the system. Any extension for Inge would have been done with a better understanding of his health after two knee surgeries before the season; it becomes difficult to see where Brandon is offensively if he doesn’t return until September. In the same respect, any replacement won’t have enough time to showcase their skills for a full time 2011 gig.
On the other hand, Detroit may already have 2011 under consideration. (Hat tip to Billfer for first mentioning this, though i’ll go one step further)…. maybe Detroit was willing to let Inge walk in 2011 and turn third base over to Carlos Guillen, leaving second for Scott Sizemore. Inge will not sniff his current salary of $6million next year, and Guillen is already under contract. This may just be accelerating the process… though Guillen just isn’t much of a fielder anymore.
For the first time this season, Detroit will have to start looking at itself and figuring out where it wants to go. If Johnny Damon is only going to DH, I can easily see him being moved. Don Kelly and Ryan Raburn aren’t hitting well enough on a team that is struggling with pitching; will some of Toledo’s power hitters get a call soon? It is becoming increasingly clear.. any move Detroit makes must be a move that improves the 2011 team.
Casey:
You know I like Inge, but I’m so tired of seeing him wave at curveballs Pedro Serrano style, and I feel like even his defense has fallen off this season (can’t back that up numerically, just what I feel I’ve seen). I told Mary maybe this is a good thing so we can see what else we have, but we don’t have shit. What the hell is going to be the infield next season? I don’t really see much purpose in re-signing Brandon, but we may have no choice. I can’t believe we’re stuck with Guillen for another season, and the farm system doesn’t seem to have any answers. The infield is just awful (save Cabrera).
Wouldn’t it be nice to still have Polanco? Maybe we can go shopping after the $40 million or so comes off the payroll at the end of the season, but we need many upgrades (catcher, infield, starting pitching).
21 July 2010, 6:24 pmjohn:
Good eye… Fangraphs is showing Inge having his worst defensive season. While he’s still above average, he’s barely above Pablo Sandoval, who most SF fans agree ‘looks’ below average.
Its hard to imagine Inge’s power returning in 2011 at age 34; I’m having a hard time seeing any serious money being spent on him. I do think Scott Sizemore will be a good player, though probably a better second baseman.
I caught a Giants / Phillies game at the end of April and Polanco made some fantastic plays at third. I immediately thought “this is going to bite Detroit”… and I still think it was a major mistake to not move Polanco to third in August of 2009.
21 July 2010, 10:45 pm