BRANDON INGE: Making the Tigers Worse Since 2001

I was not going to write about Brandon “Strike-Me-Out” Inge on this blog… I was going to hold back my words when related to him. This was shaping up to be a fairly easy thing to do this season because we signed Prince, and then Miggy moved to the three-bag…therefore, Brandon Inge was only going to play very sparingly. I thought we were getting lucky! However, this confidence of not having to deal with Inge a lot this season, recently took a new spin. Apparently, Inge, instead of going to his manager, he went above Leyland’s head and asked Mr. Dombrowski for a chance to compete for the second-base position – then Dombrowsi forwarded this request to Leyland…basically saying that he told Leyland to let Inge compete for a starting job.

Some might say, “Why not let him compete? Competition for the position will make the team better.” I would tend to agree that competition makes players better, but not when the outcome is based on a stacked deck…the Tigers have this weird, ill-formed allegiance to Brandon Inge that is based on...well, nothing. So, just the fact that they are letting him compete for the job makes me anxious that he will probably end up getting to play there. As my friend recently typed on my Facebook wall:

Ramon Santiago… 258 AB .260 BA 5 HR 30 RBI

Ryan Raburn… 387 AB .256 BA 14 HR 49 RBI

Brandon Inge… 269 AB .197 BA 3 HR 23 RBI

Why are we even having this conversation?

Here is why…because Brandon Inge is worse for the Tigers than even his ridiculous batting average would suggest. Not only does he hurt the Tigers with his miserable baseball skills; while at the same time thinking he is actually good. He is hurting the Tigers with his selfish, all-about-me attitude. Instead of being happy that his TEAM upgraded at third base, and taking a role as a backup for a World Series contender, (which is well above his skill-level) he chooses instead to put himself and his inflated, delusional ego in the fray for second-base, so he doesn’t have to play as a backup. Instead of letting a well-deserving Ramon Santiago, who has played for the Tigers almost as long as Inge, and who actually helps the team both defensively and is not a disaster offensively get his first shot at starting. Or, if not Santiago, how about a younger and just-as-passionate player like Raburn. But no! Instead of the team putting their vote of confidence behind the other team members, Inge has to throw his poor attempt at baseball skills in the way – because hurting the team with his lack of skills was not enough, now he is becoming selfish and delusional – its time to go Inge!