Slim Pickings
By Blake VandeBunte • Dec 14th, 2007 • Category: Brandon Inge, Chad DurbinLynn Henning does his Q&A in today’s Detroit News. I love when he does these, the questions are always terrific and the answers insightful. One of the topics he focuses on today is the Tigers trading Brandon Inge. I have to agree with him on this one, the Tigers will not get as much as they and their fan base want.
Inge is still on the hook for $19.1 million and few teams are going to happy picking up that tab considering they are getting a guy who hit .236 last year with 150 k’s. If the Tiger can get an average prospect and a relief pitcher who has a better than 50/50 shot of making the team they should be happy and so should we.
The other point that Lynn makes is that fans tend to overvalue their own players. This
happens when you’re pulling for your team or talking about players on your fantasy team. Henning points out in this link that he’s certain the Tigers tried to package Inge and Chad Durbin in a deal but just couldn’t find any takers. I don’t think that’s surprising, but I’m guessing it did surprise some. Why trade for Durbin when you can get a guy just like him for cheap, or sign the actual Chad Durbin at some point without giving up anything?
Finally, to Inge. I’ve made no secret of my distaste for Inge in this space. He was a mortal lock to strike out or pop up whenever there was a runner in scoring position. I like his defense, but I really, don’t think his defense made up for his atrocious season at the plate. I have to believe that teams around the league have at least a few big whigs in their offices who feel the same way. Why give up a lot for .236?
Blake VandeBunte is a posting fiend.
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