Comments on: No Really, Brandon Inge Should Be Your Tiger

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:42:22 +0000

Yes it would. If J.Upton and A.Jones are truly all-stars, then we’ll be seeing them next year and for years to come in the ASG. I still don’t see how three months with no previous track record of all-star play makes one an all-star.

I always thought not reading too much into a small sample size was Baseball Analysis 101. I’m not sure why we throw that out the window when it comes to the all-star game.

By: gnome

gnome — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:18:06 +0000

And Carlos Quentin last year?

Inge (among third basemen):
1st in HR, 7th in AVG, 2nd in SLG, 5th in OBP, 4th in Range Factor in the field, and 2nd in ErrR.

I’ll concede he shouldn’t start, but there’s no WAY that doesn’t qualify him as a reserve.

By: BIP

BIP — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:48:59 +0000

Wouldn’t your logic exclude players like Justin Upton and Adam Jones, though?

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:40:06 +0000

By the way, the term is “shoo-in”, not “shoe-in”. And Inge shouldn’t be a shoo-in for an all-star game until he has a full all-star season, not an all-star 3 months. Current year’s performance should count to some extent, in the tiebreaker sense, but someone who has no track record of all-star caliber play except for the last 3 months has no business playing in an all-star game.

If Inge keeps it up for the rest of the season, and then is among the best 3B in the first half of next season, by all means put him on the 2010 AL all-star team.

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:44:05 +0000

Inge was a shortstop at Virginia Commonwealth, so more remarkable than his return to the left side infield was his switch to catcher.

By: MARQUIS

MARQUIS — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:56:27 +0000

Granderson will most likely be in.

the al has taken atleast 6 outfielders in the last 5 years including 8 in 2007.

By: Andre

Andre — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:35:56 +0000

Maximus,

“But before this season I HATED Brandon Inge. He drove me nuts. He was an automatic out at the bottom of the lineup.”

He had a pretty good decent walk rate last year too, but the bigger picture is that in his time with Detroit he’s almost always been a net win when you factor in his defense. I find that people who say they’ve hated Inge up until this season tend to forget there’s two sides (off/def) to being an infielder. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very nice to see him contributing at the plate in addition to the field, but he was making up for his awful bat with his glove all those years you hated him.

Enjoy Inge ’09 vintage.

By: maximus218

maximus218 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:02:02 +0000

Aside from Evan Longoria, what AL 3B is having a better season than Inge? No one.

Among AL 3B, he’s…
3rd in runs scored (46)
1st in home runs (18)
2nd in RBIs (51)
2nd in slugging % (.525)
2nd in OPS (.894)
1st in WPA (2.19)
4th in UZR (6.8)

Listen, I’m a Detroit Tigers fan (and admittedly biased towards them). But before this season I HATED Brandon Inge. He drove me nuts. He was an automatic out at the bottom of the lineup. But I’ve watched almost every game this season, and I’m telling you there is NO WAY the Tigers are in first place without him.

What other AL 3B should make the team ahead of him besides Evan Almighty? Rolen? A Rod? Figgins? Lowell? Young? I don’t think you could make a compelling argument for any of them.

By: Ken

Ken — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:45:24 +0000

I agree. I pick them as if I was managing and wanted the best players. So, someone enjoying a flukish start (Scutaro or maybe Inge) is out, but so is a player mired in an awful slump (Rollins). There’s a balance between submitting a lifetime achievement ballot and paying attention to the recent couple of months of play, a subtlety lost on a couple of posters here.

By: mattymatty

mattymatty — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:17:12 +0000

Thanks, twinsfan. That’s exactly what I was talking about. I’m not voting for Babe Ruth, but picking a player on the basis of a two month hot streak is straight dumb if you ask me. Just my opinion.