Most professional ballplayers make squat. They don’t get big bonuses, they toil in the minors for nothing, and they might get a brief shot at the bigs. 2 of 3 professional careers end due to injury. It’s like trying to make money as an actor in Hollywood. Make sure you can wait tables.

Inge agreed to a contract. He should GIVE THAT UP? To prove that he really wants to play? How far has he come? Why should he give anything up? Would anyone in his position do that?

Notwithstanding the high prices, the multi-millionaire players, the publicly funded stadiums, the strikes and/or lockouts and the steroids, baseball attendance is at an all-time high. There are WAY more season tickets sold as a percentage of tickets than ever in the past. More fans, not less, go to multiple games per year. Fans pay double, triple and more the face value of tickets on Stub Hub and so forth: money that the sport generates that neither the players or owners share in.

If you don’t like it and don’t want to support it that’s fine, and exactly what I suggest. Just don’t give me a knee-jerk “the players make too much.” It’s capitalism. A lot of people think autoworkers are overpaid. If Ford had more demand than Toyota they could give the UAW a better deal. I doubt the UAW would give it back.

We are a sports-crazed culture. If you don’t like it, write a book, or vote for people who will change it or speak out on behalf of the downtrodden, etc. Don’t bang on Brandon Inge for knowing a good deal when he sees it.

You’re just learning this now?

you can play everyday and continue to hone your skills in the game you love to play, in the only career you’ve ever known, which will likely extend your career in this sport

or you can sit on the bench, play a few different positions and essentially watch the beginning of the end of the career from the bench, in the sport you love – but you’ll have a better chance of winning a championship.

I personally think that money and championships mean less to Inge than just getting to play the game he loves.

And I’m just sick of fans acting like a dumped girlfriend when they suspect someone wants out – for whatever reason. Do the Detroit area’s residents have some sort of inferiority complex? Are these posters re-experiencing the rejection that comes from being from a broken family? I’d like to see some sabermetrics on that.

Tim D, I’m with you for the most part. Someone will need a 3B at some point. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get a contributor for Inge then. I’m not sure if Cabrera in the outfield is the answer. Thankfully, I have Jim Leyland to make that decision for me. I do know there’s going to be a collective groan from Tigers fans the first time a pop fly in foul territory behind 3rd base eludes Cabrera instead of winding up in Inge’s glove.

Ron – how should we minimize the player’s leverage? Already they have to acquire 6 years of Major League service time – which often times means 8-10 years of professional baseball time – before they can even talk to other teams. Players don’t even get any relief until they have 3 years of major league experience before teams are forced to pay them anymore than the league minimum. Should we make it that when they reach free agency, they can pick 3 names out of a hat and those are the only teams that they are allowed to negotiate with?

And your arguments aren’t even consistent. On one hand you are saying that Inge should be focusing more on hitting off a tee and honing his skills to help his performance and by extension his career (which is quite presumptuous to assume that he sits around like a sloth during the offseason anyways – maybe he doesn’t train but you and I don’t really know what he does). And then you fault him for thinking about his career and his next contract. And really, what does struggling financially have to do with hitting off a tee. Trammell was a millionaire when it wasn’t such a common thing and it didn’t inhibit him from training in the offseason.

It was really something. I was there too. Only the 3rd Tiger game I’ve ever attended.