Forget Inge — the real worry is what the hell you’re doing reading about baseball on Facebook.

Seriously, though, do you have actual examples of Inge “sulking”? It seems like unsupported inference to me, much like the “Rodney has a bad attitude” phenomenon.

What he has NOW is an opportunity to earn a starting job in the future by getting 200-400 ABs in Detroit this season. If he doesn’t show that his poor 2007 was an abberation, he’s going to find opportunity very difficult to come by going forward, particularly after his current contract is done.

The Tigers stuck with him after his first three years, when he hit .201 total. He would have been out of baseball with almost any other franchise at that time. They gave him security and fat contract after a single decent year at the plate. He rewards them by playing himself out of a job and then sulking about it. The Tigers are completely coddling him by attempting to find any deal that isn’t totally lopsided. But he has to realize that almost no other team will give him this deference. He’s being incredibly short-sighted in his demands to be traded. He’ll forever be a mercenary to all other employers. If he stinks for his next team, he’ll be showing up in some future team’s camp like C-Mo, Maroth and Shelton, just hoping for another chance.

While it’s positive that he’s finally recognizing the need to change his approach at the plate, such sentiments as “I don’t care about winning a championship, I just want to play every day” and “I’ll catch for someone else if I can start, but won’t back up in Detroit for one year to start the following year” reeks of hypocrisy and selfishness.
His devoted fans deserve better. To wit: there was actually a poster on Facebook yesterday who stated his wish for Cabrera to “tear his ACL on Opening Day, so Inge can start at third again.” Unreal.

After its all said and done, Inge will look back on his career and remember his championships and teammates, not how many games he started, particularly when he has the potential to play another ten years as a catcher/utility/defensive specialist guy.

In fact, while Inge prefers third base, his agent has made it clear to any team interested in acquiring him that he’d be willing to catch. His main thing isn’t that he wants to play third base every day. His main thing is he wants to play every day, somewhere.

Ummm… that doesn’t sit well with me. Doesn’t that just mean that he’s too impatient to wait a year? Isn’t he darn near a lock to start at catcher for us next year?

Who cares how big he is if he can play? He’ll gradually fill out, just like Tayshaun Prince!

Ironically, I also thought Chris Shelton was just an overgrown bat boy the first time I saw him, because of his non-athletic build. Skelton, Shelton, get it?