It looked like a laugher, but then the jokes stopped getting funny, then the Miguel Cabrera had the last laugh. It’s games like this where I like to let Fangraphs tell the story.

Jeremy Bonderman looked great in the early going. He only needed 38 pitches to get through 4 innings. He pitched his way out of a rocky 5th with minimal damage, so it was quite the surprise to see him unable to finish the 6th and spare the bullpen.

And that bullpen which has been quite good and quite heavily used was vulnerable. Joel Zumaya finished off the 6th inning, but got knocked around for the first time this year. Phil Coke came on and got the first out before Vladimir Guerrero tied things up.

The offense scored early and late. Brandon Inge broke his home run drought in a big way. After sending a ball to the warning track he got angry and went homer-double-homer for a monster night. Ryan Raburn narrowly missed a grand slam and added another double.

But the biggest blast once again came from the biggest hitter. The Rangers inexplicably threw Miguel Cabrera a pitch over the plate in the 9th inning and he put it over the wall to give the Tigers a win that Jose Valverde saved easily.

A 5-6 road trip isn’t great, but it is certainly acceptable. And we get back to 7p start times, and the Minnesota Twins.

I don’t remember the general manager meetings being this interesting in past years. Most of the action seems to usually take place at the winter meetings that take place in December. This year the GM meetings have served Tigers fans up with a disconcerting set of rumors with the Tigers making most of the team available for trade. But does this qualify as a fire sale?

It all started Tuesday night when the news hit that Edwin Jackson could be available along with Gerald Laird. Things got more interesting Wednesday afternoon when a New York Post story cited a National League executive who said the Tigers were listening to offers on Curtis Granderson. Olney later tweeted the same information. With two All Stars potentially on the block, a depressed economic region, and a payroll that leaves little flexibility the phrases “financial difficulty” and “fire sale” began working their way into columns. By evening Jon Heyman added Brandon Inge (h/t MLBTR) to the list of those the Tigers could be looking to trade. Are the Tigers slashing payroll?

Dave Dombrowski denied that the Tigers were in fire sale mode. He also iterated that the Tigers don’t have a set payroll yet from Mike Ilitch. So if the Tigers aren’t cutting and slashing the payroll, what is behind all the rumor and speculation?

When the Jackson rumor hit we went through a number of factors and possible scenarios. With Granderson and Inge added to the list it clears up a lot of the possibilities but I don’t think it points to payroll slashing. What I do think it confirms – and this isn’t a surprise – is that the team likely has limited flexibility with their payroll.

What we’re seeing now is every player on the roster with potential value being floated. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Miguel Cabrera’s name or Justin Verlander’s names pop up in the coming weeks. The Tigers have holes to fill and limited means to fill them. They also have a number of contracts coming off the books after 2010. If the Tigers trade a player or two to fill a couple holes and get younger or cheaper at the same time, it’s a win – especially going into a season where playoff aspirations are likely limited.

Granderson, Laird, Jackson, and Inge all make some money, but the 4 are a relatively small part of the overall payroll. Moving one or two of them isn’t going to have a significant financial impact. It’s more a matter of improving the team in the long run.

With Granderson and Jackson in particular the Tigers would be able to net a significant package. These players aren’t going to be given away which means that it is unlikely they are going anywhere, and if they do the team stands to be better for it.*

*The above paragraph is my best attempt at taking a cold and analytical look at the situation. The fan in me is sick about the thought of Curtis Granderson playing for another team. So maybe on second thought the paragraph is an attempt at rationalizing the minimal likelihood of a Granderson trade to make me feel better.

The Detroit Tigers announced third baseman Brandon Inge underwent surgery on Tuesday to address the chronic patellar tendinitis in both of his knees that plagued him throughout the 2009 season, a procedure performed by Dr. Stephen Lemos at the Detroit Medical Center.

The procedure involved the debridement and repair of the patellar tendon in both his left and right knees.

Inge will be non-weight bearing for the first six weeks as he regains full range of motion. At that time, he will begin a strengthening and rehabilitation program to prepare him for Spring Training and the 2010 season.

According to the projected timetable, Inge is expected to be ready for the start of Spring Training in February.

Inge had a great start to the season and rode that hot start to an unexpected All Star game invitation. But his second half numbers were abysmal. On July 2nd Inge was sporting a robust 275/367/521 line spanning his first 77 games. Over his next 84 games he’d only muster a 189/266/309 line. The knees, which started acting up in mid June, were often blamed for Inge’s second half slide.

Aside from Joel Zumaya’s season ending surgery, the news is actually pretty good on the injury front. So much so that the only wound licking to take place should be residual pain of a 2-4 road trip.

• Carlos Guillen, already swinging a productive stick from the left side, could be playing in left field by the end of the week. Now Guillen in left isn’t necessarily good news from a defensive perspective but it also means he isn’t locked into the DH role. Beck’s Blog: Guillen close to playing in field
• Jeremy Bonderman and Nate Robertson had good reports the day following their simulated game and head out on rehab assignment. Both will be in Toledo starting Tuesday (so the Mud Hens should eat well) with the goal to stretch Robertson out as a starter while Bonderman will be pitching out of the pen. I wouldn’t expect Robertson back before September 1st when the rosters expand. Tigers Jeremy Bonderman, Nate Robertson to pitch in Toledo on Tuesday | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
• After Saturday’s effort I’m in no hurry to bump Porcello from the rotation, but the addition of either pitcher, or someone else after September 1st could help to curtail Porcello’s workload down the stretch. With a bigger roster to work with Leyland could do some split starts with Porcello if need be.
• Brandon Inge’s balky knees have bothered him less of late due to a change in his treatment regimen, and the fact he’s been working with a specialist on a way to put the pain out of his mind.
• Gerald Laird has been the Tigers best baserunner. Who knew? Tiger Tales: A Detroit Tigers Blog: Gerald Laird Leads Tigers in Base Running
• Speaking of Gerald Laird, i was wondering if he might have any soft of advantage working with Jarrod Washburn since they spent several years in the AL West together. Turns out Laird only has 16 plate appearances against him. And in case you were wondering, Luke Scott is only 1 for 3 off of Washburn lifetime. 
• Finally, a look at Rick Porcello’s awesome outing through the lens of pitch f/x. Fire Jim Leyland: Rick Porcello’s Start Through PITCHf/x

When things start to get really dire for the Tigers, I usually use this space to try and provide some perspective. This isn’t only for you the reader, but for me the Tigers fan as well. I’m really having to scrounge for perspective right now as the team has tanked since the All Star Break and have surrendered sole possession of 1st place.

There are cliches that I can always employ, about it being a long season and what not. It rings a little bit hollow today though. But…it is a long season. Losing 4 out of 5 games 2-1 is freakishly consistently bad. So freakishly and consistently bad it is hard to sustain – which could be the good news. As is usually the case, when the team is playing bad it is easy to assume things will stay bad or get worse. Just like when things are going well, people can’t imagine the team tanking.

It’s hard to believe that the offense will get better given what has been on display lately, but it will. Everything is going wrong when the Tigers are at the dish, everything won’t continue to go wrong. The team will score more runs and it is probably not best to make rash decisions based on 6 games. Of course this isn’t just a 6 game thing. The offense has been bad for a month and isn’t showing signs of getting better.

I’d like to see the Tigers add a bat as much as anyone, but the bulk of the improvement will need to come from the current roster. I don’t know what Clete Thomas will provide, or Ryan Raburn, or Marcus Thames. But I still believe that Curtis Granderson, Placido Polanco, and Miguel Cabrera will produce more than they have been. Beyond that where can the Tigers find help?

Carlos Guillen

I don’t think the Tigers are putting all their eggs in the Carlos Guillen basket, but it’s worth checking out the Guillen basket before surrendering limited resources for another basket. Guillen is close to coming back, I think he’ll be back for Saturday’s game and the Tigers sent scout Dick Egan to see Guillen’s 3 hit night tonight. He doesn’t have the extra base hits yet, but he’s been on base in half of his plate appearances.

The problem with Guillen though is that he is likely limited to DH duties as he hasn’t played the field on his rehab assignment. That means the at-bats would come from some combination of Raburn and Thames, two of the hitters that have been producing somewhat. It could also mean the end of Josh Anderson.

Trade

The non-waiver trade deadline is fast approaching, but I think the deadline isn’t that critical. I’d anticipate that a number of players would clear waivers and be movable until August 31st. Of course the trade deadline is the MLB sanctioned portion of a deadline. The Tigers may feel the need to accelerate the timeline if they continue to struggle. Matt Holliday has been a hot rumor, and the Tigers have expressed interest, but it doesn’t seem that the Tigers are willing to meet the A’s price. And for a farm system that isn’t exactly flush, the Tigers probably shouldn’t wipe it out. At least not for this team.

I don’t think this is a World Series team, but they are a team that is strong enough to compete and make the playoffs. I don’t think that Holliday would push them into the WS team category either.

But the Tigers do need to remain competitive. The Tigers have a ton of payroll, and will next year as well. The best thing for business would be a sustained pennant race and not a firesale (which I’ve heard people calling for already). They are going to be limited in terms of cost cutting, but they do have a chance for a nice revenue bump. Attendance is down 10K, but that is off a record setting year. Attendance is still quite good relative to the AL and the Tigers own history.

The Inge Factor

And then there are Inge’s knees. They are in bad shape, though there seems to be a little confusion on the actual injury. Inge said one was 75% torn, but I don’t know that is accurate. Kevin Rand said there were significant microtears, which is different than the condition that Inge was describing which would be more of a ruptured tendon. In any case, he’s not moving well and the Tigers don’t have great options to take his place either in the field or the lineup. The situation either makes getting a bat more important, or perhaps it changes the focus of what they are looking for.

With four Tigers on the roster, it only seems fitting that we have a game thread. Plus it gives me a chance to catch-up on some All Star related linking.

Most newsworthy and relevant is the fact that Evan Longoria is out with an infected ring finger. Michael Young will start at third base, but maybe this gets Inge to the game earlier? Chone Figgins was added to the roster in Longoria’s place.

Curtis Granderson is having a grand time and blogging each day at the Stew. Last night Grandy thought the Home Run Derby was a little long and tonight he hopes to schmooze the Pres and set up a meeting with the Secretary of Education.

Justin Verlander is sort of available tonight. According to Beck’s Twitter Verlander is only available if needed.

This also gives me the opportunity to link up some Home Run Derby coverage. I intended to do an open thread for that as well. But I got home a little later than planned and I turned on the television to see Inge getting his complimentary Gatorade and Joe Buck joining the broadcast. Not really what I was hoping for on either account. But I don’t think it’s possible for Inge to have a better outlook on the night. Kurt did come away impressed with Scott Pickens arm though.

Edwin Jackson took on the Army in a Playstation battle. Video is below:

So which Tiger will do the best tonight? Inge? Grandy? Jackson? Verlander? Or are you just hoping nobody gets hurt?

A pile of links on the eve of the All Star break…

If you find yourself a little bored with the Tigers game today, you can always flip over to ESPN and catch Scott Sizemore, the lone Tigers representative in the All Star Future’s game. With Polanco on the last year of his contract and Sizemore hitting a combined 300/392/508 line between Erie and Toledo it’s reasonable that he may be the Tigers second baseman next year. But Keith Law doesn’t seem to be that high or low on him.

With Brandon Inge making the All Star team he will earn a $25,000 bonus. Really. Given Inge’s career can you imagine that as a negotiating point? Granderson will also get $25K. There’s no mention of what happens if Inge wins the home run derby but the consensus seems to be it doesn’t mess up your swing.

Before Armando Galarraga got knocked around on Saturday night, I was ready to explore a theory about the good luck charm that is the High School Musical backpack. It’s the backpack that the relievers carry out to the bullpen full of treats and snacks and such and it is the responsibility of the least tenured rookie. Well, Fu-Te Ni has had the bag and he’s pitched well, and then in the 16 inning game Armando Galarraga was the only man in the pen and had to carry it back, and followed it up with his best start. But Ni had a run charged to him last night and Galarraga had 4 so there goes that theory.

The interesting thing about Fu-Te Ni is that he seems to move around on the rubber when he faces righties as opposed to lefties. I’ve wondered why more pitchers wouldn’t do this.

Carlos Guillen is set to begin a rehab assignment. He could equate to a mid season trade if he can return and be productive. I’d hope the Tigers aren’t pinning al their hopes on Guillen, but it does make sense to take a look before giving up too much for a bat.

Rick Porcello won’t pitch in the Yankees series after the All Star game. Luke French, Justin Verlander, and Edwin Jackson will start in the Bronx. Porcello’s next start hasn’t been announced. But he is blogging now.

After long hours by many many Detroiters and Michiganders, Brandon Inge made his first All Star game. Yes there are flaws in the All Star game, and yes it is largely a popularity contest, ad yes in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter a whole lot, but to borrow a phrase from Jim Leyland “I’m tickled” with this selection.

Inge probably wasn’t the most deserving player on the final stand ballot, I’d give that designation to Ian Kinsler. But that’s not to say that Inge wasn’t deserving of a spot on the team. The qualifications though have been thoroughly debated. And regardless of your stance on the matter, it makes for a great story. I also can’t help but wonder if any other Tiger would have received the same amount of support.

However, what really sticks out for me is the fact that people in and around Detroit came together and accomplished something. I know the something is completely inconsequential, but it is something. The downtrodden state and city bit is too overplayed for my taste, and when the Spartans and Red Wings went on title hunts there was too much made of “it would be great for the region.” This is a little different though.

Those other instances were others making us feel happy for a little while. A nice mood lifter to be sure, but we were passive participants and all we could do was hope for the best.

This was a topic that people united around, a cause they collaborated on (and the Bran-Torino voting was a terrific move by the Tigers and Phillies marketing departments), and 11.8 million times in 4 days people clicked the submit button on the ballot. It was one thing that the people of Michigan had control over and they took advantage of it.

I’ve already read into this way more than I should and this is in no way a turning point or a sign or an indication that Brandon Inge has saved the auto industry. It’s small, it’s insignificant, but it’s something. A win is a win no matter how small, and I’m all about celebrating the wins.

The Tigers are sending 3 representatives to the All Star game, and maybe one more. Justin Verlander, Edwin Jackson, and Curtis Granderson were all named to the AL All Star Game. Brandon Inge still has a chance ( a slim one) to get on the team if the fans vote him in.

Verlander and his MLB leading strikeout total was pretty much a lock for the squad and was likely voted in by the players. Jackson has had an exceptional first half, but a startling lack of run support has held him to 6 wins despite a sterling ERA. Still, the players thought enough of him to include him on the squad.

Granderson was a bit of a surprise. He’s had better seasons, but Lee points out that he is on pace for a 30-30 season and an argument could be made that he is the second best centerfielder in the AL. Granderson was also a player selection.

That brings us to Brandon Inge. I’ve stumped for Inge already and Jim Leyland opined that Inge should be backing up Evan Longoria. Instead that duty went to Michael Young who is on par with Inge offensively, but atrocious defensively. Defense doesn’t typically get you into the ASG though. But Inge does have a chance if he can beat out:

• Chone Figgins (which he should)
• Ian Kinsler (who has a beef that he should be starting at 2nd)
• Carlos Pena (AL homer leader)
• Adam Lind

So let’s see if we can get 4 Tigers to the All Star Game and Vote Inge. What works against him though is that he was the 2nd best third baseman, but it’s not as cut and dry that he’s the best of these 5.

A vote for Inge is a vote for...

The campaigning has been going on since April when teams started to promote their players for the All Star Game. On basic principle I try to wait until at least June before filling out a ballot. So much changes so quick early in the season and hot starts can be misleading. But, with 60 games in and the game only a month a way it is time.

The All Star game doesn’t really matter, and when the fans and players and managers make mistakes in the voting people are sure to either a)complain or b) further announce the game doesn’t mean anything. Others say they don’t want their team’s players going and that they’d rather see them rest. I don’t buy any of it. The game is supposed to be fun and I know I have more fun when my guys are playing.

The trouble with the Tigers this year is that it is hard to find a candidate to throw support behind. Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson are certainly deserving at this point, but fans don’t get to vote for pitchers. Miguel Cabrera started off strong, but his recent fade and the seasons of Mark Texeira, Kevin Youkilis, and Justin Morneau don’t even leave  him in the top 3. Curtis Granderson has been okay but not nearly good enough to warrant a big push. But fans do have one position player who they can throw their support behind without feeling too homerish. The man, the myth, the most polarizing force among Tigers fans, Brandon Inge.

I’ss start by saying I’m not going to say that Inge is the best third baseman in the AL.  Right now I’ll make that case for Evan Longoria, so if you want to vote the absolute best player then this post isn’t for you. Alex Rodriguez easily has the strongest career resume, and he’s hitting fairly well and the only knock is that he missed a chunk of the season. But the AS team will have more than one third baseman and Inge deserves serious consideration.

The Offense

I honestly never expected Inge to hit this well at this point in his career. When he started off crushing balls I thought it was a novelty that we’d soon look back on fondly. While the home run rate as waned, Inge has continued to be productive at the plate. His slash line of 264/367/500 produces a wOBA of .372. The numbers for  his contemporaries are:

• Longoria: 305/387/584 wOBA .410
• Rodriguez: 230/386/500 wOBA .390
• Young: 316/359/500 wOBA .375
• Rolen: 320/386/457 wOBA .372
• Figgins: 326/402/415 wOBA .373

Longoria is clearly superior with the bat. A-Rod is off to a nice start but he has 100 fewer PA’s than the others. After that things are pretty tightly packed between Michael Young, Scott Rolen, Chone Figgins, and Inge.

But offense is only part of the equation. It’s actually the part of the equation that gets valued the most, but for the sake of an informed electorate let’s look at the total package.

Defense

The defensive metrics help to sort things out a little more. Using the most recent UZR rankings and +/- data from billjamesonline.com (UZR Runs|+/- plays):

• Inge: 9.6 | +12
• Longoria: 7.7 | +11
• Figgins: 2.4 | +8
• Rolen: 0.4 | +7
• Rodriguez: -3.8 | -5
• Young:-10.2 | -18

Young clearly drops out of the picture as he has been awful defensively, a least a win worst than his main competitors. Rolen has been above average but not stellar. Longoria is very good and it remains clear he’s been the best in the league.

Total Wins

The beauty of Fangraphs is that they put all of these things together and show a player’s value in terms of wins above replacement (WAR). The WAR numbers taken into account batting runs and fielding runs and adjustments for playing time and position. So without further ado, your AL third base leaders in terms of WAR:

1. Longoria: 3.5 WAR
2. Inge: 2.8 WAR
3. Figgins: 2.2 WAR
4. Rolen 1.6 WAR
5. Beltre 1.1 WAR

Young’s fielding is so bad he doesn’t even show up in the top 5 and Rodriguez is held back by a lack of playing time. But it continues to play out that Inge, while not deserving of the starting spot, does have a legitimate case to make the team.

Now this probably didn’t change anyone’s opinion. You’ll either vote for Longoria (and you’ll be justified) or Rodriguez (and most would understand) or you were going to vote for your hometown guy (and for the bulk of readers this will be Inge). Inge also has a lot of ground to make up in the voting and not a lot of time and I know he won’t win the vote. But let’s at least turn this into a respectable showing.

All Star Voting Party

If you want to get together with your fellow fans the Tigers are hosting an All Star Voting party at Hockeytown Cafe this Thursday night. Punch ballots, watch the Tigers take on the Cardinals, and there will be a raffle with autographed balls, tickets, and a Ramon Santiago game used bat. The party takes place from 8-10 pm.

One other thing…I kind of dismissed Granderson’s candidacy earlier in the post, but Curtis does rank 5th in WAR for AL outfielders so I think you could feel pretty good voting for him as well.

The often offensively challenged Brandon Inge started out the season homering in 3 straight games. While he has dropped off the 162 homer season pace he was on, there is some statistical evidence to suggest that Inge may be on his way to an improved offensive year.

John Dewan of ACTA Sports (the same group that publishes The Fielding Bible) has been looking at spring training performances and how they translate to the regular season. They have found that a very good spring may be an indication of things to come.

For the most part, we agree with the common perception that they don’t have value. A bad spring training means nothing. An average spring training tells us nothing. Nevertheless, we did find that when a player has an exceptional spring, it does suggest a better than a 60% chance they will take their game up a notch.

An exceptional spring is defined as posting a slugging percentage .200 better than career norms. There are 46 such players on this year’s list including one Brandon Inge who rode 5 grapefruit league homers to a .593 slugging percentage which is .202 better than his .392 mark. The surge has been attributed to a new stance and hand position at the plate.

Now as Dewan notes historically there is a 60% shot of improved performance, so it isn’t a guarantee. However those are still some noteworthy odds.

With a disastrous season completed it is time to head into the offseason. Given the gravity of the collapse, you know with the high payroll and the last place-edness, there is probably a tendency to overreact and second-guess. While a deep dive analysis is definitely called for, there is also some inaccuracy being bandied about. With that in mind, some thoughts as we head into what will likely be a tumultuous winter.

Dave Dombrowski did not abandon his philosophy

I’ve heard this one frequently. The common thread is that Dombrowski abandoned his pitching first philosophy in favor of “buiding a slow pitch softball team.” Dombrowski has always believed in stock piling young pitching and using it as the building blocks of a team. Whether that entails using the pitchers on his own team, or trading it to fill needs, he’s always used young pitching.

The Renteria trade was made in large part for defense, not to build a slow pitch slugging softball team. The benefit of Renteria was that he was to be a 2 way player. The problem was that while Renteria was a defensive upgrade, it was a small upgrade (Guillen was -12 in 1074 innings at short in ’07, Renteria was -9 in 1173 innings in ’08 according to Fielding Bible +/-) and his offense was beyond absent the first half of the season. The trade failed, there’s no question, but it wasn’t a change of philosophy.

As for Cabrera, defense was never a part of the issue. It was entirely an offensive move. But it was also an opportunity that doesn’t come along that often. Players like Cabrera don’t grow on trees and to add an elite player at age 25 is largely unheard of. It is the kind of big splash move that Dombrowski has been known for throughout his career.

As for the rest of the staff, they were far worse than could have reasonably been expected. While Willis struggled last year and was trending down, to get nothing from him was unexpected to everyone. Robertson was never a top of the rotation starter, but was the epitome of a solid back of the rotation guy. To compete, along with Kenny Rogers, for worst starter in the league wasn’t part of any reasonable plan. And then there was Verlander adding a run and a half to his ERA. That your entire starting rotation would be injured or significantly underperforming wasn’t part of any plan or strategy and more than could have been mitigated.

The window isn’t closed

I should adjust that and say “the window isn’t closed if Ilitch doesn’t want it to be.” The boss could go all Huizenga and say “cut-cut-cut” but I don’t see that happening. This team was positioned to go for it in both 2008 and 2009. Because 08 was crap doesn’t mean you need to abandon 09 as well. The offense should be good again next year, and it isn’t unreasonable to think that the pitching staff will see some return to non-crapitude next year.

In terms of trading, they’d be selling low on most of the players that fans want to see traded. They could probably get a nice return for Armando Galarraga, Curtis Granderson, and Miguel Cabrera, but who really wants to see them shopped?

Don’t overreact

Everybody wants speed, defense, and starters, and bullpen arms. Some better defense would be nice, but don’t sacrifice offense completely. The Tigers are ready to make that move at third with the Inge pronouncement. It means they can’t afford to do it at both catcher and shortstop.

The bullpen was awful, but 5 years and $75 million to fix it will be money poorly spent. As for starters, is it worth a second round draft pick to sign a Derek Lowe type starter? (it might be if the Tigers can get the draft pick compensation for Renteria)

I’m not saying do nothing. Clearly this team has holes at multiple positions and another starter and a 2-3 new bullpen arms are clearly needed. But I still think, and perhaps this is naive, but good teams can have bad seasons. This team wasn’t as good as we thought going in, and it isn’t as bad as we think right now. I’ll borrow this conclusion from Nate Silver’s piece in Baseball Prospectus ($) and quote sparingly because it is premium content.

Bad years happen to good clubs. The key for the Tigers will simply be not to panic, nor to try and save face with guys like Renteria and Willis whose projections don’t really warrant it. The Tigers need to budget somewhere between $15-$20 million for perhaps three pitchers next year, but with the contracts of Renteria, Todd Jones, Kenny Rogers, and Ivan Rodriguez all coming off the books, they can easily afford to do so without increasing payroll.
…
This has been a frustrating season in Detroit, but hardly a disastrous one in terms of the club’s long-term fortunes. There have been several pleasant surprises this year in Galarraga, Joyce, and Brandon Inge’s smooth transition back to the catcher position*. From top to bottom, the Tigers still rank somewhere in the top ten in the major leagues in terms of their overall talent pool, and they should be on track to return to contention with some relatively common-sense fixes.

*The Inge part was written on August 14th before Inge completely collapsed down the stretch offensively and started allowing a PB per game.

I was hoping to have a chance to run some numbers, but until I do I figured it was worth posting that Inge will play third and Guillen left field next season. I won’t completely pass judgment until I can do the math on this, but for the moment I’m thinking this doesn’t actually help much of anything except defense at third base. And why announce this news, at this point anyways? And of all players, why guarantee Brandon Inge a job going into next year (177/279/287 line since the Pudge trade!)? Odd. Very odd. Feel free to discuss.

Following the game tonight Eddie Bonine was optioned to Erie and Dane Sardhina was optioned to Toledo designated for assignment. Taking their places are Jeff Larish and Brandon Inge.

Inge of course is returning from the disabled list.

In the case of Bonine, he struggled his last 2 outings and his command was particularly good. With the All Star break coming up the Tigers won’t need a 5th starter for over a week so they are giving themselves an extra bat.

As for who will fill that 5th starter role, I’d guess it will be Zach Miner after the break. He was great in a 4 inning start for Toledo and will get at least one more start to further stretch his arm out prior to being needed.

It appears that Brandon Inge is close to returning and he’ll join Toledo on Monday for a rehab assignment.

Also, Rod and Mario mentioned during today’s broadcast that Ramon Santiago could be back for the Cleveland series. Going into tonight’s game (and he’s 0 for 2 as I write this), Santiago is 2 for 21 with 2 walks and 6 K’s with the Mud Hens. So he hasn’t found that stroke he had going with the Tigers earlier this season.

Of course Santiago’s return likely means that Michael Hollimon gets sent down. Hollimon has played well since some jitters in his first start in San Francisco.