Pitchers and catchers and Inge (Oh my!)
posted in 2008 Spring Training |Baseball’s long, arduous offseason came to a close for Tigers fans roughly noon today, as pitchers, catchers officially reported to camp. Unofficially, the Tigers players are as antsy as the rest of us to get the season going and have been hanging around Lakeland for awhile. Position players don’t actually report until next week, but quite a few are in town, too, including Curtis Granderson, who is back to blogging (hat-tip Grandy Report). But none of that is really news.
The news is that Brandon Inge could still be traded — and Jim Leyland expects it. A “strong possibility” he’s quoted as saying.
“I think it’s a strong possibility (Inge will get traded),” added Leyland, “but I want to wait for him to be here when I discuss it. That’s only fair to him. But until something happens he’s on the ballclub.” (DetNews)
So apparently Inge isn’t in town yet, but Leyland said he will call a press conference and talk about the Inge situation more at that time. He wants to talk to Inge and he wants to get it all overwith at once with the media. I think that’s a pretty good idea, try to keep distraction to a minimum. Of course, we all know the media will still ask their questions and get no response even after the press conference. (For which I blame editors, whose bravery grows when they go 9-to-5 and have little hand’s-on interacton with subjects … but that’s just my theory.)
In any case, I think Inge will be traded eventually. But right now, his contract is pretty high and the market isn’t right. There’s third baseman veterans who are still unsigned. A trade may not come until a contender loses someone with an injury.
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