OT: How are Inge/Raburn still playing pro baseball?
Kind of a slow day on the board, so I figured I'd toss this out there after Raburn grounded into what is probably his 100th double play of the season. Not only does Raburn play awful defense, he's hitting barely above .200. I don't know if I'm missing something here, but I'd definitely take Jordan Taylor at 2nd and batting 9th over Raburn.
Inge = basically the same story.
Why doesn't Don Kelly play over both of these guys? Batting .250 isn't fantastic, but an additional .050 in the average is more than enough to make up for the supposedly superior defense of Inge.
Jim Leyland is stubborn, and Dombrowski messed up by giving up on Sizemore. He's tearing it up for Oakland.
Terrible. I could stomach Inge as our 9 hitter but not with him and Rayburn in the lineup more than Avila and Boesch. Leyland is trying to get fired it seems
because he's one of the best defensive 3rd basemen in the league (even if he's not as good as he once was). Raburn is still playing because they're hoping he regains his form from last year.
Inge is not one of the best defensive 3rd basemen in the league. Pretty sure a lot of people in Detroit think that, but few elsewhere. It's a little tough to argue, though, since that's something that's hard to quanitfy.
Either way, this is precisely why we should've cut Inge loose and kept Polanco.
of 5.6 at 3rd base, which is very good. He's an excellent defensive 3rd baseman.
Correction, he was an excellent third baseman. His UZR is 0.4 this season.
to get a meaningful sample, according to the creator of the stat. I'm willing to buy that Inge has lost a step or two, but the half-season of data we have so far isn't enough to say that with any certainty.
Fair enough, I'm not trying to say he's Mark Reynolds or anything like that. But he sure isn't Adrian Beltre either. A lot of Tigers fans like players like Inge because they're "gritty" and they fit the city's personality. I hate that something as small as diving into the stands once every two weeks outweighs his average defense and bottom of the league bat.
for years. He's never been a star, but he's been a solid 2 win player or so since 2005. Given that the alternative is Don Kelly, I don't see anything wrong with sticking with him.
I can't believe I am saying this, but Don Kelly has been an offensive force compared to Inge this season. As for defense, Inge has been regressing for the past couple of seasons. I could live with that if his offense wasn't so unbelievably awful.
I get critical of him in a hurry, but I suppose this half season should matter about the same as the half season that got him in the home run derby towards his overall standing. With the stregth in his arm I'd like him picking off runners from the outfield. He has a better arm than Ichiro or Choo IMO just not a better bat. I've seen him pick off runners at home from the outfield with no bounce on more than one occasion.
Why are you comparing Inge to Choo and Ichiro?
It's actually pretty easy to quantify, Inge is an average 3B, so keeping him in the lineup for his average defense and subpar bat isn't a great argument. UZR is a widely accepted defensive statistic, which you can find here.
I do not think Sizemore would have ever developed to what he is doing in Oakland if he stayed with the Tigers. I just do not believe the Tigers have the coaches in place to develop many of the talent they have. Granderson is a starter in the all star game, Matt Joyce and Sizemore are all playing very well offensively with their current teams, but struggled their last year (or, their entire careers) with the Tigers. Lloyd McClendon is a horrible hitting coach in my opinion. The major offensive problems (manufactoring runs) have been occurring for the past 4 years and neither he or Leyland have fixed it no matter what the lineup looks like.
The major problem for the pitching staff is the amount of innings they give up base-runners in. This has been a big problem for the past few years and Leyland (being this great manager according to many people) has not been able to fix it or put the proper man in position to fix it. Games like yesterday's are big reasons why so many people still have doubts about the Tigers. Playing against a Giants team that has a worse offensive production then they did last year (even if they won the WS) and putting your second best pitcher in game 2 of the series that sees the Giants not pitching their two best pitchers in should go well for the Tigers, but the end result was a 15-3 spanking.
Throw in Jair Jurrjens and you have a nice start to a team of ex-Tigers.
Bc they are both better than you...alot better...alot better...
People fail to realize how difficult the thinking side of baseball is...THey both have shown that they can play and be great bball players. They both have never been amazing can't miss talents (even with BI all star appearance), but with this roster, they give this team the best chance to win in the playoffs if and when they start to hit
I think you must have intentionally tried to miss the point, that's the only way to explain your comment. Of course both players are a lot better than the OP and the rest of us, that's a stupid thing to say. That has nothing to do with whether or not either guy is good enough to play in the bigs.
Raburn can't hit and he sucks at D. At least Inge gives some D, whether it's not as good as it once was or not. No excuse for Raburn, he sucks at all phases, despite being better than me at baseball.
Trading for a real 2B/3B and another starter is what would give this team the best chance to win in the playoffs.
that'll mean giving up probably 2 and maybe all 3 of Turner, Castellanos, and Casey Crosby. I don't think it's a good enough team to mortgage the future like that.
Which means holding out hope that Inge and/or Raburn can do something, anything at the dish to help score all the runs the Tigers will need to win games with this pitching staff.
Better pitching, plz.
...because they are both better than someone on a blog message board...really? That may be the worst comment/justification ever written. And to say they both have shown to be "great bball players" is a little strong. Solid/useful/not going to destroy the team bball players may be more accurate.
cold: What are you talking about? You reference to the thinking side (possibly referring to McClendon and Leyland), then change it to playing which both of them do not do as they are manager and hitting coach. When you are touted as this great manager, then the same types of mistakes should not be happening for 4 years. McClendon is not a good hitting coach, and that is evident on manufactoring runs that the Tigers have a hard time doing, and the great playing of some former players on their new teams. Can you give credit for what he has done with Boesch? Maybe, but 1 good example does not solidify his reputation as being good compared to the many bad ones.
That's why. POW!
That was a sweet play!!!!
haha Raburn just made a great play.
Yup, now Jimmy can point to that one play and feel justified in the decision to play him. He is still pretty bad. And Inge is a fan favorite and always will be, but most national league pitchers can hit .190. It is time to send at least one of these guys packing.
He is incapable of the ordinary; he'll either do something great or make you want to smash large objects with idiotic mistakes/little league at-bats.
Seriously an amazing catch, though. But I still think he's a putz when it comes to the game of baseball.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut, so to speak. lol.
Man just keeps getting better. From now on when a Tigers player is sucking call them out on the MGoBoard.
Of course as many of us make disparaging comments toward Inge and Raburn, each do great things to help preserve/ensure a Tigers victory. Raburn makes a fantastic diving catch in left to keep the lead, and Inge hits a triple to deep center to drive in two runs. Haha.
Still gonna hate on Inge? HUGE triple, scoring up 2 RBIs, to give the Tigers some much needed insurance.
Because while that was a clutch AB, he is still hitting only .199 on the season and something like .150 with runners in scoring position.
Cabrera is money for a DUI every spring in Lakeland.
Are you drunk?
unlike miggy i am sober. Miggy is good for one or two DUI's a season.
can rake it with his bat. Yes, it's bad that he has drinking problem. However, it never affected his play on the field so why bother referencing it anyway? He can be hungover for all I care and he can hit better when he's drunk than you trying to hit sober.
it is nice to athletes get special treatment with our judicial system. Any other joe gets 2-3 DUI's is facing jail time and losing their license, but not miggy as long as he is hitting homers...
Now who wants to see him hit some dingers!!!!
Plaxico Burress, Mike Vick, Roger Clemens, ring a bell for you? They didn't get special treatment.
1. Roger Clemens has yet to be found guilty of anything in a criminal case
2. Plaxico should have been gone longer. An average person would have had double the sentence, same with Vick.
Inge is money when it counts. Don't tell that to the haters.
Inge's problem is that he's not taking enough pitches. He's swinging at 30% of pitches outside the zone. Cut down on that and he cuts down on his K rate, maybe takes a few more pitches and actually swings at strikes.
Also his sub .200 BA with RISP isn't exactly the hallmark of a clutch hitter.
Perhaps if we trash talk them on here during every game their production will increase!! Worth a shot.
They're both on the fence right now. We really don't have any other viable options though.
Raburn is going to provide you much more offensive production that Santiago and Inge is going to hold down third defensively. They simply are just barely better options than the young utility guys we have.
I don't think anyone would be saying we don't need to upgrade the positions, but there's little Leyland can do about it right now so I don't understand the vitriol towards him.
There is no accountability for Dombrowski's blunders or for Leyland's assinine decisions as well as his pitiful results (NO division titles despite arguably having more overall talent than any other club in the Central since 2006). They're in "the club."
Inge, as much as any player, is also in the club and I'm convinced Illitch doesn't want to see him anywhere else. The guy sells merchandise and is adored by many of the Tigers' more clueless (some call them "casual") fans who drive out from places like Brownstown and Gibralter to enjoy a night at the park and cheer on players whom they know little about.
For a guy with Inge's production history to be in his eleventh consecutive big league season with the same franchise is simply mind-boggling. I defy anyone to show me a current player with a comparable situation.
I maybe in the minority but I really enjoy reading your posts on the Tigers. We've been absolutely killed of late. It's mind boggling how little changes have been made to his coaching staff over the years either.
What team do you guys watch where not a single player is struggling? Raburn and Inge play because they are the best options - Raburn has hit for two years in the 2nd half. Giving him a chance to turn it around makes much more sense than handing 200 additional ABs to Don Kelly.
Inge and Raburn must have pictures on Leyland and Dombroski.
And if Brandon Inge is so good on defense, why does he make so many errors? Just because he makes a web gem once every week or two doesn't make him a great defensive 3rd baseman.
Inge has 6 errors on the year. That's two more than 3B league-leader Chipper Jones. Granted, Inge was on the DL for two weeks, but still.
Inge is ranked eighth in fielding percentage and third in range factor.
He's good defensively. Any one bitching about his defense just sounds stupid. Is he the best in the league? No, but he's up there. And he's the best on the Tigers and that's kinda the point.
Every year from 2006-2009 he had at least 18 errors. You say "And he's the best on the Tigers and that's kinda the point"
Well, we had a chance to get rid of him in the offseason and the first fucking thing the Tigers did was resign him.
And I hope they sign him to a ten year contract so all of you Inge haters can bitch for another 10 years.