OT: Inge in the All-Star Game
So what are the chances of Inge making the All-Star game as a reserve?
.278, 17 HR, 49 RBI, .371 OBP
Several 3B have higher averages, but Inge leads all 3B in homers and is third in RBI. Assuming (pretty much a given) that Longoria wins the vote, here's Inge's main competition:
Scott Rolen: .332, 5 HR, 25 RBI
Chone Figgins: .323, 1 HR, 20 RBI, 22 SB
Michael Young: .315, 10 HR, 27 RBI
Mike Lowell: .286, 10 HR, 41 RBI
Right now, I think it's a pretty tough call. Rolen and Figgins have great averages, but Inge blows them out of the water with the power numbers. Young has decent all around numbers, but again, Inge almost doubles the power production. Lowell is a distant consideration - You have to think some of those RBIs are a product of the great offense around him.
If Inge can get the average to .290 in the next two weeks, I think there's a chance. I'm a huge Inge fan so maybe I'm a bit biased, but I would love to see it happen.
Another thing that may hurt him is that the Tigers will send 3 players for sure already - possibly four if Granderson really turns it on.
I'm baffled as to why so many people think he is a good player
He's scrappy.
I'll bring out the numbers.
This year, Inge has 8 errors, more than all but 4 3b in the entire MLB. He also has mediocre Fielding Percentage, Zone Rating, and Range Factor, 18th in the first, and 12th and 13th for the last 2, which dispels the idiotic notion that "he makes more errors because he gets to more balls." Inge can make great plays at third, but he makes enough bad ones to make him nothing more than an above average to good defender, not great as so many inge slappies like to think. Combine that with the fact that the only time in his career he hasn't been an atrocious offensive player was for the first few months of this season and a few months in 2006, and I have no idea why anyone thinks he is anything but an average to bad player.
He currently has a 9.7 UZR rating which is good for 3rd in all of MLB. That is a much more telling statistic than errors which a lot of times can be subjective. And, he has the third highest WAR for all players in the AL with a 3.3 (behind only Longoria for 3B). A WAR for an entire season at 4.0 is usually an All Star caliber player. He is on pace to have a WAR of 7.0 this season. There is no doubt he should be an All Star.
I've got 4 that back up what I'm saying. Its much more likely that his UZR is currently an abberition than it is his errors, fielding %, ZR, and RF. Not to mention if he finishes the season with a WAR still over 3 I will be shocked. He is a piss poor hitter, and that will come out this season. He has never, EEEEEVEEEER been a good hitter! His career BA is .240! Career OPS is .710! Top 10 in the league in K's 4 of the last 5 years!
Career wise, he's normally very very good in the UZR sense. Just, this year, he's playing a little better than normall defesively. He, like I said about Rolen in another one of my posts, is likely to regress to his mean defesively, which is still very good.
Tricks makes the valid point his numbers are going to come down.
B makes the valid point of where the numbers are now.
So if you are going purely on the first half, Inge has a really good argument. If you are trying to project the year and pick that way, probably not.
UZR takes all of what you talked about into account, so it is a superior defensive statistic than just looking at errors and fielding percentage. And, we are not talking about Brandon Inge from last year or his 5 previous years. Or, what he might do in the second half of this season. We are talking about the firs half of this season. Based on that, there is very little to suggest that he is not an All Star, and a a lot to suggest that he is. He might decline in the second half. In fact, he probably will. But, for the first half of this season, he has played like an All Star. And, he should be playing in that game.
Brandon is an all-star in my heart, but I don't see the Tigers putting three guys in the game. Yes, first place team, but outside of Jackson and Verlander there hasn't really been a standout individual. I'm not complaining about that, mind you. I'll take first place (even in the worst division in baseball) over having 6 All Stars.
Need to correct a misconception several people have -- the managers don't select the backups. Player voting determines the pitchers and the backups, then the managers fill in the rest of the roster. The managers often have very little room to work with because they usually have to use most of their extra picks to put guys on from teams who didn't have anyone selected by the fans or by the players.
Verlander is pretty much a lock, Jackson will probably get on there too due to the shiny ERA. I suspect Inge won't make in by the player vote though, so his chances are pretty low. You might get a chance to vote him in on the "final vote" thing if Maddon decides to put position players on there.
Inge is not that good.
utility player for the yankees at 8M a year. randy velardie type guy who can fill in at 3rd, C, OF on occasion.