Uh-oh. According to Mlive.com's Danny Knobler, the Tigers may soon find a taker for Brandon Inge:
The Los Angeles Dodgers have contacted the Tigers about Inge, and while talks do not seem to have progressed far, a baseball official familiar with the situation said the Dodgers remain interested in making a deal.
Inge would play third base for the Dodgers, who did not have a full-time third baseman last season and have been trying to decide between veteran Nomar Garciaparra and rookie Andy LaRoche this spring.
New Dodgers manager Joe Torre is familiar with Inge from his time in the American League, and Torre and new Dodgers third base coach Larry Bowa are said to be Inge backers.
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If you're a Dodgers fan this should be your worst nightmare.
The Dodgers already have two third basemen. One of them (Garciaparra) can't really play and apparently the other one (LaRoche) is handicapped by his new manager's unfamiliarity. What to do then? Of course: Trade for an American Leaguer who the manager
is familiar with. Oh, and maybe pay him $6.2 million.
That's this year. Inge also earns $6.3 million next year, and $6.6 million the year after that.
You read that right. The Dodgers already have a young player who's significantly cheaper than Inge
and better, and yet they're reportedly considering spending $19.1 million to ease Joe Torre's spring dreams.
Maybe this is just a lot of idle talk. Maybe the Dodgers really do know that LaRoche is a future star, and that Inge is a future stay-at-home dad. But if I were a Dodger fan right now I'd be very, very afraid. Because the only thing that's going to keep the Dodgers from playing important games in September is boneheaded moves like this one.
Rob Neyer
