Adieu, Inge

When am I ever right? After I rattled off potential Inge replacements last week, Dombrowski actually acquired the first guy on the list! Wilson Betemit played his first game as a Tiger last night and almost immediately proved his worth. He got a hit.

Then in the 9th, Betemit fielded a ground ball and threw it so far off the mark that it allowed a player to score from 1st base. But ya know what? Tiger fans could care less. They finally have a 3rd baseman who actually gets on base from time to time. I don't expect Betemit's fielding to differ significantly from Inge either. It's not like Inge was putting up Gold Glove numbers. He had his share of gaffes as well.

Last night, Tiger fans finally got their wish - no Inge, no Raburn. Raburn, with his .214 average returned to his utility role. He'll fill in when players need a day off, likely at 2nd base spelling Guillen. Inge, however, was waived. He accepted a demotion to Toledo and wants to fix his swing. Technically, Inge has to clear waivers first, but what team is going to pay $5M/year for a player hitting .177?

It's sort of an end of an era. Inge was the last remaining member of the '03 team that lost 119 games. Technically, Ramon Santiago was on that team too, but Santiago was already sent away once to Seattle. He's on his second stint with the Tigers. Most of the players from that '03 team are actually out of baseball. Every single pitcher, except 1, played his final game in the majors. Most fizzled out quickly after that '03 season. The only remaining pitcher with an active MLB contract is Fernando Rodney. Who knew he'd be the ace of that staff?

With Inge gone, the Tigers can now focus on their pitching staff. They desperately need somebody to step up and help Verlander. At times, it looked like Scherzer was a solid #2. Then came a stretch of games in late May and June when he gave up 7, 7, and 5 runs in succession, and he's yet to regain any semblance of consistency. Porcello is equally puzzling. He had a dominant May with a 3.5 ERA, but he followed that with a 6.97 ERA in June. Recently, he held weak-hitting Oakland to 3 runs, but he also allowed 8 hits. That's a red flag. If the A's manage 8 hits, what are the much more powerful White Sox or Twins going to do?

Incredibly, the closest the Tigers have to a #2 is Brad Penny. After a slow start, Penny had a strong May (3.24 ERA), average June (4.50), and solid July (3.60). In his last 15 starts, Penny's lasted 6 innings or longer in all but 3. Neither Porcello or Scherzer even come close to that. Time to give Penny his due - he's been good. Yet, is it enough?

I don't think so. Neither does Dombrowski, as he's apparently on the lookout for another starter. The one major problem is that every team wants another starter. The Tigers would likely have to overpay. Or they'd have to take on a significant salary, like Wandy Rodriguez (owed $36M the next three seasons). The Tigers may be better off just trotting out their Triple-A aces, like Duane Below. Is Duane any worse than the average middling starter on the trading block? It's not like these teams are offering Roy Halladay.

Pistons

Hard to get exciting about anything NBA-related these days, but the Pistons are set to hire Lawrence Frank. Pistonpowered, as usual, provides great perspective.

The article says Joe may have preferred Mike Woodson, but does it really matter? Joe D will have to offer any new coach much more support than he did Kuester. That embarrassing player behavior from last season can't last one more second. Fans would rather watch the former Detroit Shock than the Pistons. At least those girls cared about the game.