Brandon Inge: Did Tigers Make a Mistake? Nope.

In case you missed it, Brandon Inge hit a grand slam in the 8th inning last night against his former team.  The Motor City Kitties still won 10-6 (more on this later).  In case you did not know, this is his 2nd grand slam in 3 days (his previous was a walk-off).  So it naturally raises the question: Did the Tigers make a mistake by releasing him?  The answer is simple: NO!

As we know, Inge is maybe the most polarizing athlete in recent Detroit history.  Maybe even ever.  Today is Friday and therefore Casual Friday at many offices.  I am sure there are many females in the Detroit area wearing their Inge shirts/jerseys saying "I told you so!"  I also am sure there are many other fans waking up to the box score saying something along the lines of "are you #@!*% kidding me!?"  It doesn't help that in the post game, Mr. Inge delivered another one of his infamous sound nuggets which would serve as an entirely separate rant.  I digress.

So back to the point of this piece.  Did the Tigers make a mistake?  Let's look at this logically. 

Since he has joined the A's he is still only batting close to .200 and has had the tendency to strike out.  Shocker.  Yes, he has 2 grand slams and yes, one gave the A's a win.  Play in the league long enough and things happen.  But let's take a look at last night's Brando Bomb.  He did what he did for the majority of his Tigers' career:  Went 1-4 and hit a HR when the game was out of reach one way or the other.  They were down 10-2 in the 8th.  There was zero pressure on him.  All the HR did was make the final score not look like such a beat down.  This was not a clutch hit.  In fact, the words Brandon Inge and clutch hitting never have been, nor should they be, synonymous.  More times than not when faced with a situation that a clutch hit was needed, he delivered the expected check swing strikeout or a weak pop up.  In the grand scheme of things, he is still a sub .200 hitter who loves to spew delusional soundbites to the media.  That's what he has been, and that is what the Tigers let go and the A's picked up.  Even with his recent "spike" in production, it is not at all unusual that a player goes to another team mid season and starts hot for many reasons (chip on the shoulder, new scenery, etc.)  He may even go on to hit .270 with 20 HRs and 75 RBIs.  However, that was not going to happen in Detroit.  It was an entirely different situation as in there was way more pressure to produce.  He had the big and scrutinized contract, scrutiny of fans, and the pressure of the team's high expectations to deal with.  Again, when it really matters, he failed to produce.  In Oakland, he was brought in cheap so there is little risk, the fans don't have the strong opinions of him (yet), and the team has low, if any, expectations.  It is the perfect spot for him.  And he may have a resurgence there...because there is no pressure or expectations and therefore, no dire need for him to perform.  That resurgence was not going to happen in Detroit.  Plain and simple.

So to sum it up, did the Tigers make a mistake by letting Brandon Inge go?  Nope.