Last week general manager Dave Dombrowski said the Tigers “would ideally like to” sign free agent-to-be Brandon Inge before he hit the open market five days after the World Series and sure enough the two sides have agreed to a deal.
Jason Beck of MLB.com reports that he’ll get $11 million for two years, with the Tigers holding a $6 million option or $500,000 buyout for 2013.
Inge is 33 years old and hasn’t been above-average offensively since 2006, so there’s a pretty good chance the Tigers will regret this move.
He made $6.6 million this season to complete a four-year, $24 million contract that saw him hit just .231 with a .314 on-base percentage and .389 slugging percentage in 569 games while producing an OPS below .725 in all four seasons.
His defense is excellent--and sure enough, in announcing the deal that’s what Dombrowski focused on--but locking up veteran mediocrity into the mid-30s is rarely a sound decision.
