I have to say I’m in 100% agreement about Brandon Inge. I’d like nothing more than to see him lead the league in range factor (again) and bring his errors down to about 9.

Inge’s “range” factor really helped yesterday…. He “ranged” over and tried to take a ball away in front of Guillen. He muffed the play and almost cost an extra base. Thankfully the extra base was not taken because Guillen had to change directions, on loose dirt, at full speed, on surgically repaired knees, and retrieve Inge’s “range” blunder. Great range Brandon! Speaking of Inge’s “range” he was about a mile short on that slide into second. The throw from Buck was so late and high Cecil Fielder would have been safe. A horrible play on Brandon’s part. Baseball Prospectus be damned. You can’t apologize away Inge’s 23 errors. His range led to a “hit” yesterday. Good thing I was not scoring because if you are going to cut in front of the shortstop, then you HAVE to make the play. For the season Inge has no error’s, but his mental error’s now lead the team with that play and that Adam Sandler like slide into secondbase. It looked like he was trying to audition for Saturday Night Live with that slide. Range is great, but you still have to make the PLAY. He ranged and lost (again), and it goes down as a hit, and only Guillens hustle stoped the extra base, at a cost of having us all cringe because I don’t want to see his knees pop like a champagne cork.

EZ, Brandon Inge’s range at 3rd more than makes up for the extra errors. If he hits he’ll be an asset at third.

Also, an apostrophe is typically used to signify possession and is unnecessary when pluralizing a word. Seem like a nit-picky pet peeve? It’s nothing next to going bananas about Inge’s fielding (that is, the fielding of Brandon Inge, not multiple “Inges” who are fielding) based on one game.

Dan,

If I were to nit-pick about Brandon, I would mention that while he did have two base hits yesterday, he still managed to take a called 3rd strike with two on and two out in the bottom of the 6th. Much like last year, he is averaging .250 in strikouts this season. My “going bananas” was in response to my belief that people of your ilk have been apologizing for his 23 errors last year. Apparently your rebuttal is to come up with a vague “more than makes up for extra errors” mantra, and then to attack my grammer. Should you feel the need to respond to this post, I can’t wait to read what you will say about my mother. Based on one game this year, the “range” factor you crow about did not take into account it was at the very least a mental error to try and pick that ball up from Guillen. Inge has no fielding error’s this year, and his range won’t be quantified in the end result, because it was ruled a hit. Nor will the stats show that he should have stolen that base, but was out due to horrible technique. Baseball Prospectus is a great tool, but by no means should it be considered gospel. Or is it gosple? I will leave you another gramOR error to use in Brandon’s defense.

EZ: The stats will so show that Inge attempting a stolen base at almost any time is a bad bet. For his career, he’s 18 SB, 21 CS (and that’s through the end of 2005, so he’s now down to 18-for-40), and had 7 SB against 6 CS last year. So, if we’re going to go strictly “by the stathead book”, if you will, Brandon should never have left 1st base in the first place, and whatever he did to f— up his slide would never have happened. And, yes, believe it or not, when communicating in writing, your grammar and spelling do reflect your intelligence generally and, by association, the intelligence of any argument you might be making. Take a minute to edit your writing, or, better yet, pay attention in English class.

Did you see how Inge is killing us today, EZ? 2-3, a homer, a double, and two runs? I’m not saying he’s a great player, but he is a damn good defensive player.

Looks like he just made some kind of slick play. I’m just following the MLB gametracker, but the reason I know is that the Royals had a man on 2nd with no outs, and then the next guy grounded into a fielder’s choice to Inge. How does that happen? Either horrific baserunning (down by 6) or something very slick by Inge or both.

Dan, I hope Inge continues to pound the ball. I would prefer him to do it in a tight contest, rather than his Rob Deer day yesterday (His homer came when we were up by 6). Hey, we are all pulling for the Tigers, and I am wildly pleased by yesterdays no doubter. I hope Inge makes me eat all my words… As far as the play yesterday on the field, I listened to the game on the radio, and it was breathtakingly bad baserunning (if you believe Jim Price). We will need all of our bats working this weekend. Chances are fair Maroth or Robertson will get hit hard in that bathtub size ballpark in Arlington. If we see Grilli pitching it means we have gotten shelled and will need hot bats, including Brandon’s bat to get back in the game. Going into Opening Day at the Copa with a 4-2 record now seems very possible….

Upon further review…. Dan, I was looking at the box score and see that Inge managed to have 3 strikeouts yesterday. His batting average for the season is an impressive .444. His strikeout average is also .444 for the year. Not so impressive. He has as my K’s as hits. Rob Deer indeed. You and I will have to agree to disagree about Inge being a “damn good defensive player”. Were he used as a “super sub” as I advocate, then I would agree with your assessment. However, as a thirdbaseman, no amount of number massaging will hide his 23 errors from last season. I utterly disagree with any “his range makes up for his error’s” defense. I feel he ought to have one error already. His fielding (range) on balls up the line is better than average in my estimation. However, his range can hurt him at times. On Opening Day he went too far to his left and cut off a much better fielder. If you are going to go that far for the ball and cut of Carlos Guillen, you damn well had better make the play. Inge booted it. Period. Hopefully he settles down this year and can cap his errors to 15. If he does that, and can get all those strikeouts down, then I will be willing to cut him some more slack. I truly hope he proves me wrong. His statistical history is bleak. He will need to overcome his own history to prove me wrong.

EZ, you keep mentioning 23 errors as though this is somehow an unforgiveable sin… Let’s go back, shall we? It’s 1958, and a 21-year-old who is spending his first full season in the big leagues at third base (we’ll call him “A”) makes 21 errors, gets into 30 double plays, and sports a range factor of 3.04. That same player in 1974 is 37 years old, makes 18 errors, gets into 44 double plays, has a 3.43 RF and he wins the gold glove… for the 15th consecutive year. Also in 1974, in the opposite league from “A” is a 24-year-old in his sophomore campaign at 3rd base (we’ll call him “B”), and he makes 26 errors, gets into 40 double plays, and has a RF of 3.32. The next year (’75), he makes 24 errors, is involved in 30 DPs, and sports a 3.31 RF. The year after that (’76), it’s 21 Es, 29 DPs, 3.23 RF. That year, he wins his first of 9 straight gold gloves. Among his gold glove campaigns are ’79 (23 Es, 36 DPs, 3.03 RF), ’80 (27 Es, 31 DPs, 3.15 RF), ’82 (23 Es, 28 DPs, 2.93 RF), & ’84 (26 Es, 19 DPs, 2.86 RF). He logs his 10th gold glove in ’86, sporting 6 Es, 27 DPs, and an RF of 2.40. Fast forward to 1997, and a 22-year-old wins rookie of the year (we’ll call him “C”) as a 3rd basemen, posting 24 Es, 30 DPs, and a 2.81 RF. He wins the gold glove 6 of the next 7 years, starting with his sophomore campaign. His errors are in the teens most of those years (14, 10, 12, 16, 13, 10), but his RFs are under 3 almost every time (2.86, 2.61, 2.84, 3.02, 2.66, 2.96). Now, compare those to Brandon Inge’s 2005 campaign: 23 Es, yes, but let’s also give credit for his 41 DPs and 3.25 RF, one of the highest numbers among those mentioned above.

“A” is Brooks Robinson.
“B” is Mike Schmidt.
“C” is Scott Rolen.

I’m not saying he’s in their league, but let’s not talk about him like he’s the worst third baseman to ever don leather, either.

And let’s not forget 2005’s gold glove winner, Eric Chavez, who sported 15 Es, 27 DPs, and a 2.82 RF. The difference of 8 errors works out to about one every three weeks. And that’s comparing him to the gold glove winner. Imagine if we were comparing him to merely an average third baseman, instead.

Just to simplify things a bit, if you can’t get to the ball, it’s not going to be an error. With that said, a player with a better range is going to make more plays AND it’s more likely that he’ll be charged with more errors. I’d take the extra range and the one extra error a month then a slug any day.