It looks like Brandon Inge will get a chance to see significant playing time with the Detroit Tigers next season, after all. The Detroit Free Press is reporting that Inge is going to compete for the starting role at second base. According to the piece, Inge told general manager Dave Dombrowski that he wanted to compete at second base on his own, and wasn't a decision made by the team.
Manager Jim Leyland is on board with the idea, and Inge will definitely get some playing time at second base this spring. It will be interesting to see if Inge will be able to handle it, having not ever played second base in a regular-season game. It's a bit different than going from first to third, second is all on its own. It's an uphill battle, to be sure.
But that's just in regards to his own skillset, and not necessarily the competition. While Inge would struggle to get playing time at third with Miguel Cabrera over there and definitely at first with the signing of Prince Fielder, there's no established starter for third base. Ramon Santiago and Ryan Raburn were set to split time there.
Still, Inge is very athletic and he could surprise some people. If he can hit well and play second base well enough to beat out those two, then he'll get as much playing time as he wanted. He wasn't thrilled when the team signed Fielder, because at that point it seemed as though his playing time took a huge hit. We'll see where this goes.
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