Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Inge rises

Tigers 3B Brandon Inge is batting .319-7-23 over his last 34 games. He’s got 22 runs and a .971 OPS. Perhaps most encouraging is the fact he’s got 15 BB and only 23 K during that time. Over his last 9 games, he’s batting .387 with a 1.145 OPS and 12 RBI.

Inge is batting .242-10-29 for the season with a .775 OPS. He was hitting .111 on April 24.

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The Phillies need pitching help, both starting and relief it now appears, and the Tigers have supposedly been shopping lefty Mike Maroth. Might there be a deal in these teams’ future? I’m not sure the squads match up well for a trade now, and I don’t know if the Phils would have interest in another soft-tossing lefty. But imagine what Maroth could learn from Jamie Moyer. I’m guessing Detroit might also use Marcus Thames as a chip. Thames could hit 40 HR in the Zen.

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Have to wonder if Brad Lidge being returned to the closer role in Houston is to showcase him for a trade.

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Also wonder if a Maroth-Thames package might be good enough to pry Eric Gagne from Texas? When you look at the Rangers’ outfield of Marlon Byrd, Frank Catalanotto, Victor Diaz, Jerry Hairston and Kenny Lofton, you’d think they should be interested.

NY Daily News columnist Bill Madden had a great piece about Texas and its ineptitude over the years. I’ll post a snippet tomorrow.

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