Agrees to sign with the A’s as a result of poor season
Brandon Inge has agreed to sign with the Oakland Athletics, a move that has the Detroit Tigers in a bout of depression.
Brandon Inge and the rest of the team are taking the trade so hard because this is the first new team Brandon Inge will join in his 12th major league season. He was released on Thursday by the Tigers after batting 2 for 20, with one home run and only two RBIs in nine games this season. Experts say his poor performance has been a focal point for frustrated fans; he wasn’t adapting well to second base, and he definitely wasn’t hitting.
Brandon Inge will be missed by Detroit, not just his teammates. Brandon Inge had always been involved in the community, especially charities like the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor. Alex Avila of the Tigers said of Inge, “Ever since I came here when I was a fan, he’s always been kind of like the heart and soul of the Detroit Tigers. Always doing so much for the community, like a fixture for when the team was bad to kind of making the turnaround to being competitive year in and year out.” Avila continued, “He’s always been in the thick of things.”
Brandon Inge moving to the A’s wasn’t a real surprise; Fox Sports in Detroit said that Brandon Inge “was a fairly meaningless part of the 2012 Tigers.”
With the A’s, Brandon Inge will try and fill the void that third baseman Scott Sizemore left when he suffered a season-ending knee injury in spring training. According to reports, Oakland manager Bob Melvin has tried to replace Sizemore with players like Josh Donaldson, Eric Sogard and Luke Hughes but nothing has seemed to work. He doesn’t seem too optimistic about Brandon Inge, “We have who we have,” he said.
