Brandon Inge named "Man of the Year"

That's two in a row!

Brandon Inge won the 2010 Marvin Miller Man of the Year award for his outstanding charitable work in the Detroit area (especially his work with Mott's Children's Hospital at UofM).

It's this sort of stuff that has endeared Inge to Tigers fans. Well, that and the fact that he actually lives in Michigan. And he tries really hard. And he's a nice guy.

Apart from the fact that he is a frustrating baseball player, he is universally beloved for all that other stuff. I'm glad to see that he'll be around for another two years, thanks to last week's contract extension.

Notably, this makes the Tigers' second postseason honor--Austin Jackson was named the Player's Choice Rookie of the Year last week. What's more, Inge is the second Tiger in a row to be named "Man of the Year." Curtis Granderson won the award last year (more comments here), which just goes to show how Detroit brings out the best in everybody.

You can stop laughing now.

Seriously though, Congratulations to Inge for the award, and a special pat on the back to the Tigers organization, which clearly fosters an environment of service to the community and responsibility to the City and State at large. There aren't a lot of organizations that can say the same thing.

A Free Box 'O Cards

Not from me--like I have time to do anything right now, much less give away more cards--but over at Georgia Mindset. It's a free box of Topps Chrome for doing (almost) nothing.

Interestingly, I'm telling you about it and encouraging you to enter, which actually reduces my chances to win. But hey, I've got a group case break coming up so if you win I'll just give you some kudos and wait for my motherload of cards to come in.

So check out Georgia Mindset, and win a box of shininess!

No Jhonny, No!

You may have heard that the Tigers resigned Brandon Inge to a two-year deal with a 2013 option. Smiles and pats on the back proliferated and everyone was relieved to have the franchise's longest tenured member and all-around good guy on the team for a couple more years. All the more so considering there are exactly zero viable internal replacements and free agent options are both 1) sparse and 2) expensive.

And then there was shortstop. I know that once upon a time Jhonny Peralta was a young shortstop with power, but good god:

Morosi writes that the Tigers are willing to live with his sub par glove “in exchange for Peralta’s run production” and goes on to quote his RBI totals, but Peralta batted .249 with a .703 OPS this season and .254 with a .690 OPS last season.

Can Peralta reverse two years of underwhelming performance? Sure maybe, except for that whole "long history of horrible performance in Detroit" thing:

His OPS in Comerica Park through the years:

2006 - .394
2007 - .633
2008 - .665
2009 - .548
2010 -- .589

Gross.

So, as the Tigers appear poised to wisely decline Jhonny's $7.5M option for next year, they seem to be thinking the unthinkable: locking him in for another two years at a lesser rate, citing his offensive prowess. This, of course, is a horrible idea, but not unexpected. Why?

1. Carlos Guillen
2. Edgar Renteria
3. Adam Everett
4. Jhonny Peralta

It seems as though the Tigers have no idea what a good shortstop looks like. Carlos Guillen, upon his 4-year extension back in 2008, was really no longer a defensive shortstop, though he could hit. The result? A Shane Halter-esque move around to every position on the field to try and fit him in. Edgar Renteria was the same mold. Good history, bad aging, not good SS material. The result? Disaster. Enter Adam Everett aka "Blowback." He was the antithesis of Renteria and Guillen. Could field, couldn't hit, was cheap. It was all well and good, until the Tigers realized that neither he, nor Laird, nor rookie 2B, (nor Inge) could hit either.

So now here we are, about to sign a less-old but just as unsuited to be a Shortstop, Jhonny Peralta. For two years. With no other place in the field to move him when he doesn't work out. This is just a horrible, horrible idea.

Can I please just have a platoon of Ramon Santiago and Danny Worth or something to that effect. Do we need to lock in to a player who has never been that good and is getting worse? And have effectively two of that player manning the left side of the infield for two years.

Please Dave Dombrowski, No Jhonny, no.

For The Record

I'm still around but have been so busy with a combination of work and school that a one sentence post is all that I can muster. Ok, two sentences: I will try to get back to normal when things settle down, hopefully within a week or two.

Topps Pro Debut Series 2 Adds Infinite Sadness To Checklist

Whywhywhywhywhywhywhy

2010 Topps Pro Debut (S2) #DC-JT Jacob Turner Autograph (#/200)

Oh, and all of them are like this. This is how they chose to cut these cards. They ruined a perfectly good card and for what? Something that makes my eyes want to bleed. This card has literally zero value to me and this is the Tigers' #1 Pitching Prospect.

ARRRHARHRHGHGRHGH

Woah.

I just stumbled upon this little card while searching for something unrelated. I had no idea this even existed.



There were 25 copies of this made and somehow slipped under my radar when I put the gallery together earlier. Sure beats that Brent Dlugach autograph, doesn't it?

On the flip side, it is just another chance for us to experience the horrendous drawing of Cabrera, something that even an on-card autograph can barely salvage. It's too bad that the rumblings and grumblings are telling me that Chicle won't be back next year. It is one of those sets that could have really been great with a few improvements (see: better artwork choices), which you can only assume would have been worked out in Year 2.