Tigers extend Inge, Dombrowski continues to outsmart the competition

The Tigers and Dave Dombrowski continue to impress with their smart spending. I have absolutely no problem with the Tigers extending Brandon Inge with a 4 year/24 million dollar contract. In fact, it looks like a bargain after seeing what average players are getting on the free agent market. Come on, the Royals, of all teams, paying 55 MILLION for the utterly average Gil Meche? That's an insane amount of money. That contract alone is proof positive that MLB owners are making stupid amounts of money.

I know they all play different positions, and are joining different teams with differing needs, but we've seen ludicrous contract signings this off season. When you see the deals Meche, Julio Lugo, Gary Matthews Jr, Jamie Walker and Juan Pierre were lavished with, to name just a few, then 6 million a year for an athletic 3rd baseman with 25 HR power and great range is a relative steal. Especially for a player that should be in his prime for the majority of his contract.

It's also nice to see a player who has spent his entire career with the Tigers get rewarded. Considering his humble (To but it nicely) beginnings, it's hard to believe that Inge is the senior man on Tigers in terms of service time. Inge's growth from a light hitting catcher to a power hitting 3rd baseman was something that none of us could have foreseen. You can put me in the corner of those who thought Inge would never amount to much of anything, other than being a career backup catcher who would have trouble maintaining his BA above the Mendoza Line. I had him pegged as a lighter hitting Brad Ausmus, which shows what I know...

Now if the Tigers could get to work on extending Carlos Guillen and Jeremy Bonderman, and start working Marcus Thames at 1st base, all of which have been rumored in the papers over the last couple of days, I'll be a happy Tigers fan.

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