Tigers Place Brandon Inge on DL, Recall Santos

The Detroit Tigers announced today that third baseman Brandon Inge was placed on the 15-day disabled list with mononucleosis. The move is retroactive to yesterday. Catcher Omir Santos was recalled to take Inge’s place on the roster, but his spot in the lineup will be manned by some combination of Don Kelly, Danny Worth, and Ryan Raburn.

Santos is making his second stint with the Tigers this year and is 1-for-5 in two games with Detroit. I don’t expect him to see much action this time around either, as Alex Avila and Victor Martinez have done well holding down the catching duties without a third catcher. The move to bring back Santos surprised me, but it seems like this will be a short-term move until Magglio Ordonez returns from his rehab assignment, possibly as early as next week.

That said, I don’t see the logic in bringing up Santos when he isn’t going to play. He’s not a pinch-hit candidate at all, so the Tigers are essentially playing with a 24-man roster for now. They would have been better suited to recall someone like Will Rhymes or Clete Thomas who at least bring some value to the bench. They could have even opted to go with an expanded pitching staff for a few days.

For Inge, it seems likely that this trip to the DL could knock him out a bit longer than the minimum time. According to the Mayo Clinic (h/t BYB), mono symptoms typically dissipate after a few weeks, but it can take months before someone suffering from mono feels normal again.

One can only hope that he’s been hiding the illness for at least a little while. At least that would help explain his horrendous start to the season. On Wednesday, Inge celebrated his 10 years of service time with an 0-for-3, three strikeout game. Inge is the all-time franchise leader in strikeouts, a mark he set last season.

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