There is an old saying in baseball: Sometimes the best trades are those you don’t make.
        A year ago, having landed slugging third baseman Miguel Cabrera, the Tigers tried hard to trade Brandon Inge, who had overnight become expendable, a player without a position. They failed.
        Now the Tigers are counting on that same Brandon Inge to help return this team of high-priced under-achievers to respectability.
        “I think Brandon Inge is a very big key for us, I really do,” Jim Leyland declared this week. “If Brandon can be productive again _ which I think he has the potential to do _ that makes us really good.”
        There is no question Inge’s welcome return to third base will make the Tigers better defensively. He will be a huge improvement over Cabrera or Carlos Guillen at that position.
        “There are very few guys who can play third base better than Inge,” Leyland said.
        But spectacular defense is not enough. The Tigers also need Inge to return to his 2006 form (.253, 27 HRs, 83 RBI) at the plate.
        “We’ve got to get him away from thinking totally about hitting the ball to the opposite field or totally about trying to hit home runs,” Leyland explained,
        “It’s been all or nothing with Brandon. Either he is trying to hit the ball to right field all the time, or he is trying to turn on the ball and hit a home run every time. We have to get through to him _ and I have talked to hitting coach Lloyd McClendon about this _ that there are situations when he should try to hit the ball the other way and just get a base hit, and there are situations  where he should go for the home run.”
        This year, Inge, confused and often unhappy, hit a mere .205, with 11 HRs and 51 RBI _ his worst numbers since 2003,