hitting a baseball is'nt the only criteria for judging a ballplayer
No, just the most important thing.
Yes, Brandon Inge is a good defender, possibly one of the best in the A.L. But that defense doesn't prevent enough runs to offset his putrid offense. Please don't try to make the unquantifiable "intangibles" argument that most people try to when defending shitty ballplayers.
Brandon Inge is an out machine, has low OPB, SLG, etc. In his last full season, he k'd 150 times compared to 120 hits.
He's just really bad. Now, a team with the Tiger's offense should be able to handle someone as bad as Inge, but then Cabrera would have to be put elsewhere.