Inge Watch: The Giants Are Scouting

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Giants are scouting Brandon Inge.  John Shea reminds us of the bugaboo that is going to hold up any potential deal unless the Tigers take care of it: the remaining $19 million on Inge's contract.

The Giants also had scouts looking at the White Sox's Joe Crede, so third basemen appear to be on Brian Sabean's mind.  

Any suggestions as to who San Francisco might offer to Detroit in a trade scenario?  I'm still going to lament the apparently diminishing skills of Noah Lowry (who's currently recovering from surgery on his forearm), because that seemed like a good fit.

But take a look at the Giants' depth chart and their top 20 prospects list.  No promising young catchers in the organization, it appears. (Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein has Pablo Sandoval, who played in Single-A last season, as a two-star prospect.)  And I'm not sure they have any relievers who are better than what the Tigers already have in-house.  But other than Brad Hennessey, I'm pretty ignorant of the Giants' bullpen.

(via MLB Trade Rumors)

UPDATE:  I don't know how I missed this among my morning reading, but Lynn Henning suggests Merkin Valdez as a player that might draw the Tigers' interest in today's Detroit News.  He was once considered the top prospect in the Giants' organization, but missed all of last season following Tommy John surgery.  For his career, Valdez has an 18-16 record and 3.34 ERA, with 390 strikeouts in 396 innings.