LAKELAND, Fla. -- Brandon Inge is a man without a sense of home on the field. He is not a man without a sense of reality off it.

The day he made his annual trip here earlier this month for Spring Training, he was still simmering about his situation. The winter-long wounds from being displaced from third base by the acquisition of Miguel Cabrera and put into a reserve role were coming back to him as he drove his wife and two kids down the highway from their Charlotte, N.C., area home. Somewhere near the Georgia-Florida border, they stopped at a gas station to let their son Tyler out of the car to stretch.

"We're playing catch just to rest," Inge recalled, "and we see a family car pulling a U-Haul. The parents get out, they run around the back, grab a wheelchair, go back, pick their kid up and take him into a hotel. I don't know what [condition the child] had, but it made you think: There are people much worse off, much worse off. It puts everything in perspective, makes you sit back and kind of appreciate what you still have. I'm still able to put a big league uniform on."

For now, at least, he's putting on catching gear to go with it. As he was recounting that story, he was struggling to put on his shin guards and knee protectors.

Though he worked as a catcher in Spring Training a couple of years ago to help out, the last time Inge actually caught in a game was 2004, the year the Tigers signed Ivan Rodriguez. That deal made Inge a utility player after serving as Detroit's starting backstop for the better part of three seasons. He wasn't particularly happy about making that move at first, either.

Four years later, Inge is moving again after three seasons as a starting third baseman. This time, however, is different. He's donning the catching gear to re-acclimate himself to a position he might never have to play, for a team he might never play for again. The only way he'll be a utility player again is if the Tigers can't trade him to another team with a need for a regular third baseman. Yet, considering Detroit hasn't been able to deal him for two months, it has to prepare him for utility work in case he stays, while keeping him fresh enough at third base to play there every day somewhere else.

For Inge, it's a bizarre spring in career limbo.

"I want nothing but the best for the team," Inge said on Friday, "but we're just going to have to let things play out. At this point, I am a Detroit Tiger. I'm going to be a utility guy, get in as much as I can at this point. And until something else happens, I really don't have anything else. I'm going to play as hard as I can. I'm going to do whatever I can to help. My heart is really at third base. I'd love to be a starting third baseman. With that being said, we'll just have to let it play out."

Those who followed the Tigers during their lean years in 2002-03 will remember Inge as a good defensive catcher, a skilled game-caller with the same strong arm that has become his trademark at third base. He commanded the game from behind the plate and was respected for it.

They were productive seasons that earned Inge an everyday role, but he struggled on offense while he was doing it. It wasn't until Inge was out from the behind the plate, with the demands of catching lifted off of his shoulders, that he truly developed as a hitter.

"Catching was the tougher years of my life," Inge said. "It's a big job. You've got to run a pitching staff. The equipment you have to put on and off, and you've got to juggle a whole bunch of things at the catcher's spot."

All those demands quickly jogged his memory in his first workout Friday. He felt the soreness in his legs after catching two bullpen sessions with old shin guards and knee protectors and a borrowed catching mitt. It didn't get much easier on Saturday, when the catchers in camp did work on blocking balls in the dirt. Essentially, they took turns receiving one-hoppers off of their chest protectors.

That part, actually, wasn't as hard for him. If he can dive into the stands for foul balls, he pointed out, he can stand there and take a ball off of his body. It's the mentality that helped him at third base to begin with.

"I take that blocking mentality into third when you've got that bounding ball and you can't pick it," he explained. "It's going to hop on you, so you just hover [over] it and block it in the dirt, or smother it. But third to catching, none of the techniques help, except for just soft hands receiving the ball."

There's very little doubt he'll be able to adjust back if he has to. As Leyland pointed out, Inge is one of the best athletes on the team. If the Tigers find a taker for him, though, it'll all be an exercise for nothing.

As much as Leyland would like to have Inge as utility man, even the manager believes he's better off at third.

"I think Brandon Inge is an everyday starting third baseman at the Major League level. That's what I believe," Leyland said. "This guy is not only an excellent player, he's a very durable player. This guy played last year with a broken toe. We are losing, in my opinion, arguably the best defensive third baseman in the American League."

The irony of it all, and a big motivation for Inge to embrace catching again, is that if the Tigers don't trade Inge, catching could be his way back into an everyday role. Rodriguez, the man who displaced Inge four years ago, is in the last year of his contract. By contrast, the three years and $19.1 million left on the four-year contract Inge signed little more than a year ago could push the Tigers to give Inge another shot at catching full-time next year if they can't deal him.

It's a possibility that has crossed Inge's mind, especially since he can't count on a trade.

"At this point, I'm a Detroit Tiger, and I will have to assume that I will be a Detroit Tiger for the remainder of the contract," Inge said. "With that being said, I'm going to have to do whatever it takes to get the most playing time and help out as much as possible. And within those guidelines, catching could possibly be the goal, so I'm going to have to probably take that path.

"Is it what I want to do if I had my first choice? No, I'd rather play third base."

There are worse positions to be in, and Inge knows it. He's still the loose personality in the clubhouse that makes him one of the most popular players among teammates. Still, it's tough to get much stranger than this.