DETROIT -- Brandon Inge has been a Detroit Tiger so long he said he can’t imagine living elsewhere.

But for the time being, even if all goes well, he won’t be playing here -- or, most likely, anywhere in the major leagues.

Inge will be designated for assignment today and has agreed to report to Triple-A Toledo if he clears waivers next Monday, which he almost certainly will, after

from the Kansas City Royals.

Betemit will become the primary third baseman.

Inge could have declined the request to go to Toledo but opted against risking his outright release.

"I could’ve made the decision not to accept the assignment, and maybe get picked up by another team," Inge said. "But I live here, my kids go to school around here, I’ve made this home. I still feel, no matter what happens -- and no matter what ever will happen -- that this is home for me. I’ve spent so many years here, and I still plan on spending a lot more here.

"Everyone goes through rough patches in their career. This is definitely one of them. But I’m a big believer that everything happens for a reason, and I opted not to push them into making a decision where they could release me."

Inge has been a fan favorite in Detroit for years. But he is hitting .177 for a team tied for the American League Central lead, and the Tigers felt compelled to shore up their weakest position with Betemit, a ninth-year switch-hitter who is hitting .281.

Betemit will join the Tigers today in Minnesota.

"It’s a tough situation," Dave Dombrowski, the Tigers’ CEO, president and general manager, said. "Brandon has done a lot for the organization. We would not have signed him this winter if we didn’t think he was going to come out and do very well for us, or do solidly."

Inge signed a two-year contract with the Tigers in the offseason, and Dombrowski said that deal with was struck with the expectation that he would hit in the .230-.240 range, with good power numbers.

Instead, he has one home run and 17 RBIs.

"It hasn’t happened this year and I think we’re at the point where, playing him every day, we just don’t see it happening right now," Dombrowski said.

Inge, in turn, said the move was not a big surprise.

"When you look up at the scoreboard and you see .170-something, I don’t think anything comes as a shock after that," he said.

Betemit, who has three home runs and 27 RBIs, isn’t the base-stealing threat he used to be, yet still runs the bases well, and the Tigers deemed him a better regular offensive threat at third base than Don Kelly, whom they like in a utility role, Dombrowski said.

The Tigers gave up two Class A prospects in the deal, pitcher Antonio Cruz of West Michigan in the Midwest League and catcher Julio Rodriguez of Lakeland in the Florida State League.

Dombrowski acknowledged it is unusual for teams to trade within their own division but noted the Royals and Tigers are "in two different spots," with Detroit playing to win now and Kansas City building for the future.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland said he hopes Inge rediscovers his swing in Toledo.

"The writers love him, the fans love him," Leyland said. "The majority of people are pulling for him. Certainly, everybody in here is."

Inge said Tigers owner Mike Ilitch sent word to him, through an intermediary, that the ballclub wanted him to accept the assignment rather than force a release.

"They’re looking for options," Inge said. "They’re trying to find a way to get something done. You’ve got to think of it as a GM sometime. You can’t think of it as a player all the time. Players sometimes want to point the finger and blame someone else instead of looking in a mirror."

Betemit is in the final year of a contract that pays him $1 million this season, but if the Tigers were to sign him beyond this season, it might buy them time for their third baseman of the future, Nick Castellanos, who is at West Michigan.

Inge is in the first year of a two-year deal that pays him $11.5 million. The Tigers can buy him out for $500,000 if they don’t exercise a $6 million option in 2013.

Dombrowski -- who added the Tigers are still in the market for a starting pitcher -- said Inge’s struggles had pushed the team to the point "where it’s decision time, in the sense that if you get to July 31 (the non-waiver trade deadline), you may not be able" to make a trade.

"Can he get his swing back and make things happen?" Dombrowski said of Inge. "Hopefully, that happens. But right now, we look at it from our own situation, trying to win, and it just hasn’t happened.

"We’re in a production-oriented business and I’m some of those people who are booing him loudly now have cheered him in the past. And if he gets hits, they’ll cheer him once again. But right now, he’s scuffling. It affects you."

Inge said it was important to him not "to hold this team back," but added that he believes he is hitting the ball better than his statistics suggest.

He also said he hasn’t played his last game as a Tiger.

"Oh, I know I’ll be back," he said.

E-mail David Mayo: dmayo@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/David_Mayo