Just in case Tigers fans felt left out after lots of baseball news over the last few days that didn’t involve their favorite team, things changed in a big way tonight. That’s right, the huge move you’ve all been waiting for has finally happened: Gene Lamont is out as the Tigers 3B coach.

Tom Brookens will move from 1B to 3B and Rafael Belliard will take over at 1B. Lamont will stay on staff but will become the Tigers bench coach, a position that wasn’t technically filled in the last seven seasons, but he essentially occupied for that entire time.

Throngs of Tigers fans who booed, stomped, and tweeted for Lamont to go have finally gotten their wish.

I’ve always wondered how much a 3B coach impacts the game. We can easily point to Lamont making bad calls over the last several years there, but how much better off would the club be with the best 3B coach in the league manning that spot?

I don’t have an answer and I’ve always wanted to know. I don’t watch enough games of any one other team besides the Tigers to even know how bad Lamont was in relation to his colleagues. I can’t think of other base coaches who made as many bonehead calls as Lamont over the last decade, but that’s probably just an observation problem because the raw number isn’t that high.

Is Lamont even the worst? Who is if he isn’t? If there are fans of other teams reading this, let me know how much you love or hate your third base coach!

It’s hard for me to imagine the Tigers won’t be better off with Brookens at 3B, but exactly how much better will be tough to determine. Please let me know if you have an idea about how to even figure this out. For some reason, this question captivates me.

The Red Sox might be signing players, the Nationals got Haren, and Greinke should sign soon, too. But the big newsmakers today were the Tigers as they benched Gene Lamont for good.