RRosternomics
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Tigers DET

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GM: Bill Lajoie

Overview

CONTEND ↗ rising
expensive & winning · year 3 in this regime · payroll 1.19× league · TAB +12.3
+12.3TAB — talent above budget3rd/26
+13.8WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)4th/26
10.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars1st/26
-2.7dead WAR — sub-replacement drag5th/26
29%dead money %12th/26
0.605win %1st/26
48.7roster fWAR2nd/26
+1surplus $M (value vs cost)8th/26
$13Mpayroll $M7th/26

1987: made playoffs · 98–64. Ranks are vs the 26 teams that season.

Roster

CFChet Lemon 145GPat Sheridan 26GBilly Bean 17G
LFKirk Gibson 119GLarry Herndon 32GJohnny Grubb 21G
RFPat Sheridan 124GLarry Herndon 26GMike Heath 20G
SSAlan Trammell 149GJim Morrison 20GTom Brookens 17G
2BLou Whitaker 148GJim Walewander 24GJim Morrison 12G
3BTom Brookens 122GJim Morrison 98GJim Walewander 17G
1BDarrell Evans 105GDave Bergman 65GBill Madlock 23G
STARTERSJack Morris 4.1WARFrank Tanana 4.1WARWalt Terrell 3.2WARDoyle Alexander 2.5WARJeff Robinson 1.7WAR
CMatt Nokes 109GMike Heath 67GDwight Lowry 12G
DHBill Madlock 64GDarrell Evans 38GLarry Herndon 18G
BULLPEN★ Eric King 9svMike Henneman 0hMark Thurmond 0hDickie Noles 0hWillie Hernandez 0hNate Snell 0hBryan Kelly 0hMorris Madden 0h
CMatt Nokes 109 · Mike Heath 67 · Dwight Lowry 12
1BDarrell Evans 105 · Dave Bergman 65 · Bill Madlock 23
2BLou Whitaker 148 · Jim Walewander 24 · Jim Morrison 12
3BTom Brookens 122 · Jim Morrison 98 · Jim Walewander 17
SSAlan Trammell 149 · Jim Morrison 20 · Tom Brookens 17
LFKirk Gibson 119 · Larry Herndon 32 · Johnny Grubb 21
CFChet Lemon 145 · Pat Sheridan 26 · Billy Bean 17
RFPat Sheridan 124 · Larry Herndon 26 · Mike Heath 20
DHBill Madlock 64 · Darrell Evans 38 · Larry Herndon 18
SPJack Morris 4.1 · Frank Tanana 4.1 · Walt Terrell 3.2 · Doyle Alexander 2.5 · Jeff Robinson 1.7
BP★ Eric King 9 · Mike Henneman 0 · Mark Thurmond 0 · Dickie Noles 0 · Willie Hernandez 0 · Nate Snell 0 · Bryan Kelly 0 · Morris Madden 0

Each position lists its starter then backups by games (so platoons & bench show). Starters (mound) & bullpen (left, foul territory) are ranked by WAR; ★ marks the closer (most save chances). MLB Stats API.

1987 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Alan Trammell 29 FA-elig 1517.7 0.6 +1.6
Darrell Evans 40 FA-elig 1504.6 0.5 +0.8
Frank Tanana 33 FA-elig 344.1 0.7 +0.5
Jack Morris 32 FA-elig 364.1 1.9 -0.7
Kirk Gibson 30 FA-elig 1284.0 1.3 -0.2
Chet Lemon 32 FA-elig 1463.8 0.7 +0.4
Matt Nokes 23 pre-arb 1353.4 0.1 +0.9
Walt Terrell 29 arb 353.2 0.6 +0.3
Lou Whitaker 30 FA-elig 1493.1 0.4 +0.5
Doyle Alexander↔ ATL 36 FA-elig 112.5 0.3 +0.5
Mike Henneman 25 pre-arb 551.9 0.1 +0.5
Jeff Robinson 25 pre-arb 291.7 0.1 +0.4
Larry Herndon 33 FA-elig 891.7 0.2 +0.3
Mike Heath 32 FA-elig 931.5 0.7 -0.2
Bill Madlock↔ LAD 36 FA-elig 871.2 0.7 -0.3
Dave Bergman 34 FA-elig 910.6 0.3 -0.2
Billy Bean 23 – 260.6 – –
Eric King 23 pre-arb 550.6 0.1 +0.1
Scott Lusader 22 – 230.4 – –
Mark Thurmond 30 arb 480.3 0.4 -0.3
Pat Sheridan 29 FA-elig 1410.1 0.2 -0.2
Dan Petry 28 FA-elig 300.1 1.0 -0.9
Doug Baker 26 – 80.1 – –
Dickie Noles↔ CHC 30 FA-elig 40.0 0.0 +0.0
Jim Walewander 25 – 530.0 – –
Nate Snell 34 – 22-0.0 – –
Bryan Kelly 28 – 5-0.1 – –
Morris Madden 26 – 2-0.1 – –
Tim Tolman 31 – 9-0.1 – –
Tom Brookens 33 FA-elig 143-0.1 0.4 -0.4
Johnny Grubb 38 FA-elig 59-0.1 0.4 -0.4
Willie Hernandez 32 FA-elig 45-0.1 1.1 -1.1
Dwight Lowry 29 – 13-0.2 – –
Jim Morrison↔ PIT 34 FA-elig 34-0.3 0.1 -0.2
Terry Harper↔ PIT 31 FA-elig 31-0.3 0.2 -0.3
Orlando Mercado↔ LAD 25 – 10-0.3 – –
Darnell Coles↔ PIT 25 arb 53-1.0 0.1 -0.4

Key additions (new vs 1986)

PlayerfWAR
Doyle Alexander2.5
Mike Henneman1.9
Jeff Robinson1.7
Bill Madlock1.2
Billy Bean0.6
Scott Lusader0.4

Key subtractions (gone from 1986)

Player1986 fWAR
Lance Parrish3.4
Dave Collins1.4
Randy O'Neal0.9
Bill Campbell0.4
Mike Laga0.1
Harry Spilman0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1987 payroll
$12.9M

What the front office was committed to as of 1987, 1987–1993. Pre-2015 has no contract-terms data — forward italic $ are realized actuals (hindsight, not commitments known then). Control labels (ARB/FA) are point-in-time.

current $ guaranteed $ actual $ (hindsight) arbitration (proj) pre-arb (proj) free agent

Guaranteed / signed (20)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Jack Morris3210.000$1.9M$2.0M$2.0M$2.1MFREE AGENT
Kirk Gibson308.000$1.3MFREE AGENT$1.1M
Willie Hernandez3210.000$1.1M$1.2M$1.3MFREE AGENT
Dan Petry288.000$975kFREE AGENT$475k$276k
Chet Lemon3212.000$699k$829k$829k$829kFREE AGENT
Bill Madlock3614.000$685kFREE AGENT
Frank Tanana3314.000$662k$1.1M$925k$1.1M$1.9M$1.7MFREE AGENT
Mike Heath329.000$650k$400k$425k$600kFREE AGENT
Alan Trammell2910.000$617k$1.0M$1.1M$1.8M$2.2M$2.4M$1.8M
Darrell Evans4018.000$525k$860kFREE AGENT
Lou Whitaker3010.000$420k$975k$1.0M$1.8M$2.0M$2.2M$3.4M
Johnny Grubb3815.000$365kFREE AGENT
Tom Brookens338.000$360k$350kFREE AGENT
Dave Bergman3412.000$332k$360k$438k$525k$575k$375kFREE AGENT
Doyle Alexander3616.000$265k$500k$1.0MFREE AGENT
Larry Herndon3313.000$225k$375kFREE AGENT
Terry Harper317.000$197kFREE AGENT
Pat Sheridan296.000$190k$343k$251kFREE AGENT
Jim Morrison3410.000$83k$189kFREE AGENT
Dickie Noles308.000$7kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (5)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Walt Terrell295.000$600kFREE AGENT
Mark Thurmond304.000$370kARB 3FREE AGENT
Darnell Coles254.000$97kARB 3FREE AGENT
Doug Baker263.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dwight Lowry293.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (12)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Eric King231.000$100kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Nokes232.000$68kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Henneman250.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Robinson250.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Billy Bean230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bryan Kelly28–—
Scott Lusader220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Morris Madden26–—
Orlando Mercado25–—
Nate Snell34–—
Tim Tolman31–—
Jim Walewander25–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Tigers 1987; the black line = the league-average player at each slot that season. Staying above the line deep into the roster is the depth edge; dropping below it = holes & dead weight.

What each regime is worth — every settled team-season since 1985

RegimeSeasonsWin %Playoff %Pennant %WS %
WINDOW 28152.131.05.01.1
CONTEND 30056.964.719.710.3
FORCED-SPEND 25648.09.81.61.6
REBUILD 32143.31.20.30.3
Rosternomics — quantifying front-office skill, attribution-clean. Follow @rosternomics on X. Decision-makers on record back to 1933; resource-controlled metrics (WAR & payroll) cover 1985–2026.
Data: FanGraphs (WAR), Baseball-Reference & the Chadwick Bureau register (rosters, IDs), the Lahman Database, Baseball America prospect rankings (via The Baseball Cube), and public payroll records. Transaction and trade data was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet. Executive birth/death data via Wikidata (CC0); bios are original. Emoji graphics by OpenMoji (CC BY-SA 4.0).
All figures are franchise-level outcomes credited to the decision-maker in the acquisition year — not solely attributable to one executive.