RRosternomics
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Tigers DET

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GM: Bill Lajoie

Overview

CONTEND ↘ cooling
expensive & winning · year 4 in this regime · payroll 1.16× league · TAB +0.8
+0.8TAB — talent above budget14th/26
+4.2WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)10th/26
8.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars7th/26
-3.2dead WAR — sub-replacement drag9th/26
21%dead money %6th/26
0.543win %6th/26
36.9roster fWAR11th/26
-2surplus $M (value vs cost)16th/26
$14Mpayroll $M8th/26

Roster

CFGary Pettis 126GFred Lynn 67GDwayne Murphy 35G
LFPat Sheridan 92GLuis Salazar 60GFred Lynn 19G
RFChet Lemon 144GPat Sheridan 13GDwayne Murphy 10G
SSAlan Trammell 125GLuis Salazar 37GJim Walewander 8G
2BLou Whitaker 110GJim Walewander 61GTorey Lovullo 9G
3BTom Brookens 136GLuis Salazar 31GRay Knight 11G
1BDarrell Evans 65GRay Knight 64GDave Bergman 64G
STARTERSJack Morris 4.0WARDoyle Alexander 2.6WARFrank Tanana 2.1WARJeff Robinson 1.6WARWalt Terrell 1.5WAR
CMatt Nokes 110GMike Heath 75GChris Bando 33G
DHDarrell Evans 54GLarry Herndon 46GDave Bergman 23G
BULLPEN★ Mike Henneman 22svWillie Hernandez 0hPaul Gibson 0hDon Heinkel 0hMike Trujillo 0hMark Huismann 0hSteve Searcy 0h
CMatt Nokes 110 · Mike Heath 75 · Chris Bando 33
1BDarrell Evans 65 · Ray Knight 64 · Dave Bergman 64
2BLou Whitaker 110 · Jim Walewander 61 · Torey Lovullo 9
3BTom Brookens 136 · Luis Salazar 31 · Ray Knight 11
SSAlan Trammell 125 · Luis Salazar 37 · Jim Walewander 8
LFPat Sheridan 92 · Luis Salazar 60 · Fred Lynn 19
CFGary Pettis 126 · Fred Lynn 67 · Dwayne Murphy 35
RFChet Lemon 144 · Pat Sheridan 13 · Dwayne Murphy 10
DHDarrell Evans 54 · Larry Herndon 46 · Dave Bergman 23
SPJack Morris 4.0 · Doyle Alexander 2.6 · Frank Tanana 2.1 · Jeff Robinson 1.6 · Walt Terrell 1.5
BP★ Mike Henneman 22 · Willie Hernandez 0 · Paul Gibson 0 · Don Heinkel 0 · Mike Trujillo 0 · Mark Huismann 0 · Steve Searcy 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.

1988 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Alan Trammell 30 FA-elig 1285.3 1.0 +0.7
Jack Morris 33 FA-elig 344.0 2.0 -0.7
Lou Whitaker 31 FA-elig 1153.5 1.0 +0.1
Matt Nokes 24 arb 1222.8 0.2 +0.7
Doyle Alexander 37 FA-elig 342.6 0.5 +0.3
Chet Lemon 33 FA-elig 1442.5 0.8 -0.0
Luis Salazar 32 FA-elig 1302.1 0.1 +0.5
Frank Tanana 34 FA-elig 322.1 1.1 -0.5
Jeff Robinson 26 pre-arb 241.6 0.1 +0.4
Pat Sheridan 30 FA-elig 1271.6 0.3 +0.1
Walt Terrell 30 FA-elig 291.5 0.7 -0.2
Dave Bergman 35 FA-elig 1161.4 0.4 +0.1
Mike Henneman 26 pre-arb 651.3 0.1 +0.3
Dwayne Murphy 33 FA-elig 491.3 0.4 +0.0
Darrell Evans 41 FA-elig 1441.1 0.9 -0.5
Gary Pettis 30 FA-elig 1291.0 0.4 -0.1
Tom Brookens 34 FA-elig 1361.0 0.3 -0.0
Mike Heath 33 FA-elig 860.8 0.4 -0.1
Torey Lovullo 22 – 120.6 – –
Paul Gibson 28 pre-arb 400.5 0.1 +0.1
Eric King 24 pre-arb 230.4 0.1 +0.0
Fred Lynn↔ BAL 36 FA-elig 270.4 0.4 -0.3
Ted Power↔ KCR 33 FA-elig 40.3 0.1 +0.0
Don Heinkel 28 pre-arb 210.2 0.1 -0.0
Mark Huismann 30 – 50.2 – –
Willie Hernandez 33 FA-elig 630.1 1.2 -1.2
Billy Bean 24 – 100.0 – –
Billy Beane 26 – 6-0.1 – –
Mike Trujillo 28 – 6-0.1 – –
Steve Searcy 24 pre-arb 2-0.2 0.1 -0.1
Scott Lusader 23 – 16-0.3 – –
Ivan De Jesus Sr. 35 – 7-0.3 – –
Larry Herndon 34 FA-elig 76-0.4 0.4 -0.5
Jim Walewander 26 – 88-0.4 – –
Jim Morrison↔ ATL 35 FA-elig 24-0.5 0.1 -0.2
Ray Knight 35 FA-elig 105-0.9 0.5 -0.8

Key additions (new vs 1987)

PlayerfWAR
Luis Salazar2.1
Dwayne Murphy1.3
Gary Pettis1.0
Torey Lovullo0.6
Paul Gibson0.5
Fred Lynn0.4

Key subtractions (gone from 1987)

Player1987 fWAR
Kirk Gibson4.0
Bill Madlock1.2
Mark Thurmond0.3
Dan Petry0.1
Doug Baker0.1
Dickie Noles0.0

Current & Historical Payroll

1988 payroll
$13.6M

What the front office was committed to as of 1988, 1988–1994. 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 (22)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Jack Morris3311.000$2.0M$2.0M$2.1MFREE AGENT
Willie Hernandez3311.000$1.2M$1.3MFREE AGENT
Frank Tanana3415.000$1.1M$925k$1.1M$1.9M$1.7MFREE AGENT
Alan Trammell3011.000$1.0M$1.1M$1.8M$2.2M$2.4M$1.8M$3.0M
Lou Whitaker3111.000$975k$1.0M$1.8M$2.0M$2.2M$3.4M$2.8M
Darrell Evans4119.000$860kFREE AGENT
Chet Lemon3313.000$829k$829k$829kFREE AGENT
Walt Terrell306.000$665kFREE AGENT$441k$1.0M$109k
Ray Knight3514.000$525kFREE AGENT
Doyle Alexander3717.000$500k$1.0MFREE AGENT
Mike Heath3310.000$400k$425k$600kFREE AGENT
Gary Pettis306.000$400k$440kFREE AGENT
Larry Herndon3414.000$375kFREE AGENT
Dwayne Murphy3310.000$375kFREE AGENT
Fred Lynn3614.000$365k$1.6MFREE AGENT
Dave Bergman3513.000$360k$438k$525k$575k$375kFREE AGENT
Tom Brookens349.000$350kFREE AGENT
Pat Sheridan307.000$343k$251kFREE AGENT
Luis Salazar328.000$150kFREE AGENT
Jim Morrison3511.000$89kFREE AGENT
Ted Power337.000$88kFREE AGENT
Ivan De Jesus Sr.3514.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (4)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Matt Nokes243.000$165kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Billy Beane264.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Huismann305.000—FREE AGENT
Mike Trujillo283.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (10)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Eric King242.000$125kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Henneman261.000$115kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Robinson261.000$95kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Don Heinkel280.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Paul Gibson280.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Searcy240.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Billy Bean241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Torey Lovullo220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Lusader231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Walewander26–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Tigers 1988; 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.