RRosternomics
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Tigers DET

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GM: Bill Lajoie

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 2 in this regime · payroll 1.12× league · TAB -6.7
-6.7TAB — talent above budget21st/26
-4.4WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)17th/26
6.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars16th/26
-8.2dead WAR — sub-replacement drag25th/26
28%dead money %11th/26
0.488win %13th/26
28.8roster fWAR17th/26
-6surplus $M (value vs cost)20th/26
$19Mpayroll $M12th/26

Roster

CFLloyd Moseby 103GJohn Shelby 36GMilt Cuyler 17G
LFGary Ward 75GLarry Sheets 56GJohn Shelby 31G
RFChet Lemon 94GDarnell Coles 29GScott Lusader 26G
SSAlan Trammell 142GTravis Fryman 17GTony Phillips 11G
2BLou Whitaker 130GTony Phillips 47G
3BTony Phillips 104GTravis Fryman 48GEd Romero 27G
1BCecil Fielder 143GDave Bergman 27GGary Ward 2G
STARTERSJack Morris 2.9WARDan Petry 0.8WARFrank Tanana 0.8WARWalt Terrell 0.5WARSteve Searcy 0.3WAR
CMike Heath 117GMark Salas 57GRich Rowland 5G
DHLarry Sheets 38GDave Bergman 30GDarnell Coles 17G
BULLPEN★ Mike Henneman 22svPaul Gibson 0hJerry Don Gleaton 0hEd Nunez 0hClay Parker 0hLance McCullers Sr. 0hUrbano Lugo 0hSteve Wapnick 0h
CMike Heath 117 · Mark Salas 57 · Rich Rowland 5
1BCecil Fielder 143 · Dave Bergman 27 · Gary Ward 2
2BLou Whitaker 130 · Tony Phillips 47
3BTony Phillips 104 · Travis Fryman 48 · Ed Romero 27
SSAlan Trammell 142 · Travis Fryman 17 · Tony Phillips 11
LFGary Ward 75 · Larry Sheets 56 · John Shelby 31
CFLloyd Moseby 103 · John Shelby 36 · Milt Cuyler 17
RFChet Lemon 94 · Darnell Coles 29 · Scott Lusader 26
DHLarry Sheets 38 · Dave Bergman 30 · Darnell Coles 17
SPJack Morris 2.9 · Dan Petry 0.8 · Frank Tanana 0.8 · Walt Terrell 0.5 · Steve Searcy 0.3
BP★ Mike Henneman 22 · Paul Gibson 0 · Jerry Don Gleaton 0 · Ed Nunez 0 · Clay Parker 0 · Lance McCullers Sr. 0 · Urbano Lugo 0 · Steve Wapnick 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.

1990 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Cecil Fielder 26 arb 1596.5 1.2 +1.6
Alan Trammell 32 FA-elig 1466.2 1.8 +0.9
Tony Phillips 31 FA-elig 1524.4 0.9 +1.1
Lou Whitaker 33 FA-elig 1323.5 1.8 -0.2
Jack Morris 35 FA-elig 362.9 2.1 -0.8
Chet Lemon 35 FA-elig 1042.1 0.8 +0.1
Travis Fryman 21 pre-arb 662.0 0.1 +0.8
Lloyd Moseby 30 FA-elig 1221.3 1.4 -0.8
Mike Henneman 28 arb 691.2 0.3 +0.2
Jerry Don Gleaton 32 – 571.1 – –
Ed Nunez 27 FA-elig 421.1 0.4 +0.1
Frank Tanana 36 FA-elig 340.8 1.1 -0.7
Dan Petry 31 FA-elig 320.8 0.5 -0.1
Mark Salas 29 FA-elig 740.6 0.2 +0.0
Mike Heath 35 FA-elig 1220.6 0.6 -0.4
Walt Terrell↔ PIT 32 FA-elig 130.5 0.4 -0.1
Dave Bergman 37 FA-elig 1000.4 0.5 -0.4
Steve Searcy 26 pre-arb 160.3 0.1 +0.0
Matt Nokes↔ NYY 26 arb 440.2 0.2 -0.1
Lance McCullers Sr.↔ NYY 26 arb 90.2 0.3 -0.2
Brian Dubois 23 pre-arb 120.2 0.1 -0.0
Milt Cuyler 21 pre-arb 190.2 0.1 -0.0
Scott Aldred 22 pre-arb 40.2 0.1 -0.0
Mike Schwabe 25 pre-arb 10.1 0.1 -0.1
Jim Lindeman 28 – 12-0.0 – –
Matt Kinzer 27 – 1-0.0 – –
Steve Wapnick 24 pre-arb 4-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Johnny Paredes↔ WSN 27 pre-arb 6-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Paul Gibson 30 pre-arb 61-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Randy Nosek 23 pre-arb 3-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Scott Lusader 25 arb 45-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Kevin Ritz 25 pre-arb 4-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Rich Rowland 26 – 7-0.3 – –
Ed Romero 32 FA-elig 32-0.3 0.3 -0.5
Clay Parker↔ NYY 27 arb 24-0.4 0.1 -0.3
John Shelby↔ LAD 32 FA-elig 78-0.5 0.4 -0.6
Gary Ward 36 FA-elig 106-0.6 0.5 -0.8
Tracy Jones↔ SEA 29 arb 50-0.7 0.2 -0.6
Jeff Robinson 28 arb 27-0.8 0.3 -0.7
Darnell Coles↔ SEA 28 FA-elig 52-0.9 0.4 -0.8
Kenny Williams↔ TOR 26 arb 57-0.9 0.1 -0.5
Larry Sheets 30 FA-elig 131-0.9 0.7 -1.1
Urbano Lugo 27 – 13-1.0 – –

Key additions (new vs 1989)

PlayerfWAR
Cecil Fielder6.5
Tony Phillips4.4
Travis Fryman2.0
Lloyd Moseby1.3
Jerry Don Gleaton1.1
Dan Petry0.8

Key subtractions (gone from 1989)

Player1989 fWAR
Gary Pettis2.4
Doyle Alexander0.9
Keith Moreland0.7
Fred Lynn0.6
David Palmer0.2
Ramon Pena0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

1990 payroll
$19.0M

What the front office was committed to as of 1990, 1990–1996. 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 (19)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Jack Morris3513.000$2.1MFREE AGENT
Lou Whitaker3313.000$1.8M$2.0M$2.2M$3.4M$2.8M$3.8MFREE AGENT
Alan Trammell3213.000$1.8M$2.2M$2.4M$1.8M$3.0M$1.3M$600k
Lloyd Moseby3010.000$1.4M$1.6MFREE AGENT
Frank Tanana3617.000$1.1M$1.9M$1.7MFREE AGENT
Tony Phillips318.000$867k$1.6M$1.6M$3.9M$2.4MFREE AGENT
Chet Lemon3515.000$829kFREE AGENT
Larry Sheets306.000$670kFREE AGENT
Mike Heath3512.000$600kFREE AGENT
Gary Ward3611.000$538kFREE AGENT
Dave Bergman3715.000$525k$575k$375kFREE AGENT
Dan Petry3111.000$475k$276kFREE AGENT
Darnell Coles287.000$403kFREE AGENT
Ed Nunez278.000$400kFREE AGENT
John Shelby329.000$379k$525kFREE AGENT
Walt Terrell328.000$359k$1.0M$109kFREE AGENT
Ed Romero3213.000$350kFREE AGENT
Mark Salas296.000$225k$450kFREE AGENT
Jerry Don Gleaton3211.000—$510kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (10)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Cecil Fielder265.000$1.2MFREE AGENT
Jeff Robinson283.000$336kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Henneman283.000$335kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Lance McCullers Sr.265.000$293kFREE AGENT
Tracy Jones294.000$250kARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Nokes265.000$210kFREE AGENT
Clay Parker273.000$124kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Lusader253.000$114kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kenny Williams264.000$86kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Lindeman284.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Paul Gibson302.000$150kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Ritz251.000$118kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Dubois231.000$110kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Searcy262.000$107kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Schwabe251.000$107kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Aldred220.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Milt Cuyler210.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Travis Fryman210.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Wapnick240.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy Nosek231.000$100kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Johnny Paredes272.000$68kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Kinzer27–—
Urbano Lugo27–—
Rich Rowland260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Tigers 1990; 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.