RRosternomics
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Tigers DET

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GM: Joe McDonald

Overview

CONTEND ↗ rising
expensive & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.02× league · TAB +4.6
+4.6TAB — talent above budget7th/26
+1.7WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)11th/26
9.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars5th/26
-6.1dead WAR — sub-replacement drag19th/26
23%dead money %8th/26
0.519win %8th/26
39.2roster fWAR7th/26
+0surplus $M (value vs cost)8th/26
$23Mpayroll $M10th/26

Roster

CFMilt Cuyler 151GJohn Shelby 26GTony Phillips 9G
LFLloyd Moseby 64GPete Incaviglia 50GJohn Shelby 26G
RFRob Deer 132GTony Phillips 23GSkeeter Barnes 17G
SSAlan Trammell 92GTravis Fryman 71GTony Phillips 13G
2BLou Whitaker 135GTony Phillips 36GSkeeter Barnes 7G
3BTravis Fryman 86GTony Phillips 46GScott Livingstone 43G
1BCecil Fielder 122GDave Bergman 49GSkeeter Barnes 9G
STARTERSBill Gullickson 3.4WARWalt Terrell 2.7WARFrank Tanana 1.9WARMark Leiter 1.3WARDan Gakeler 0.5WAR
CMickey Tettleton 125GAndy Allanson 56GMark Salas 11G
DHCecil Fielder 42GPete Incaviglia 40GMickey Tettleton 23G
BULLPEN★ Mike Henneman 21svPaul Gibson 0hJerry Don Gleaton 0hDave Haas 0hRusty Meacham 0hJeff Kaiser 0hJohn Kiely 0hMike Munoz 0h
CMickey Tettleton 125 · Andy Allanson 56 · Mark Salas 11
1BCecil Fielder 122 · Dave Bergman 49 · Skeeter Barnes 9
2BLou Whitaker 135 · Tony Phillips 36 · Skeeter Barnes 7
3BTravis Fryman 86 · Tony Phillips 46 · Scott Livingstone 43
SSAlan Trammell 92 · Travis Fryman 71 · Tony Phillips 13
LFLloyd Moseby 64 · Pete Incaviglia 50 · John Shelby 26
CFMilt Cuyler 151 · John Shelby 26 · Tony Phillips 9
RFRob Deer 132 · Tony Phillips 23 · Skeeter Barnes 17
DHCecil Fielder 42 · Pete Incaviglia 40 · Mickey Tettleton 23
SPBill Gullickson 3.4 · Walt Terrell 2.7 · Frank Tanana 1.9 · Mark Leiter 1.3 · Dan Gakeler 0.5
BP★ Mike Henneman 21 · Paul Gibson 0 · Jerry Don Gleaton 0 · Dave Haas 0 · Rusty Meacham 0 · Jeff Kaiser 0 · John Kiely 0 · Mike Munoz 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.

1991 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Lou Whitaker 34 FA-elig 1386.1 2.0 +1.6
Mickey Tettleton 30 FA-elig 1545.6 1.6 +1.7
Tony Phillips 32 FA-elig 1464.8 1.6 +1.3
Cecil Fielder 27 FA-elig 1623.8 1.8 +0.5
Travis Fryman 22 pre-arb 1493.4 0.1 +1.9
Bill Gullickson 32 FA-elig 353.4 1.8 +0.2
Milt Cuyler 22 pre-arb 1543.3 0.1 +1.9
Walt Terrell 33 FA-elig 352.7 1.0 +0.6
Alan Trammell 33 FA-elig 1012.5 2.2 -0.7
Frank Tanana 37 FA-elig 331.9 1.9 -0.8
Mike Henneman 29 arb 601.8 1.1 -0.0
Mark Leiter 28 pre-arb 381.3 0.1 +0.7
Skeeter Barnes 34 – 751.2 – –
Rob Deer 30 FA-elig 1341.0 2.0 -1.4
Scott Livingstone 25 – 440.8 – –
Dave Bergman 38 FA-elig 860.6 0.6 -0.2
Dan Gakeler 27 pre-arb 310.5 0.1 +0.2
Andy Allanson 29 arb 600.4 0.1 +0.1
Lloyd Moseby 31 FA-elig 740.2 1.6 -1.5
Scott Aldred 23 – 110.1 – –
Rusty Meacham 23 – 100.0 – –
Jerry Don Gleaton 33 FA-elig 470.0 0.5 -0.5
Mike Munoz 25 – 60.0 – –
Johnny Paredes 28 – 16-0.0 – –
Rich Rowland 27 – 4-0.0 – –
Mike Dalton 28 – 4-0.1 – –
John Cerutti 31 FA-elig 38-0.1 0.8 -0.9
Jeff Kaiser 30 – 10-0.2 – –
John Kiely 26 – 7-0.2 – –
Dave Haas 25 – 11-0.2 – –
Tony Bernazard 34 FA-elig 6-0.3 0.5 -0.7
Dan Petry↔ ATL 32 FA-elig 17-0.3 0.3 -0.5
Luis de los Santos 24 – 16-0.3 – –
Kevin Ritz 26 – 11-0.4 – –
John Moses 33 – 13-0.4 – –
Paul Gibson 31 arb 68-0.4 0.6 -0.8
Shawn Hare 24 – 9-0.4 – –
Steve Searcy↔ PHI 27 arb 16-0.4 0.1 -0.3
John Shelby 33 FA-elig 53-0.6 0.5 -0.9
Mark Salas 30 FA-elig 33-0.8 0.5 -1.0
Pete Incaviglia 27 – 97-1.1 – –

Key additions (new vs 1990)

PlayerfWAR
Mickey Tettleton5.6
Bill Gullickson3.4
Mark Leiter1.3
Skeeter Barnes1.2
Rob Deer1.0
Scott Livingstone0.8

Key subtractions (gone from 1990)

Player1990 fWAR
Jack Morris2.9
Chet Lemon2.1
Ed Nunez1.1
Mike Heath0.6
Matt Nokes0.2
Lance McCullers Sr.0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

1991 payroll
$23.4M

What the front office was committed to as of 1991, 1991–1997. 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)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Alan Trammell3314.000$2.2M$2.4M$1.8M$3.0M$1.3M$600kFREE AGENT
Lou Whitaker3414.000$2.0M$2.2M$3.4M$2.8M$3.8MFREE AGENT
Rob Deer307.000$2.0M$2.0M$1.5MFREE AGENT
Frank Tanana3718.000$1.9M$1.7MFREE AGENT
Bill Gullickson3212.000$1.8M$1.9M$2.3M$2.4MFREE AGENT
Cecil Fielder276.000$1.8M$4.5M$4.3M$4.2M$9.2M$6.2MFREE AGENT
Mickey Tettleton307.000$1.6M$3.3M$3.3M$1.9MFREE AGENT
Lloyd Moseby3111.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Tony Phillips329.000$1.6M$1.6M$3.9M$2.4MFREE AGENT
Walt Terrell339.000$1.0M$109kFREE AGENT
John Cerutti316.000$800kFREE AGENT
Dave Bergman3816.000$575k$375kFREE AGENT
Tony Bernazard3412.000$525kFREE AGENT
John Shelby3310.000$525kFREE AGENT
Jerry Don Gleaton3312.000$510kFREE AGENT
Mark Salas307.000$450kFREE AGENT
Dan Petry3212.000$276kFREE AGENT
Skeeter Barnes348.000—$150k$265kFREE AGENT
Jeff Kaiser306.000—FREE AGENT
John Moses339.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (6)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Mike Henneman294.000$1.1MARB 3FREE AGENT
Paul Gibson313.000$565kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Andy Allanson295.000$100kFREE AGENT
Steve Searcy273.000$59kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Pete Incaviglia275.000—FREE AGENT
Johnny Paredes283.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (15)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Travis Fryman221.000$150kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Leiter281.000$130kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dan Gakeler270.000$125kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Milt Cuyler221.000$100kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Aldred231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Dalton28–—
Luis de los Santos24–—
Dave Haas250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Shawn Hare24–—
John Kiely260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Livingstone250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rusty Meacham230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Munoz252.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Ritz262.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rich Rowland271.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Tigers 1991; 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.