RRosternomics
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Tigers DET

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GM: Jerry Walker

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.21× league · TAB -2.0
-2.0TAB — talent above budget16th/28
+0.6WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)13th/28
8.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars11th/28
-4.4dead WAR — sub-replacement drag10th/28
18%dead money %3rd/28
0.525win %10th/28
34.6roster fWAR14th/28
-9surplus $M (value vs cost)21st/28
$38Mpayroll $M8th/28

Roster

CFMilt Cuyler 80GKirk Gibson 30GGary Thurman 21G
LFTony Phillips 70GDan Gladden 69GMickey Tettleton 18G
RFMickey Tettleton 39GTony Phillips 34GGary Thurman 15G
SSTravis Fryman 81GAlan Trammell 63GChris Gomez 29G
2BLou Whitaker 110GTony Phillips 51GChris Gomez 17G
3BTravis Fryman 69GScott Livingstone 62GAlan Trammell 35G
1BCecil Fielder 119GMickey Tettleton 59GSkeeter Barnes 27G
STARTERSDavid Wells 3.0WARJohn Doherty 2.2WARBill Krueger 1.4WARTom Bolton 1.4WARBill Gullickson 0.7WAR
CChad Kreuter 112GMickey Tettleton 56GRich Rowland 17G
DHKirk Gibson 75GCecil Fielder 35GScott Livingstone 27G
BULLPEN★ Mike Henneman 24svBob MacDonald 0hJoe Boever 0hMike Gardiner 0hKurt Knudsen 0hDave Haas 0hBuddy Groom 0hGreg Gohr 0h
CChad Kreuter 112 · Mickey Tettleton 56 · Rich Rowland 17
1BCecil Fielder 119 · Mickey Tettleton 59 · Skeeter Barnes 27
2BLou Whitaker 110 · Tony Phillips 51 · Chris Gomez 17
3BTravis Fryman 69 · Scott Livingstone 62 · Alan Trammell 35
SSTravis Fryman 81 · Alan Trammell 63 · Chris Gomez 29
LFTony Phillips 70 · Dan Gladden 69 · Mickey Tettleton 18
CFMilt Cuyler 80 · Kirk Gibson 30 · Gary Thurman 21
RFMickey Tettleton 39 · Tony Phillips 34 · Gary Thurman 15
DHKirk Gibson 75 · Cecil Fielder 35 · Scott Livingstone 27
SPDavid Wells 3.0 · John Doherty 2.2 · Bill Krueger 1.4 · Tom Bolton 1.4 · Bill Gullickson 0.7
BP★ Mike Henneman 24 · Bob MacDonald 0 · Joe Boever 0 · Mike Gardiner 0 · Kurt Knudsen 0 · Dave Haas 0 · Buddy Groom 0 · Greg Gohr 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.

1993 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Tony Phillips 34 FA-elig 1515.2 3.9 +0.4
Travis Fryman 24 arb 1514.5 0.7 +3.0
Chad Kreuter 28 arb 1193.7 0.2 +2.8
Alan Trammell 35 FA-elig 1123.6 1.8 +1.1
Lou Whitaker 36 FA-elig 1193.5 3.4 -0.6
David Wells 30 FA-elig 323.0 1.4 +1.0
Mickey Tettleton 32 FA-elig 1522.5 3.3 -1.3
John Doherty 26 pre-arb 322.2 0.2 +1.6
Bill Krueger 35 FA-elig 321.4 1.2 -0.1
Tom Bolton 31 FA-elig 431.4 0.5 +0.6
Cecil Fielder 29 FA-elig 1541.3 4.3 -3.2
Mike Henneman 31 FA-elig 631.2 4.3 -3.4
Rob Deer↔ BOS 32 FA-elig 900.8 1.5 -0.8
Eric Davis↔ LAD 31 FA-elig 230.7 0.4 +0.3
Dan Gladden 35 FA-elig 910.7 1.1 -0.6
Bill Gullickson 34 FA-elig 280.7 2.3 -1.8
Kirk Gibson 36 FA-elig 1160.5 1.1 -0.7
Storm Davis↔ OAK 31 FA-elig 240.4 0.5 -0.2
Milt Cuyler 24 arb 820.4 0.3 +0.1
Mark Leiter 30 arb 270.3 0.5 -0.2
Joe Boever↔ OAK 32 FA-elig 190.3 0.2 +0.0
Mike Moore 33 FA-elig 360.3 3.3 -3.1
Greg Gohr 25 pre-arb 160.2 0.1 +0.0
Buddy Groom 27 pre-arb 190.1 0.1 -0.0
Mike Gardiner↔ WSN 27 arb 100.1 0.0 +0.0
Mark Grater 29 – 60.1 – –
Danny Bautista 21 – 170.0 – –
John DeSilva↔ LAD 25 – 10.0 – –
Sean Bergman 23 pre-arb 9-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Skeeter Barnes 36 FA-elig 84-0.1 0.3 -0.4
Rich Rowland 29 – 21-0.2 – –
Bob MacDonald 28 arb 68-0.2 0.2 -0.4
Scott Livingstone 27 pre-arb 98-0.2 0.2 -0.4
Mike Munoz↔ COL 27 arb 8-0.3 0.0 -0.3
Dave Johnson 33 – 6-0.3 – –
John Kiely 28 pre-arb 8-0.4 0.1 -0.5
Gary Thurman 28 FA-elig 75-0.5 0.4 -0.8
Chris Gomez 22 pre-arb 46-0.6 0.1 -0.6
Dave Haas 27 pre-arb 20-0.7 0.1 -0.7
Kurt Knudsen 26 – 30-0.7 – –

Key additions (new vs 1992)

PlayerfWAR
David Wells3.0
Bill Krueger1.4
Tom Bolton1.4
Eric Davis0.7
Kirk Gibson0.5
Storm Davis0.4

Key subtractions (gone from 1992)

Player1992 fWAR
Gary Pettis1.3
Kevin Ritz0.8
Phil Clark0.7
Walt Terrell0.6
Frank Tanana0.5
Eric King0.3

Current & Historical Payroll

1993 payroll
$38.4M

What the front office was committed to as of 1993, 1993–1999. 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)

PlayerAgeSvc1993199419951996199719981999
Mike Henneman316.000$4.3M$1.3M$2.8MFREE AGENT
Cecil Fielder298.000$4.3M$4.2M$9.2M$6.2MFREE AGENT
Tony Phillips3411.000$3.9M$2.4MFREE AGENT
Lou Whitaker3616.000$3.4M$2.8M$3.8MFREE AGENT
Mickey Tettleton329.000$3.3M$1.9MFREE AGENT
Mike Moore3311.000$3.3M$3.3M$3.3MFREE AGENT
Bill Gullickson3414.000$2.3M$2.4MFREE AGENT
Alan Trammell3516.000$1.8M$3.0M$1.3M$600kFREE AGENT
Rob Deer329.000$1.5MFREE AGENT
David Wells306.000$1.4M$2.5M$1.4MFREE AGENT
Bill Krueger3510.000$1.2M$867kFREE AGENT
Dan Gladden3510.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Kirk Gibson3614.000$1.1M$1.5M$1.3MFREE AGENT
Storm Davis3111.000$502k$800kFREE AGENT
Tom Bolton316.000$475kFREE AGENT
Gary Thurman286.000$425kFREE AGENT
Eric Davis319.000$351k$3.0MFREE AGENT
Skeeter Barnes3610.000$265kFREE AGENT
Joe Boever328.000$182k$800k$600kFREE AGENT
Dave Johnson336.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (8)

PlayerAgeSvc1993199419951996199719981999
Travis Fryman243.000$675kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Leiter303.000$500kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Milt Cuyler243.000$275kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chad Kreuter285.000$240kFREE AGENT
Bob MacDonald283.000$225kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Munoz274.000$50kARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Gardiner273.000$32kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rich Rowland293.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (12)

PlayerAgeSvc1993199419951996199719981999
Scott Livingstone272.000$230kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Doherty261.000$170kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Kiely282.000$140kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Haas272.000$138kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Buddy Groom271.000$120kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Sean Bergman230.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Gomez220.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Gohr250.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Danny Bautista210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John DeSilva250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Grater29–—
Kurt Knudsen26–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Tigers 1993; 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.