Rosternomics
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Tigers DET

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GM: Randy Smith (since 1996)

1998 roster — every player, value & surplus

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-8.7
WAB — wins above budget
+3.0
TAB — roster Talent above budget
65–97 (0.401)
record
+10M
surplus $M (value/$)
29.4
roster fWAR
$22.0M
payroll
PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Damion Easley 28 FA-elig 153 4.8 2.0 +3.1
Justin Thompson 25 pre-arb 34 4.3 0.4 +4.3
Tony Clark 26 arb 157 3.3 0.8 +2.8
Brian Moehler 26 pre-arb 33 3.1 0.2 +3.1
Bobby Higginson 27 arb 157 2.3 2.4 +0.0
Joe Randa 28 arb 138 1.8 0.4 +1.6
Luis Gonzalez 30 FA-elig 154 1.7 2.0 -0.1
Doug Brocail 31 FA-elig 60 1.7 0.8 +1.0
Bryce Florie 28 arb 42 1.5 0.6 +1.1
Deivi Cruz 25 pre-arb 135 1.4 0.2 +1.3
Brian L. Hunter 27 arb 142 1.4 0.6 +1.0
Seth Greisinger 22 pre-arb 21 1.3 0.2 +1.2
Frank Castillo 29 FA-elig 27 1.0 1.8 -0.7
Juan Encarnacion 22 pre-arb 40 0.7 0.2 +0.6
Paul Bako 26 pre-arb 96 0.6 0.2 +0.4
Tim Worrell↔ CLE 30 arb 15 0.6 0.3 +0.2
Robert Fick 24 pre-arb 7 0.4 0.2 +0.3
Matt Anderson 21 pre-arb 42 0.4 0.2 +0.3
Kimera Bartee 25 pre-arb 57 0.4 0.2 +0.3
Todd Jones 30 arb 65 0.3 2.2 -1.9
Frank Catalanotto 24 pre-arb 89 0.3 0.2 +0.2
Greg Keagle 27 pre-arb 9 0.2 0.2 +0.1
Joe Siddall 30 arb 29 0.1 0.2 -0.1
Billy Ripken 33 FA-elig 27 0.1 0.4 -0.3
Jason Wood↔ OAK 28 pre-arb 10 0.1 0.1 -0.0
Jeff Manto↔ CLE 33 FA-elig 16 0.1 0.1 -0.1
Will Brunson↔ LAD 28 – 8 0.1 – –
Scott Sanders↔ SDP 29 arb 3 0.1 0.2 -0.1
A.J. Sager 33 arb 31 0.0 0.3 -0.3
Denny Harriger 28 – 4 0.0 – –
Trey Beamon 24 pre-arb 28 -0.0 0.2 -0.2
Roberto Duran 25 pre-arb 18 -0.0 0.2 -0.2
Brian Powell 24 pre-arb 18 -0.0 0.2 -0.2
Marino Santana 26 – 7 -0.1 – –
Dean Crow 25 – 32 -0.1 – –
Sean Runyan 24 pre-arb 88 -0.1 0.2 -0.3
Gabe Kapler 22 – 7 -0.2 – –
Raul Casanova 25 pre-arb 16 -0.2 0.2 -0.4
Joe Oliver↔ SEA 32 FA-elig 50 -0.2 0.5 -0.7
Pete Incaviglia↔ HOU 34 FA-elig 7 -0.3 0.1 -0.4
Bip Roberts↔ OAK 34 FA-elig 34 -0.3 0.8 -1.2
Andy Tomberlin 31 – 32 -0.4 – –
Geronimo Berroa↔ CLE 33 FA-elig 52 -0.5 1.6 -2.2
Gabe Alvarez 24 pre-arb 58 -1.0 0.2 -1.2
Doug Bochtler 27 arb 51 -1.2 0.3 -1.6

45 players appeared (WAR is complete); salary & surplus are on record for 39 of them (87%). Players without a salary show "–" — no single historical salary source is fully complete (especially 2020–2022).

WAR = FanGraphs (fWAR). Green = produced more value than paid (bargain); red = paid more than produced. Service: pre-arb (<3 yr) / arb (3–6) / FA-eligible (6+). Click headers to sort.

History: front-office performance & develop-vs-buy (1985–2024)

Trade ledger (realized WAR, all-time)

Best acquisitions
PlayerYearWAR for DET
Max Scherzer200922.2
Carlos Guillén200418.3
Ian Kinsler201316.3
Jeremy Bonderman200215.8
Damion Easley199615.4
Austin Jackson200914.8
Mickey Tettleton199114.4
Chet Lemon198114.2
Ones that got away
PlayerYear tradedWAR elsewhere
John Smoltz198781.6
Luis Gonzalez199833.8
Chris Hoiles198824.8
Howard Johnson198422.8
Justin Verlander201719.7
Rick Porcello201413.1
Robbie Ray201411.8
Matt Joyce200810.7
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.