RRosternomics
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Tigers DET

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GM: Randy Smith

Overview

REBUILD ↘ cooling
cheap & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.83× league · TAB -14.1
-14.1TAB — talent above budget29th/30
-13.6WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)28th/30
5.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars21st/30
-8.3dead WAR — sub-replacement drag28th/30
61%dead money %29th/30
0.407win %25th/30
17.9roster fWAR27th/30
-20surplus $M (value vs cost)19th/30
$52Mpayroll $M18th/30

Roster

CFRoger Cedeno 67GJuan Encarnacion 56GWendell Magee 36G
LFBobby Higginson 142GWendell Magee 21GRyan Jackson 19G
RFJuan Encarnacion 63GRoger Cedeno 55GWendell Magee 19G
SSDeivi Cruz 109GShane Halter 62G
2BDamion Easley 153GJose Macias 18GPedro Santana 1G
3BJose Macias 89GShane Halter 74GJarrod Patterson 13G
1BTony Clark 78GRandall Simon 43GRyan Jackson 35G
STARTERSJeff Weaver 3.9WARSteve Sparks 3.1WARChris Holt 0.8WARAdam Pettyjohn 0.2WARMark Redman 0.0WAR
CBrandon Inge 79GRobert Fick 78GJavier Cardona 44G
DHDean Palmer 57GTony Clark 41GRandall Simon 27G
BULLPEN★ Matt Anderson 22svDanny Patterson 15hMatt Perisho 4hMatt Miller 3hHeath Murray 2hLuis Pineda 1hDave Borkowski 0hWillie Blair 0h
CBrandon Inge 79 · Robert Fick 78 · Javier Cardona 44
1BTony Clark 78 · Randall Simon 43 · Ryan Jackson 35
2BDamion Easley 153 · Jose Macias 18 · Pedro Santana 1
3BJose Macias 89 · Shane Halter 74 · Jarrod Patterson 13
SSDeivi Cruz 109 · Shane Halter 62
LFBobby Higginson 142 · Wendell Magee 21 · Ryan Jackson 19
CFRoger Cedeno 67 · Juan Encarnacion 56 · Wendell Magee 36
RFJuan Encarnacion 63 · Roger Cedeno 55 · Wendell Magee 19
DHDean Palmer 57 · Tony Clark 41 · Randall Simon 27
SPJeff Weaver 3.9 · Steve Sparks 3.1 · Chris Holt 0.8 · Adam Pettyjohn 0.2 · Mark Redman 0.0
BP★ Matt Anderson 22 · Danny Patterson 15 · Matt Perisho 4 · Matt Miller 3 · Heath Murray 2 · Luis Pineda 1 · Dave Borkowski 0 · Willie Blair 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.

2001 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Jeff Weaver 24 pre-arb 333.9 0.4 +5.9
Bobby Higginson 30 FA-elig 1473.2 5.3 -0.2
Steve Sparks 36 FA-elig 363.1 0.7 +4.4
Shane Halter 31 arb 1362.9 0.4 +4.2
Robert Fick 27 arb 1242.2 0.3 +3.3
Jose Macias 29 pre-arb 1372.0 0.2 +3.0
Tony Clark 29 FA-elig 1261.7 4.5 -1.7
Damion Easley 31 FA-elig 1541.5 5.1 -2.7
Matt Anderson 24 arb 621.4 0.4 +1.9
Chris Holt 29 arb 300.8 1.9 -0.5
Danny Patterson 30 arb 600.8 1.1 +0.1
Randall Simon 26 – 810.5 – –
Chris Wakeland 26 – 100.4 – –
Javier Cardona 25 pre-arb 460.4 0.2 +0.4
Wendell Magee 28 arb 900.3 0.3 +0.2
Dean Palmer 32 FA-elig 570.3 7.5 -7.1
Brian Moehler 29 arb 10.2 2.4 -2.0
Adam Pettyjohn 24 – 160.2 – –
Mike Rivera 24 – 40.2 – –
Matt Miller 26 – 130.1 – –
Todd Jones↔ MIN 33 FA-elig 450.1 2.6 -2.5
Mark Redman↔ MIN 27 pre-arb 20.0 0.0 -0.0
Jermaine Clark 24 pre-arb 3-0.0 0.2 -0.2
Kevin Tolar 30 – 9-0.0 – –
Willie Blair 35 – 9-0.0 – –
Matt Perisho 26 arb 30-0.1 0.3 -0.4
Dave Borkowski 24 – 15-0.1 – –
Jarrod Patterson 27 – 13-0.1 – –
Luis Pineda 26 – 16-0.2 – –
Jose Lima↔ HOU 28 FA-elig 18-0.2 3.5 -3.8
Victor Santos 24 – 33-0.2 – –
Adam Bernero 24 – 5-0.3 – –
Brandon Inge 24 pre-arb 79-0.4 0.2 -0.8
Roger Cedeno 26 FA-elig 131-0.4 2.7 -3.3
Billy McMillon↔ OAK 29 arb 20-0.5 0.1 -0.9
Juan Encarnacion 25 arb 120-0.6 4.4 -5.4
Deivi Cruz 28 arb 110-0.6 3.5 -4.5
Ryan Jackson 29 arb 79-0.6 0.2 -1.3
C.J. Nitkowski↔ NYM 28 FA-elig 56-0.7 1.1 -2.2
Nate Cornejo 21 – 10-0.7 – –
Heath Murray 28 – 40-0.8 – –
Eric Munson 23 – 17-0.8 – –
Dave Mlicki↔ HOU 33 FA-elig 15-0.9 2.3 -3.8

Key additions (new vs 2000)

PlayerfWAR
Chris Holt0.8
Randall Simon0.5
Chris Wakeland0.4
Adam Pettyjohn0.2
Mike Rivera0.2
Matt Miller0.1

Key subtractions (gone from 2000)

Player2000 fWAR
Brad Ausmus3.9
Hideo Nomo2.1
Juan Gonzalez1.7
Doug Brocail0.8
Nelson Cruz0.5
Dusty Allen0.4

Current & Historical Payroll

2001 payroll
$51.8M

What the front office was committed to as of 2001, 2001–2007. 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 (11)

PlayerAgeSvc2001200220032004200520062007
Dean Palmer3212.000$7.5M$8.0M$8.5MFREE AGENT
Bobby Higginson306.000$5.3M$5.8M$11.8M$8.8M$8.8MFREE AGENT
Damion Easley319.000$5.1M$6.2MFREE AGENT
Tony Clark296.000$4.5MFREE AGENT
Jose Lima287.000$3.5M$7.2MFREE AGENT
Roger Cedeno266.000$2.7MFREE AGENT
Todd Jones338.000$2.6MFREE AGENT$5.8M$4.8M
Dave Mlicki339.000$2.3MFREE AGENT
C.J. Nitkowski286.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Steve Sparks366.000$650k$3.0M$3.7MFREE AGENT
Willie Blair3511.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (14)

PlayerAgeSvc2001200220032004200520062007
Juan Encarnacion254.000$4.4MARB 3FREE AGENT
Deivi Cruz284.000$3.5MARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Moehler295.000$2.4MFREE AGENT
Chris Holt295.000$1.9MFREE AGENT
Danny Patterson305.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Shane Halter314.000$420kARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Anderson243.000$355kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Wendell Magee285.000$275kFREE AGENT
Robert Fick273.000$255kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Perisho264.000$255kARB 3FREE AGENT
Ryan Jackson293.000$250kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Billy McMillon295.000$130kFREE AGENT
Heath Murray284.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randall Simon264.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (18)

PlayerAgeSvc2001200220032004200520062007
Jeff Weaver242.000$425kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Macias292.000$240kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Javier Cardona251.000$217kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jermaine Clark240.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brandon Inge240.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Redman272.000$43kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Borkowski242.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Victor Santos240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Eric Munson231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Wakeland26–—
Adam Pettyjohn24–—
Jarrod Patterson27–—
Adam Bernero241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Tolar30–—
Matt Miller260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Luis Pineda260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Nate Cornejo210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Rivera240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Tigers 2001; 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.