RRosternomics
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Tigers DET

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GM: Randy Smith

Overview

REBUILD ↘ cooling
cheap & losing · year 2 in this regime · payroll 0.8× league · TAB -21.5
-21.5TAB — talent above budget30th/30
-23.5WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)30th/30
3.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars27th/30
-11.7dead WAR — sub-replacement drag30th/30
60%dead money %29th/30
0.342win %29th/30
9.9roster fWAR30th/30
-38surplus $M (value vs cost)28th/30
$53Mpayroll $M19th/30

Roster

CFWendell Magee 78GGeorge Lombard 40GHiram Bocachica 30G
LFBobby Higginson 117GGeorge Lombard 29GHiram Bocachica 20G
RFRobert Fick 140GJacob Cruz 9GWendell Magee 9G
SSShane Halter 81GRamon Santiago 63GOmar Infante 16G
2BDamion Easley 84GDamian Jackson 56GOscar Salazar 6G
3BChris Truby 120GCraig Paquette 49GShane Halter 30G
1BCarlos Pena 113GRandall Simon 59GDmitri Young 15G
STARTERSMark Redman 4.0WARMike Maroth 2.4WARSteve Sparks 1.2WARAndy Van Hekken 0.5WARSeth Greisinger 0.4WAR
CBrandon Inge 94GMike Rivera 37GMatt Walbeck 27G
DHRandall Simon 65GDmitri Young 35GJacob Cruz 14G
BULLPEN★ Juan Acevedo 28svOscar Henriquez 9hJulio Santana 7hJose Paniagua 7hJamie Walker 5hJeff Farnsworth 2hFernando Rodney 0hMatt Anderson 0h
CBrandon Inge 94 · Mike Rivera 37 · Matt Walbeck 27
1BCarlos Pena 113 · Randall Simon 59 · Dmitri Young 15
2BDamion Easley 84 · Damian Jackson 56 · Oscar Salazar 6
3BChris Truby 120 · Craig Paquette 49 · Shane Halter 30
SSShane Halter 81 · Ramon Santiago 63 · Omar Infante 16
LFBobby Higginson 117 · George Lombard 29 · Hiram Bocachica 20
CFWendell Magee 78 · George Lombard 40 · Hiram Bocachica 30
RFRobert Fick 140 · Jacob Cruz 9 · Wendell Magee 9
DHRandall Simon 65 · Dmitri Young 35 · Jacob Cruz 14
SPMark Redman 4.0 · Mike Maroth 2.4 · Steve Sparks 1.2 · Andy Van Hekken 0.5 · Seth Greisinger 0.4
BP★ Juan Acevedo 28 · Oscar Henriquez 9 · Julio Santana 7 · Jose Paniagua 7 · Jamie Walker 5 · Jeff Farnsworth 2 · Fernando Rodney 0 · Matt Anderson 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.

2002 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Mark Redman 28 arb 304.0 0.3 +6.6
Jeff Weaver↔ NYY 25 arb 173.2 1.2 +4.2
Mike Maroth 24 – 212.4 – –
Robert Fick 28 arb 1481.8 1.1 +1.9
Shane Halter 32 arb 1221.3 1.5 +0.8
Steve Sparks 37 FA-elig 321.2 3.0 -1.0
Damion Easley 32 FA-elig 851.0 6.2 -4.5
Juan Acevedo 32 FA-elig 650.9 0.8 +0.8
Bobby Higginson 31 FA-elig 1190.9 5.8 -4.3
Damian Jackson 28 FA-elig 810.8 0.6 +0.8
Omar Infante 20 – 180.6 – –
Ramon Santiago 22 – 650.6 0.3 +0.8
Andy Van Hekken 22 – 50.5 – –
Seth Greisinger 26 – 80.4 – –
Brian Moehler↔ CIN 30 FA-elig 30.3 0.6 -0.0
Carlos Pena↔ OAK 24 pre-arb 750.3 0.1 +0.3
Franklyn German 22 – 70.2 – –
Nate Cornejo 22 pre-arb 90.2 0.2 +0.1
Jacob Cruz 29 FA-elig 350.2 0.4 -0.0
Eric Eckenstahler 25 – 70.2 – –
Mitch Meluskey 28 arb 80.1 0.3 -0.1
Ryan Jackson 30 – 40.1 – –
Adam Bernero 25 – 280.1 – –
Jason Beverlin↔ CLE 28 – 30.1 – –
Oscar Salazar 24 – 80.0 – –
Erik Sabel 27 – 10.0 – –
Jason Jimenez↔ TBR 26 – 1-0.0 – –
George Lombard 26 – 72-0.0 – –
Danny Patterson 31 FA-elig 6-0.0 1.7 -1.7
Jose Lima 29 FA-elig 20-0.0 7.2 -7.3
Fernando Rodney 25 – 20-0.0 – –
Kris Keller 24 – 1-0.1 – –
Brian Powell 28 – 13-0.1 – –
Matt Anderson 25 arb 12-0.1 1.8 -2.0
Dmitri Young 28 FA-elig 54-0.1 5.5 -5.7
Brandon Inge 25 – 95-0.1 0.3 -0.5
Terry Pearson 30 pre-arb 4-0.1 0.2 -0.4
Jeff Farnsworth 26 pre-arb 44-0.1 0.2 -0.4
Matt Miller 27 pre-arb 2-0.2 0.2 -0.5
Jamie Walker 30 – 57-0.2 – –
Matt Perisho 27 – 5-0.2 – –
Shane Loux 22 – 3-0.2 – –
Oscar Henriquez 28 – 30-0.2 – –
Dean Palmer 33 FA-elig 4-0.3 8.0 -8.5
Mike Rivera 25 pre-arb 39-0.3 0.2 -0.8
Eric Munson 24 – 18-0.3 – –
Matt Walbeck 32 – 27-0.3 – –
Julio Santana 28 – 38-0.5 – –
Craig Monroe 25 – 13-0.5 – –
Jose Paniagua 28 FA-elig 41-0.6 1.3 -2.3
Andres Torres 24 – 19-0.6 – –
Jose Macias↔ WSN 30 arb 33-0.6 0.1 -1.1
Hiram Bocachica↔ LAD 26 pre-arb 34-0.7 0.1 -1.4
Randall Simon 27 arb 130-0.8 0.3 -1.6
Wendell Magee 29 FA-elig 97-0.9 0.4 -2.0
Chris Truby↔ WSN 28 pre-arb 89-1.7 0.2 -3.0
Craig Paquette 33 FA-elig 72-1.9 2.1 -5.3

Key additions (new vs 2001)

PlayerfWAR
Mike Maroth2.4
Juan Acevedo0.9
Damian Jackson0.8
Omar Infante0.6
Ramon Santiago0.6
Andy Van Hekken0.5

Key subtractions (gone from 2001)

Player2001 fWAR
Tony Clark1.7
Chris Holt0.8
Chris Wakeland0.4
Javier Cardona0.4
Adam Pettyjohn0.2
Todd Jones0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

2002 payroll
$52.6M

What the front office was committed to as of 2002, 2002–2008. 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 (15)

PlayerAgeSvc2002200320042005200620072008
Dean Palmer3313.000$8.0M$8.5MFREE AGENT
Jose Lima298.000$7.2MFREE AGENT
Damion Easley3210.000$6.2MFREE AGENT
Bobby Higginson317.000$5.8M$11.8M$8.8M$8.8MFREE AGENT
Dmitri Young286.000$5.5M$6.8M$7.8M$8.0M$8.0MFREE AGENT
Steve Sparks377.000$3.0M$3.7MFREE AGENT
Craig Paquette339.000$2.1M$2.6MFREE AGENT
Danny Patterson316.000$1.7M$2.5M$2.8MFREE AGENT
Jose Paniagua286.000$1.3MFREE AGENT
Juan Acevedo327.000$850kFREE AGENT
Damian Jackson286.000$625kFREE AGENT
Brian Moehler306.000$554kFREE AGENT
Wendell Magee296.000$425kFREE AGENT
Jacob Cruz296.000$400kFREE AGENT
Matt Walbeck329.000—$400kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (15)

PlayerAgeSvc2002200320042005200620072008
Matt Anderson254.000$1.8MARB 3FREE AGENT
Shane Halter325.000$1.5MFREE AGENT
Jeff Weaver253.000$1.2MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Robert Fick284.000$1.1MARB 3FREE AGENT
Mitch Meluskey284.000$345kARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Redman283.000$300kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randall Simon275.000$290kFREE AGENT
Jose Macias303.000$101kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Oscar Henriquez285.000—FREE AGENT
Matt Perisho275.000—FREE AGENT
Julio Santana285.000—FREE AGENT
Jamie Walker305.000—FREE AGENT
Ryan Jackson304.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Seth Greisinger264.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Powell284.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (27)

PlayerAgeSvc2002200320042005200620072008
Brandon Inge251.000$300kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ramon Santiago220.000$300kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Nate Cornejo221.000$218kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Miller271.000$202kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Rivera251.000$200kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Farnsworth260.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Terry Pearson300.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Truby282.000$194kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Carlos Pena241.000$132kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Hiram Bocachica262.000$92kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
George Lombard26–—
Erik Sabel27–—
Kris Keller24–—
Eric Munson242.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Adam Bernero252.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Oscar Salazar240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Shane Loux220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Maroth240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Andres Torres240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Craig Monroe251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Andy Van Hekken22–—
Fernando Rodney250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Beverlin28–—
Franklyn German220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Omar Infante200.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Jimenez26–—
Eric Eckenstahler25–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Tigers 2002; 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.