RRosternomics
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Tigers DET

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GM: Dave Dombrowski

Overview

CONTEND ↗ rising
expensive & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.07× league · TAB +5.3
+5.3TAB — talent above budget7th/30
+12.2WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)4th/30
8.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars10th/30
-2.2dead WAR — sub-replacement drag1st/30
26%dead money %14th/30
0.586win %4th/30
40.3roster fWAR7th/30
-4surplus $M (value vs cost)14th/30
$81Mpayroll $M12th/30

2006: won pennant · 95–67. Ranks are vs the 30 teams that season.

Roster

CFCurtis Granderson 157GBrent Clevlen 13GCraig Monroe 8G
LFCraig Monroe 113GMarcus Thames 54GAlexis Gomez 32G
RFMagglio Ordonez 148GAlexis Gomez 21GBrent Clevlen 13G
SSCarlos Guillén 145GNeifi Perez 28GRamon Santiago 27G
2BPlacido Polanco 108GNeifi Perez 67GOmar Infante 37G
3BBrandon Inge 159GNeifi Perez 11GOmar Infante 7G
1BChris Shelton 115GSean Casey 106GCarlos Guillén 8G
STARTERSJeremy Bonderman 5.5WARJustin Verlander 2.8WARNate Robertson 2.2WARKenny Rogers 2.1WARZach Miner 1.1WAR
CIvan Rodriguez 123GVance Wilson 55G
DHMatt Stairs 82GMarcus Thames 45GDmitri Young 44G
BULLPEN★ Todd Jones 37svJoel Zumaya 30hFernando Rodney 18hJamie Walker 11hJason Grilli 9hRoman Colon 3hBobby Seay 0hJordan Tata 0h
CIvan Rodriguez 123 · Vance Wilson 55
1BChris Shelton 115 · Sean Casey 106 · Carlos Guillén 8
2BPlacido Polanco 108 · Neifi Perez 67 · Omar Infante 37
3BBrandon Inge 159 · Neifi Perez 11 · Omar Infante 7
SSCarlos Guillén 145 · Neifi Perez 28 · Ramon Santiago 27
LFCraig Monroe 113 · Marcus Thames 54 · Alexis Gomez 32
CFCurtis Granderson 157 · Brent Clevlen 13 · Craig Monroe 8
RFMagglio Ordonez 148 · Alexis Gomez 21 · Brent Clevlen 13
DHMatt Stairs 82 · Marcus Thames 45 · Dmitri Young 44
SPJeremy Bonderman 5.5 · Justin Verlander 2.8 · Nate Robertson 2.2 · Kenny Rogers 2.1 · Zach Miner 1.1
BP★ Todd Jones 37 · Joel Zumaya 30 · Fernando Rodney 18 · Jamie Walker 11 · Jason Grilli 9 · Roman Colon 3 · Bobby Seay 0 · Jordan Tata 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.

2006 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Carlos Guillén 30 FA-elig 1535.8 5.0 +6.6
Jeremy Bonderman 23 arb 345.5 2.3 +8.7
Brandon Inge 29 arb 1594.2 3.0 +5.4
Curtis Granderson 25 pre-arb 1594.0 0.3 +7.7
Ivan Rodriguez 34 FA-elig 1362.9 10.6 -4.7
Justin Verlander 23 pre-arb 302.8 1.0 +4.6
Nate Robertson 28 arb 322.2 0.4 +4.0
Kenny Rogers 41 FA-elig 342.1 8.0 -3.9
Joel Zumaya 21 pre-arb 622.0 0.3 +3.6
Marcus Thames 29 arb 1101.7 0.3 +3.0
Magglio Ordonez 32 FA-elig 1551.2 16.2 -13.7
Chris Shelton 26 pre-arb 1151.1 0.4 +1.8
Zach Miner 24 – 271.1 – –
Wilfredo Ledezma 25 – 241.0 0.2 +1.9
Todd Jones 38 FA-elig 621.0 5.8 -3.8
Placido Polanco 30 FA-elig 1100.9 4.6 -2.9
Omar Infante 24 arb 780.8 0.4 +1.2
Vance Wilson 33 FA-elig 560.5 0.8 +0.3
Fernando Rodney 29 arb 630.5 0.4 +0.6
Jamie Walker 34 FA-elig 560.5 1.2 -0.3
Brent Clevlen 22 – 310.4 – –
Alexis Gomez 27 – 620.3 – –
Craig Monroe 29 arb 1470.1 2.8 -2.7
Roman Colon 26 – 200.1 – –
Jordan Tata 24 pre-arb 80.0 0.3 -0.2
Chad Durbin 28 – 30.0 – –
Kevin Hooper 29 – 80.0 – –
Colby Lewis 26 – 2-0.0 – –
Bobby Seay 28 arb 14-0.0 0.4 -0.4
Jason Grilli 29 FA-elig 51-0.0 0.3 -0.4
Mike Rabelo 26 – 1-0.0 – –
Mike Maroth 28 arb 13-0.1 2.3 -2.4
Chris Spurling↔ MIL 29 arb 9-0.1 0.4 -0.5
Andrew Miller 21 – 8-0.1 0.1 -0.3
Ramon Santiago 26 arb 43-0.1 0.4 -0.5
Matt Stairs↔ KCR 38 FA-elig 14-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Jack Hannahan 26 – 3-0.2 0.3 -0.7
Neifi Perez↔ CHC 33 FA-elig 21-0.4 0.5 -1.3
Dmitri Young 32 FA-elig 48-0.5 8.0 -8.9
Sean Casey↔ PIT 31 FA-elig 53-0.7 4.0 -5.4

Key additions (new vs 2005)

PlayerfWAR
Kenny Rogers2.1
Joel Zumaya2.0
Zach Miner1.1
Todd Jones1.0
Brent Clevlen0.4
Jordan Tata0.0

Key subtractions (gone from 2005)

Player2005 fWAR
Jason Johnson2.7
Rondell White1.7
Nook Logan1.6
Kyle Farnsworth1.2
Sean Douglass0.3
Carlos Pena0.3

Current & Historical Payroll

2006 payroll
$81.3M

What the front office was committed to as of 2006, 2006–2012. 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 (14)

PlayerAgeSvc2006200720082009201020112012
Magglio Ordonez329.000$16.2M$13.2M$15.8M$19.0M$17.8M$10.0MFREE AGENT
Ivan Rodriguez3415.000$10.6M$10.6M$8.8MFREE AGENT
Kenny Rogers4117.000$8.0M$8.0M$8.0MFREE AGENT
Dmitri Young3210.000$8.0MFREE AGENT
Todd Jones3813.000$5.8M$4.8M$7.0MFREE AGENT
Carlos Guillén308.000$5.0M$5.0M$12.0M$10.0M$13.0M$12.9MFREE AGENT
Placido Polanco308.000$4.6M$4.6M$4.6M$4.6MFREE AGENT
Sean Casey319.000$4.0M$4.0MFREE AGENT
Jamie Walker349.000$1.2MFREE AGENT
Vance Wilson337.000$750kFREE AGENT
Neifi Perez3310.000$486k$2.5MFREE AGENT
Jason Grilli296.000$350k$395k$357kFREE AGENT
Matt Stairs3814.000$162kFREE AGENT
Chad Durbin287.000—$385kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (13)

PlayerAgeSvc2006200720082009201020112012
Brandon Inge295.000$3.0MFREE AGENT
Craig Monroe295.000$2.8MFREE AGENT
Mike Maroth284.000$2.3MARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeremy Bonderman233.000$2.3MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Spurling293.000$408kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Nate Robertson284.000$402kARB 3FREE AGENT
Omar Infante244.000$385kARB 3FREE AGENT
Fernando Rodney294.000$385kARB 3FREE AGENT
Bobby Seay285.000$375kFREE AGENT
Ramon Santiago264.000$375kARB 3FREE AGENT
Marcus Thames294.000$342kARB 3FREE AGENT
Wilfredo Ledezma253.000$164kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Colby Lewis264.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (13)

PlayerAgeSvc2006200720082009201020112012
Justin Verlander231.000$980kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Shelton262.000$365kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Curtis Granderson252.000$335kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joel Zumaya210.000$327kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jack Hannahan260.000$327kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jordan Tata240.000$327kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Andrew Miller210.000$125kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alexis Gomez27–—
Kevin Hooper29–—
Roman Colon262.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Rabelo260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Zach Miner240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brent Clevlen22–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Tigers 2006; 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.