Rosternomics
𝕏

Tigers DET

Switch team:

GM: Dave Dombrowski (since 2003)

2011 roster — every player, value & surplus

‹ Prev Next ›
+11.0
WAB — wins above budget
+4.1
TAB — roster Talent above budget
95–67 (0.586)
record · made playoffs
-13M
surplus $M (value/$)
40.3
roster fWAR
$111.5M
payroll
PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Miguel Cabrera 28 FA-elig 161 6.6 20.0 -4.0
Justin Verlander 28 FA-elig 34 6.4 12.8 +2.9
Alex Avila 24 pre-arb 141 5.0 0.4 +11.9
Jhonny Peralta 29 FA-elig 146 4.8 5.2 +6.4
Austin Jackson 24 pre-arb 153 2.5 0.4 +5.6
Rick Porcello 22 pre-arb 31 2.3 1.5 +4.1
Doug Fister↔ SEA 27 pre-arb 11 2.3 0.2 +5.4
Max Scherzer 26 arb 33 2.2 0.6 +4.9
Victor Martinez 32 FA-elig 145 1.8 12.0 -7.5
Phil Coke 28 arb 48 1.7 0.4 +3.6
Brennan Boesch 26 pre-arb 115 1.6 0.4 +3.4
Ramon Santiago 31 FA-elig 101 1.3 1.4 +1.7
Al Alburquerque 25 – 41 1.2 0.4 +2.6
Joaquín Benoit 33 FA-elig 66 1.2 5.5 -2.7
Ryan Raburn 30 FA-elig 121 1.0 1.3 +1.3
Jose Valverde 33 FA-elig 75 0.9 7.0 -4.7
Casper Wells↔ SEA 26 pre-arb 64 0.9 0.3 +1.8
Wilson Betemit↔ KCR 29 FA-elig 40 0.5 0.4 +0.8
Don Kelly 31 arb 113 0.4 0.4 +0.5
Brad Penny 33 FA-elig 31 0.2 3.0 -2.5
Andy Dirks 25 – 78 0.2 0.4 +0.1
Ryan Perry 24 pre-arb 36 0.2 0.4 -0.0
Scott Sizemore↔ OAK 26 arb 17 0.2 0.1 +0.3
Duane Below 25 pre-arb 14 0.1 0.4 -0.1
Luis Marte 24 pre-arb 4 0.1 0.4 -0.2
Lester Oliveros↔ MIN 23 – 9 0.0 0.2 -0.1
Robbie Weinhardt 25 – 2 0.0 – –
Delmon Young↔ MIN 25 arb 40 -0.0 1.7 -1.7
Brad Thomas 33 FA-elig 12 -0.1 0.8 -0.9
Adam Wilk 23 pre-arb 5 -0.1 0.4 -0.6
Enrique Gonzalez 28 arb 8 -0.1 0.4 -0.7
Jacob Turner 20 pre-arb 3 -0.1 1.2 -1.5
Danny Worth 25 pre-arb 30 -0.2 0.4 -0.8
Omir Santos 30 – 11 -0.2 – –
Brayan Villarreal 24 pre-arb 16 -0.2 0.4 -1.0
David Purcey↔ OAK 29 arb 19 -0.2 0.3 -0.8
Charlie Furbush↔ SEA 25 – 17 -0.2 0.3 -0.8
Chance Ruffin↔ SEA 22 – 2 -0.3 0.1 -0.7
Will Rhymes 28 pre-arb 29 -0.3 0.4 -1.1
Carlos Guillén 35 FA-elig 28 -0.3 12.9 -13.6
Andy Oliver 23 pre-arb 2 -0.3 0.4 -1.2
David Pauley↔ SEA 28 arb 14 -0.3 0.1 -0.9
Daniel Schlereth 25 pre-arb 49 -0.4 0.4 -1.3
Brandon Inge 34 FA-elig 102 -0.6 5.5 -6.9
Magglio Ordonez 37 FA-elig 92 -1.3 10.0 -13.1

45 players appeared (WAR is complete); salary & surplus are on record for 43 of them (96%). 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.