RRosternomics
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Tigers DET

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GM: Al Avila

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 3 in this regime · payroll 1.29× league · TAB -13.4
-13.4TAB — talent above budget27th/30
-21.2WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)29th/30
6.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars18th/30
-7.2dead WAR — sub-replacement drag25th/30
36%dead money %15th/30
0.395win %29th/30
23.9roster fWAR24th/30
-88surplus $M (value vs cost)28th/30
$168Mpayroll $M9th/30

Roster

CFMikie Mahtook 67GJaCoby Jones 51GTyler Collins 26G
LFMikie Mahtook 19GAndrew Romine 18GAlex Presley 13G
RFAlex Presley 36GJames Adduci 26GMikie Mahtook 25G
SSJose Iglesias 130GDixon Machado 32GAndrew Romine 10G
2BIan Kinsler 135GAndrew Romine 27GDixon Machado 27G
3BNick Castellanos 129GJeimer Candelario 36GAndrew Romine 23G
1BMiguel Cabrera 115GJohn Hicks 26GAndrew Romine 22G
STARTERSMichael Fulmer 3.6WARMatthew Boyd 2.1WARDaniel Norris 1.4WARJordan Zimmermann 1.2WARAníbal Sánchez 0.5WAR
CJames McCann 103GJohn Hicks 18GBryan Holaday 11G
DHVictor Martinez 104GMiguel Cabrera 14GJohn Hicks 12G
BULLPEN★ Shane Greene 9svAlex Wilson 17hDaniel Stumpf 9hBlaine Hardy 6hDrew VerHagen 5hWarwick Saupold 2hChad Bell 1hFrancisco Rodríguez 0h
CJames McCann 103 · John Hicks 18 · Bryan Holaday 11
1BMiguel Cabrera 115 · John Hicks 26 · Andrew Romine 22
2BIan Kinsler 135 · Andrew Romine 27 · Dixon Machado 27
3BNick Castellanos 129 · Jeimer Candelario 36 · Andrew Romine 23
SSJose Iglesias 130 · Dixon Machado 32 · Andrew Romine 10
LFMikie Mahtook 19 · Andrew Romine 18 · Alex Presley 13
CFMikie Mahtook 67 · JaCoby Jones 51 · Tyler Collins 26
RFAlex Presley 36 · James Adduci 26 · Mikie Mahtook 25
DHVictor Martinez 104 · Miguel Cabrera 14 · John Hicks 12
SPMichael Fulmer 3.6 · Matthew Boyd 2.1 · Daniel Norris 1.4 · Jordan Zimmermann 1.2 · Aníbal Sánchez 0.5
BP★ Shane Greene 9 · Alex Wilson 17 · Daniel Stumpf 9 · Blaine Hardy 6 · Drew VerHagen 5 · Warwick Saupold 2 · Chad Bell 1 · Francisco Rodríguez 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.

2017 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Justin Upton↔ ANA 29 FA-elig 1253.8 18.2 -5.3
Michael Fulmer 24 pre-arb 253.6 0.6 +11.5
Justin Verlander↔ HOU 34 FA-elig 283.1 23.8 -13.3
Ian Kinsler 35 FA-elig 1392.5 11.0 -2.5
Matthew Boyd 26 pre-arb 262.1 0.5 +6.5
Nick Castellanos 25 arb 1572.1 3.0 +4.0
J.D. Martinez↔ ARI 29 FA-elig 571.7 5.6 +0.2
Daniel Norris 24 arb 221.4 0.5 +4.0
Alex Avila↔ CHC 30 FA-elig 771.3 1.4 +3.1
Mikie Mahtook 27 pre-arb 1091.3 0.5 +3.7
Jordan Zimmermann 31 FA-elig 291.2 18.0 -14.0
Jose Iglesias 27 FA-elig 1301.0 4.1 -0.6
Justin Wilson↔ CHC 29 arb 420.9 1.7 +1.4
Shane Greene 28 arb 710.7 0.6 +1.9
Jeimer Candelario↔ CHC 23 pre-arb 270.7 0.1 +2.2
James McCann 27 arb 1060.7 0.6 +1.7
John Hicks 27 pre-arb 600.6 0.3 +1.8
Aníbal Sánchez 33 FA-elig 280.5 16.8 -15.1
Alex Wilson 30 arb 660.5 1.2 +0.4
Alex Presley 31 arb 710.4 0.4 +0.9
Buck Farmer 26 pre-arb 110.3 0.2 +1.0
Bruce Rondón 26 arb 210.3 0.8 +0.1
James Adduci 32 – 290.2 – –
Daniel Stumpf 26 arb 550.1 0.4 +0.1
Efren Navarro 31 pre-arb 230.1 0.1 +0.2
Artie Lewicki 25 – 40.1 0.1 +0.1
Matthew den Dekker 29 – 40.0 – –
William Cuevas 26 – 1-0.0 0.0 -0.0
Jairo Labourt 23 – 6-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Arcenio Leon 30 – 6-0.0 0.0 -0.1
Victor Alcántara 24 – 6-0.1 0.1 -0.3
Jeff Ferrell 26 pre-arb 11-0.1 0.1 -0.4
Kyle Ryan 25 arb 8-0.1 0.5 -1.0
Zac Reininger 24 – 10-0.2 0.1 -0.6
Joe Jiménez 22 – 24-0.2 0.2 -0.8
Dixon Machado 25 pre-arb 73-0.2 0.5 -1.2
Bryan Holaday 29 arb 13-0.2 0.1 -0.7
Blaine Hardy 30 pre-arb 35-0.2 0.3 -1.0
Myles Jaye 25 – 5-0.3 0.1 -1.1
Edward Mujica 33 FA-elig 5-0.3 0.0 -1.0
Chad Bell 28 pre-arb 28-0.3 0.4 -1.4
Warwick Saupold 27 pre-arb 45-0.3 0.4 -1.5
Miguel Cabrera 34 FA-elig 130-0.4 28.0 -29.3
Drew VerHagen 26 pre-arb 24-0.5 0.2 -1.8
Andrew Romine 31 FA-elig 124-0.6 1.3 -3.3
Francisco Rodríguez 35 FA-elig 28-0.7 6.0 -8.4
JaCoby Jones 25 pre-arb 56-0.8 0.5 -3.2
Tyler Collins 27 arb 49-0.8 0.5 -3.4
Victor Martinez 38 FA-elig 107-0.9 18.0 -21.0

Key additions (new vs 2016)

PlayerfWAR
Alex Avila1.3
Mikie Mahtook1.3
Jeimer Candelario0.7
James Adduci0.2
Daniel Stumpf0.1
Efren Navarro0.1

Key subtractions (gone from 2016)

Player2016 fWAR
Cameron Maybin2.0
Erick Aybar0.2
Dustin Molleken0.1
Logan Kensing0.0
Joe Mantiply-0.1
Bobby Parnell-0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

2017 payroll
$168.0M
2018 guaranteed
$0M

What the front office was committed to as of 2017, 2017–2023. Guaranteed $ are contract commitments signed by 2017; arbitration & free-agent years are projected from service time. Hover a figure for its luxury-tax (CBT) & actual-cash values.

current $ guaranteed $ arbitration (proj) pre-arb (proj) free agent club option player option mutual option vesting option

Guaranteed / signed (10)

PlayerAgeSvc2017201820192020202120222023
Miguel Cabrera3413.101$28.0MFREE AGENT
Justin Verlander3411.002$23.8MFREE AGENT
Justin Upton299.060$18.2MFREE AGENT
Victor Martinez3813.114$18.0MFREE AGENT
Jordan Zimmermann317.154$18.0MFREE AGENT
Aníbal Sánchez3310.099$16.8MFREE AGENT
Ian Kinsler3511.000$11.0MFREE AGENT
Francisco Rodríguez3513.115$6.0MFREE AGENT
Alex Avila307.061$1.4MFREE AGENT
Edward Mujica338.115$34kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (12)

PlayerAgeSvc2017201820192020202120222023
J.D. Martinez295.036$5.6MFREE AGENT
Jose Iglesias274.036$4.1MARB 3FREE AGENT
Nick Castellanos253.029$3.0MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Justin Wilson294.035$1.7MARB 3FREE AGENT
Andrew Romine314.049$1.3MARB 3FREE AGENT
Alex Wilson303.038$1.2MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bruce Rondón263.037$850kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alex Presley313.100$371kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Daniel Stumpf263.037$354kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bryan Holaday293.025$91kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
James Adduci324.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matthew den Dekker294.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (27)

PlayerAgeSvc2017201820192020202120222023
James McCann272.028$552kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Michael Fulmer240.157$552kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Shane Greene282.075$551kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kyle Ryan251.113$546kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Daniel Norris241.073$546kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tyler Collins271.080$545kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matthew Boyd260.169$544kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mikie Mahtook271.011$541kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dixon Machado250.075$538kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
JaCoby Jones250.034$536kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Warwick Saupold271.035$406kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chad Bell280.129$380kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Hicks270.069$289kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Blaine Hardy302.037$275kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Jiménez220.000$219kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Drew VerHagen261.078$205kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Buck Farmer261.031$152kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Ferrell260.040$143kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Zac Reininger240.000$114kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Efren Navarro311.072$91kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jairo Labourt23–$91k
Myles Jaye25–$88k
Artie Lewicki250.000$85kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Victor Alcántara240.000$79kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeimer Candelario230.006$66kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Arcenio Leon30–$41k
William Cuevas26–$6k

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Tigers 2017; 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.