Detroit Tigers All-Time Team

Detroit is rebuilding - both the city and the baseball team. Let's check in on Los Tigres.

 
Tiger Stadium was the team's home for each of its four World Championship seasons - in 1935, 1945, 1968, and 1984.

The last of those title-winning teams was managed by Hall of Famer Sparky Anderson, who pushed all the right buttons as the '84 Tigers roared out of the gate and went wire-to-wire for the title.

Let's see Sparky's All-Time Tigers lineup card:

Eight Hall of Famers and an 11-time All-Star. This is a well-oiled machine right here.

Lance Parrish, Lou Whitaker, and Sam Crawford would start for two-thirds of the league's All-Time squads. Not here. Cecil Fielder slugged nearly .500 as a Tiger and he ranks sixth in franchise history - among first basemen. Sparky Anderson invited Fielder, Rudy York, and Dick McAuliffe to Spring Training but they couldn't break through.

	Tigers stats	WAR	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
	*Norm Cash	51.7	0.272	0.374	0.488	0.862	139
	Rudy York	29.8	0.282	0.369	0.503	0.873	128
	Cecil Fielder	16.9	0.258	0.351	0.498	0.849	126

There was a much more competitive battle in left field, where Heilmann starts out of position. Can Willie Horton hold on to the backup job?

	Tigers stats	WAR	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
	*Willie Horton	25.9	0.276	0.337	0.472	0.808	127
	Bobby Veach	46.0	0.311	0.370	0.444	0.814	130
	Kirk Gibson	27.7	0.273	0.354	0.480	0.834	125

This might not be a popular pick with longtime Tigers fans, but Bobby Veach deserves a spot here. Detroit will just have to embrace small ball without Horton or Fielder, their 5th- and 6th-leading home run hitters.

Anderson's pitching rotation is rock-solid as well, with four bonafide Hall of Famers on the staff.

Two of Detroit's top-six pitching WAR leaders and the top two winningest hurlers are not present. Could any of them bump Lolich or Morris out of the rotation?

	Tigers stats	WAR	ERA	ERA+	K/BB	WHIP
	*Mickey Lolich	46.7	3.45	105	2.64	1.222
	*Jack Morris	37.7	3.73	108	1.82	1.266
	Tommy Bridges	51.6	3.57	126	1.40	1.368
	Dizzy Trout	44.3	3.20	125	1.23	1.344
	Hooks Dauss	36.6	3.30	102	1.13	1.320
	George Mullin	34.8	2.76	102	1.25	1.270

Bridges and Trout stood out against their pre-integration peers a little more than Lolich and Morris did in their respective eras. It's not enough to steal a spot from Tiger stalwarts and World Series heroes.

No change needed in the bullpen, though Sparky might want to shield franchise saves leader Todd Jones from high-leverage situations. Hiller, Henneman, and Hernandez are all less hittable.

The Tigers All-Time roster is as locked in as any we've seen so far. Detroit has built a pipeline of top-five draft picks but none have panned out as of yet. Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene could blossom into superstars one day, but they'd still have a tough time claiming a spot here.

 

TL; DR: One change from the original roster. Horton out, Veach in.

 

We've got two more teams in the AL Central, and then I'm going to give away some cards. Come back Tuesday for the Kansas City Royals (or come back tomorrow for some random hockey talk.) 

Thanks for reading!



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