Detroit Tigers: Winners and losers from the 2017 season

Detroit Tigers fans endured a rough 2017 season. With the offseason close to kicking off in earnest, here’s a look back at the team’s winners and losers from the past year.

Detroit Tigers players didn’t have the best season this year.

What started out with so much hope given Detroit’s veteran performers, eventually crashed and burned down the stretch.

It was a perfect storm of inconsistencies, injuries as well as the inability to win games.

J.D. Martinez missed significant time early, Francisco Rodriguez imploded, Anibal Sanchez and Jordan Zimmermann struggled to find consistency, Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez were hampered by injuries, Matthew Boyd and Daniel Norris regressed somewhat, Ian Kinsler struggled at times at the dish, and the list goes on.

By the end of the season, the Tigers were sending out an extremely inexperienced rotation backed up by a largely untested bullpen and a struggling offense.

While there were negatives aplenty to be had following a down year in which the team finished with the worst record in Major League Baseball, there were also definite positives to be had as the franchise looks to the future.

Here is a look at the Detroit Tigers winners and losers from the 2017 season.

Loser: Contending in the short term

Again, this isn’t a person, player or any employee of the Detroit Tigers.

Still, Detroit struggled at times in the first half of the 2017 season before beginning to trade off pieces.

Outfielder J.D. Martinez went in mid-July, while closer Justin Wilson and catcher Alex Avila were dealt at the July non-waiver trade deadline.

Major League Baseball’s other trade deadline, the one on August 31^st, also saw the Tigers move key contributors.

This time, outfielder Justin Upton and longtime ace Justin Verlander were traded in the span of mere hours as the month of August came to a close.

Rebuilding

The moves represent Detroit’s full full-on rebuild in more than a decade.

There was the offseason between the 2009 and 2010 seasons that saw Placido Polanco, Fernando Rodney and Marcus Thames depart via free agency.

That offseason also saw Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson traded as part of a three-team trade.

However, the Granderson deal netted Detroit Max Scherzer, Austin Jackson and Phil Coke.

With Scherzer developing into a Cy Young winner and Jackson turning in a 11.8 WAR in his first three seasons in center field, the team quickly vaulted back into contention.

Things are different this time around.

Detroit’s impact talent is still developing in the minors.

In a perfect world, the Tigers will be able to surprise some people next year and play above their punching weight.

That being said, the short-term effect of the trades could leave the on-field product as less than desirable.

Winner: Mikie Mahtook

A first-round pick of the Tampa Bay Rays in 2011, Mikie Mahtook turned in a stellar 41-game debut with the franchise in 2015.

In 115 plate appearances the outfielder hit .295 with a .351 on-base percentage, a .619 slugging percentage, a .970 OPS, a .324 ISO and a 167 wRC+. He also added 19 RBI, nine home runs, five doubles, four stolen bases and a triple.

Then 2016 happened.

Mahtook appeared in 65 games, seeing 196 plate appearances. He hit just .195 with a .523 OPS and just 12 extra-base hits. His wRC+ that year? 39.

Already sharing an outfield with Kevin Kiermaier, Steven Souza Jr. and Corey Dickerson, the Rays went out and added Mallex Smith to the mix, giving Mahtook more competition.

The Tigers pounced on the situation and added the outfielder via trade. Detroit gave up relief pitching prospect Drew Smith in the deal.

Sustained succes

Eventually, Mahtook was able to establish himself as the everyday center fielder in the Motor City, and he showed why he was a first-round pick at the plate.

The LSU product batted .276 with a .787 OPS.

While he didn’t hit at the unsustainable pace (.351 ISO and 167 wRC+) from 2015, Mahtook was markedly better than what he showed in 2016 with Tampa Bay.

The outfielder notched a 107 wRC+, a .335 wOBA and a .181 ISO. He added value on the base paths with a 3.2 BsR and six stolen bases.

What’s more, Mahtook filled up the stat sheet—as it were—in a number of different ways with 50 runs, 38 RBI, 15 doubles, 12 home runs, six triples and the aforementioned six steals in 379 plate appearances.

Moving forward, the ex-Rays player looks like a definite starter for the Detroit Tigers.

Loser: Tyler Collins

On the flip side of Mahtook establishing himself as an outfield solution was Tyler Collins.

The corner outfielder has showed glimpses of being able to contribute with a blend of power and speed in the past, but he couldn’t put it all together in 2017.

In 169 plate appearances, Collins turned in a .278 on-base percentage, a 62 wRC+, a 32.5 strikeout percentage and a -0.2 WAR.

The former sixth-round pick was actually an above-average defender from a metrics standpoint in center field last season.

Collins played in 199.2 innings in center field for the Tigers in 2017, registering a 19.4 UZR/150 and a +4 DRS.

For a Tigers team that struggled to find defensive solutions in the outfield, even that wasn’t enough to save the out-of-options Collins.

Outfield options

He was designated for assignment and passed up on the organizational depth chart by the likes of Mahtook, Nicholas Castellanos, JaCoby Jones, Alex Presley, and Jim Adduci.

Utility ace Andrew Romine saw increased playing time in the outfield as well.

While Collins was brought back up to the roster in September when the team needed an extra outfielder due to injuries, he may find it difficult to hang on to a 40-man roster spot long-term.

Things could obviously change if he produces a the plate in 2018, but top outfield prospects Christin Stewart and Mike Gerber will likely debut with the team at some point next season.

The team will need to make room for the duo and alleviate the log jam in the outfield grass.

Winner: Jeimer Candelario

The Detroit Tigers performance in September 2017 was unequivocally bad. Just bad. Whatever synonym you want to use, it wasn’t great.

A -76 run differential and just six total wins will do that for you.

While the team was unequivocally bad, one thing that was unequivocally good was the emergence of Jeimer Candelario at third base.

Taking over for Nicholas Castellanos at the hot corner, Candelario established himself as the third baseman for long haul, not to mention a presence in the middle of Detroit’s lineup.

The ex-Cub hit .330 with a .406 on-base percentage, a .468 slugging percentage, a .379 wOBA and a 137 wRC+.

Candelario probably isn’t going to perform at that level offensively as his .392 BABIP seems a bit unsustainable.

Still, his offensive showing was extremely encouraging, as was his eye at the dish. The third baseman logged an 11.3 walk rate while striking out just 17 percent of the time.

Fielding

While Candelario didn’t play Gold-Glove caliber defense down the stretch, he seemed to be a significant upgrade over Castellanos in a smaller sample size.

Candelario 2017 defensive stats at third: -1.6 defensive runs above average, -7 DRS, -19.0 UZR/150.

Castellanos 2017 defensive stats at third: -5.9 defensive runs above average, -14 DRS, -7.8 UZR/150.

Any kind of additional improvement from Candelario at the plate and in the field will only benefit the Detroit Tigers down the line.

It will be worth watching to see what he can do with a full season’s worth of plate appearances in the Majors next year.

Losers: Most veterans in the bullpen

The words “Detroit Tigers bullpen” and “youth movement” are starting to become synonymous.

With Francisco Rodriguez and Justin Wilson now departed, Shane Greene and Alex Wilson are likely the only veterans assured of bullpen roles heading into Spring Training 2018.

Sure, pitchers like Blaine Hardy, Bruce Rondon, Jeff Ferrell and Kyle Ryan could claim spots on the team, but at this point it may be more prudent to hand those relief innings to younger pitchers.

It certainly didn’t help that none of the aforementioned group established themselves as factors in the bullpen the same way Daniel Stumpf did in 2017.

The future is now in the bullpen for the Detroit Tigers

Joe Jimenez, Jairo Labourt and Zac Reininger all debuted in 2017 and should be back next season, as should Victor Alcantara.

Elsewhere, Bryan Garcia rocketed through Detroit’s minor league system over the course of the last year, going from Single-A West Michigan to Triple-A Toledo.

The 2016 sixth-round pick allowed just 36 hits, 22 walks and 13 earned runs in 55 innings, striking out 78 of the 216 batters he faced.

It wouldn’t have been a shock to see him in September given his production. He could potentially be in the bullpen mix early next season.

Potential 2018 call ups

Other relievers in the high minors who could transition to the Majors include Adam Ravenelle, fellow 2016 draft pick Mark Ecker and Paul Voelker.

Voelker seems like the best bet to make it first purely based on the fact that he reached Toledo to finish the year while the other two wrapped things up with Double-A Erie.

Regardless, Detroit has a number of young arms coming through the system, and could conceivably opt to cut ties with some veterans to make room on the 40-man roster.

Next: Free agent Howie Kendrick is the perfect fit for the rebuilding Tigers

The Tigers could also have starting pitchers like Long, Hall or Burrows begin their respective Major League careers out of the bullpen a la Josh Hader or Chris Sale, furthering the need for open roster spots.