Detroit Tigers: 1990’s All-Decade Team

The Detroit Tigers have rarely had entire decades quite as futile as the 1990’s. A look at the best to come out of a bad decade of baseball in the Motor City.

The Detroit Tigers, like most professional baseball teams, are defined by eras. The Ty Cobb era led into the Charlie Gehringer and Hank Greenberg era. The 40’s saw the team win a championship. The 1960’s brought a championship and the rise of Al Kaline, one of the greatest Tigers of all-time. The 1970’s started off strong and began to fade, although the team was led by a cast of miscreants. The 1980’s of course brought Jack Morris, Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker into the limelight, as well as the teams last World Series ring in 1984.

The 1990’s are not remembered with much fondness by Tigers fans, and for good reason. The Tigers went an ugly 702-852 from 1990-1999. They had two seasons (1991 and 1993) with a record above .500. The culmination of the 1990’s teams led to Detroit’s record breaking 2003 season, when they lost 119 games.

However, even the worst decades still have talented players. The 1990’s saw a mix of veteran players left over from the iconic 1984 team, as well as new players that went on to make a name for themselves in the Motor City.

With the Tigers entering a rebuild, we thought it was time to examine a decade that had a fare share of hard to watch baseball. While I believe the Tigers current rebuild will be a short one, it could result in a few bad seasons. Still, there is talent on this roster just like there was talent on the Tigers in the 1990’s.

Here is the all-time 25-man roster compiled of players from the 1990’s. Note: only the statistics the player compiled during the 1990’s will count toward their spot on this roster.

As always, we encourage you all to make predictions. Think about who you think you’ll see on this list. Think we missed anyone, let us know! You can reach us on twitter and facebook.

Left fielder – Tony Phillips

1990’s Stats: .281/.395/.405 120 OPS+ 25.2 bWAR

Tony Phillips signed with the Tigers on December 5, 1989 and was with the team until an April 1995 trade to the California Angels. During that time, Phillips was able to rack up some truly stellar numbers in the Motor City.

Phillips was a machine at drawing walks, as evidenced by his .395 on-base percentage in a Tigers uniform. He was solid when he took a hack as well, hitting .281 with 61 home runs and 70 stolen bases across 2,747 at-bats.

Perhaps the most unique thing about Phillips was his positional versatility. In five seasons in Detroit, Phillips played 70 or more games at second base, third base, left field and right field. He played some shortstop and center field as well. Having a player who could slot into any spot around the diamond was a huge bonus for the Tigers in the early 1990’s. His ability to get on-base nearly 40% of the time did not hurt either.

Phillips was featured as one of the five best African-Americans in Tigers history. His uniqueness as a baseball player will keep his memory alive, even if he played during some of Detroit’s worst seasons as a ballclub.

A switch-hitter with a .395 on-base percentage and above average speed is the perfect player to bat leadoff on our fictional all-1990’s squad. Indeed Phillips spent the majority of his career batting leadoff, one of the few constants in his otherwise nomadic playing career.

Second baseman – Lou Whitaker

1990’s Stats: .277/.379/.464 129 OPS+ 23.4 bWAR

While Lou Whitaker certainly gets remembered more for his time in the 1980’s, he played with the Tigers through 1995. He did not suffer from a late-career collapse either, still boasting a robust 129 OPS+ from 1990-1995. His 1995 season only saw him garner 249 at-bats, but he still managed to slash .293/.372/.518 with 14 home runs and a stellar 129 OPS+.

In fact, Whitaker’s best career season may well have been 1991, when the left-handed hitter posted a .279/.391/.489 slash with 23 home runs, 78 RBI and a career-high 141 OPS+.

Whitaker is an all-around icon in the city of Detroit. He checks in as the second greatest second basemen in Tigers history, and their greatest African-American. His Hall of Fame case more than speaks for itself, although the BBWAA did not think so in 2001, when he fell off the ballot after earning just 3.8% of the vote.

Whitaker retired after the 1995 season, having spent his entire big league career in the Motor City. He finished with 2,369 hits, 244 home runs, 143 stolen bases, a 117 OPS+ and a 74.5 bWAR.

He was a five time all-Star and won the 1978 AL Rookie of the Year.

Although he spent the majority of his career batting leadoff, sweet Lou still logged 2,886 at-bats in the two-hole, posting a .382 OBP. That’s where he will fit in our lineup.

Catcher – Mickey Tettleton

1990’s Stats: .249/.387/.480 135 OPS+ 14.8 bWAR

Mickey Tettleton, like Phillips, was a poster boy for the Moneyball-era long before Billy Beane and the Oakland A’s had adopted the mantra. A career .241 hitter, Tettleton got on base at a .369 clip thanks to 949 career walks which ranks him 143rd all-time.

Tettleton came to the Tigers in a January 1991 trade for relief pitcher Jeff Robinson.

His time with the Tigers, which spanned from 1991-1994, was some of the best of his career. Tettleton posted a  .387 on-base percentage, which was due almost exclusively to his ability to draw a walk. Tettleton led the league with 122 walks in 1992. He had over 100 in 1991 and 1993, and even posted 97 in a strike-shortened 1994 season.

Tettleton could do some damage when he swung the bat as well, which is why he slides in as the All-1990 teams’ number three hitter. Across his four seasons in the Motor City, Tettleton averaged 28 home runs and 83 RBI per season. He won the Silver slugger Award in both 1991 and 1992, and was an All-Star in 1994.

He became a free agent after the 1994 season and signed with the Texas Rangers, where he played until 1997 when at age 36 he decided to call it a career.

Tettleton’s lack of defensive prowess and relatively short career (he didn’t become a big league regular until age 28) kept him from reaching the upper echelon of catchers. Still, he goes down as one of Detroit’s best catchers ever, and checks in as the 34th greatest catcher of all-time according to JAWS.

Designated Hitter – Cecil Fielder

1990’s Stats: .258/.351/.498 126 OPS+ 16.8 bWAR

One of the best power hitters in team history, Cecil Fielder joined the Detroit Tigers in 1990 after a one-year stint in Japan. He made his name known immediately, blasting a career-high 51 home runs in the Motor City.

It was the most home runs in the MLB since George Foster in 1977, and the most in the AL since Roger Maris way back in 1961. Fielder was an All-Star, Silver Slugger Award winner and finished second in MVP voting in 1990. He led the league in home runs, RBI and total bases.

Fielder had a heck of an encore in 1991, blasting a league-leading 44 home runs and 132 RBI. He once again made the All-Star game, won the Silver Slugger award and finished second in MVP voting. Fielder’s power never wavered, as he went on to post home run totals of 35, 30, 28, 31 and 26 before being traded to the New York Yankees for Matt Drews and Ruben Sierra.

Overall, Fielder finished his seven years in Detroit with 245 home runs and 758 RBI. His 245 home runs ranks him sixth in Tigers history, just behind Willie Horton and one spot ahead of Lou Whitaker.

He would have plenty of opportunities to drive in runs as the clean-up hitter in this lineup, following three guys with OBP’s over .370.

Next up is the guy who ended up replacing Fielder at first base in the Motor City.

First Baseman – Tony Clark

1990’s Stats: .277/.355/.502 121 OPS+ 12.2 bWAR

Tony Clark had big shoes to fill when he replaced first baseman Cecil Fielder in 1995. Clark was up to the task however, posting a 121 OPS+ and hitting 156 home runs in a Tigers uniform.

The switch-hitting slugger was drafted second overall by the Tigers in the 1990 draft. He debuted in 1995 and hit .238 with three home runs in 101 at-bats.

Clark posted an ugly .299 OBP in 1996, but managed to blast 27 home runs. Fielder was traded at midseason, putting Clark squarely in the drivers seat as Detroit’s new slugging first baseman.

Clark took off from 1997-1999. He posted three consecutive 30 home run seasons, slashing .282/.365/.510 with a 125 OPS+. Clark collected a 9.5 bWAR in those three seasons, for an average of 3.2 per season.

Clark remained with the Tigers through his All-Star 2001 season. He then spent the next eight seasons playing for five different teams. He hit 95 more home runs to give him 251 for his career.

After calling it quits in 2009, Clark joined the MLBPA in 2010. He ascended into the role of Executive Director of the MLBPA in 2013, a role he still holds today. He became the first former player to hold the role.

Shortstop – Alan Trammell

1990’s Stats: .283/.347/.410 103 OPS+ 15.0 bWAR

Alan Trammell and number seven hitter are not paired together in the same sentence all that often. However, the Hall of Fame shortstop spent the majority of the 1990’s shaking off injuries and old age. As such his numbers, while still very good, are not quite up to the standard he set in the 1980’s.

Trammell played until 1996, although he only had over 400 at-bats twice in the 1990’s. He slashed .283/.347/.410 with 47 home runs, 43 stolen bases and a 103 OPS+. His best season of the decade by far was 1990, when the 32-year-old hit .304 with 14 home runs, 12 stolen bases, a 130 OPS+ and a 6.7 bWAR. He made his final All-Star game that season, and won the Silver Slugger award at shortstop.

Trammell spent the better part of the next five seasons on the disabled list, although he managed to give the fans one more season to be proud of in 1993. That season Trammell slashed .329/.388/.496 with 12 home runs, 12 stolen bases and a 138 OPS+.

Trammell finally called it a career after 1996 at the age of 38. He finished his illustrious career with 2,365 hits, 185 home runs, 236 stolen bases and a 70.4 bWAR. After spending 15 seasons on the BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot, never garnering more than 40.9% of the vote, Trammell was finally inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in December of 2017. He, along with teammate Jack Morris, represent the 1984 Tigers in the Hall.

Third Baseman – Travis Fryman

1990’s Stats: .274/.334/.444 106 OPS+ 27.4 bWAR

Travis Fryman has the distinction of being the most valuable player of the 1990’s in Detroit, by virtue of spending the most time in the Motor City. His 4,792 plate appearances and 27.4 bWAR both led the team during the decade. His 149 home runs were second only to Fielder.

Fryman was drafted by the Tigers in the first round (30th overall) in 1987. He made his big league debut in 1990 and finished sixth in Rookie of the Year voting with a .297 average and nine home runs.

Fryman had 21 home runs and 12 stolen bases in 1991, but really broke out starting in 1992. From 1992-1994 Fryman made three All-Star games and won the 1992 Silver Slugger Award. He was the only shortstop not named Trammell or Cal Ripken to win the Silver Slugger award between 1983-1994. Fryman was playing shortstop in place of the injured Trammell. When Trammell was healthy, Fryman slid over to his natural spot at third base.

Fryman hit 20 or more home runs in five of his eight seasons in Detroit, with over 100 RBI in two of them. He was a four-time All-Star in the Motor City, and posted a 27.4 bWAR. That ranks him 19th in Tigers history, just ahead of Willie Horton and former teammate Tony Phillips.

Fryman was eventually dealt to the Arizona Diamondbacks, who flipped him to the Cleveland Indians less than two weeks later. Fryman finished out his career with the Indians, making one more All-Star game and winning a Gold Glove in 2000.

He finished his career with 223 home runs and a 34.5 bWAR, and is one of the most underrated Tigers stars of all-time.

Center Fielder – Brian Hunter

1990’s Stats: .261/.317/.342 73 OPS+ 3.0 bWAR

Center Field was without a doubt Detroit’s weakest position of the 1990’s. Milt Cuyler led the team in appearances during the decade, but his 2.8 bWAR and .239/.304/.324 slash line was not enough to merit a place on this roster.

Brian Hunter was only with the Tigers for slightly over two seasons, but he made enough of an impact (specifically on the base paths) to merit the starting job on the All-Decade team.

Hunter was originally drafted by the Houston Astros back in 1989. He came to the Tigers in a December 1996 blockbuster. He was traded along with Doug Brocail, Orlando Miller, Todd Jones and cash to the Tigers in exchange for future manager Brad Ausmus, Jose Lima, Trever Miller, C.J. Nitkowski and Daryle Ward.

Hunter started in center field and hit leadoff for the Tigers in 1997, playing in all 162 games. He led the league with 74 stolen bases, although he was caught stealing a league-leading 18 times as well.

Hunter hit .254 and stole 42 bases in 1998, his second and final full season in the Motor City.

After 18 games in 1999, Hunter was shipped to the Seattle Mariners for Andy Van Hekken and Jerry Amador. He played for six teams across the next five seasons, stealing 83 bases but only posting a 61 OPS+.

Even though Hunter only played in 322 games with the Tigers, his 116 stolen bases rank him 15th all time in Tigers history. He didn’t do much with the bat, but his blazing speed and above-average defense in center field are enough for him to fill out the starting lineup for the All-Decade team.

Next up are the bench pieces:

The Bench

There are a lot of ways to construct a 25-man roster. For this team I decided to have a five-man bench, consisting of a catcher, two infielders and two outfielders. These are the players who did not quite make the cut for the starting nine, but were still valuable contributors to Detroit in the 1990’s.

Catcher – Brad Ausmus

Known primarily for his time in Houston, Ausmus made his only All-Star game as a member of the Detroit Tigers in 1999. He hit .275/.365/.415 with nine home runs and 12 stolen bases. He posted an even 100 OPS+ and had a 3.4 bWAR.

Ausmus didn’t spend a lot of time with Detroit in the 1990’s but his All-Star game appearance is enough for him to be crowned the second best catcher of the 1990’s.

Middle Infield – Damion Easley

Crowned one of the ten best second baseman in team history, Easley had a phenomenal three-year run for the Tigers between 1997-1999. He hit 69 home runs and stole 54 bases with a 108 OPS+. He was an All-Star in 1998 and won the Silver Slugger award.

Easley remained with the Tigers through 2002 and bounced around with a handful of other teams until he retired in 2008.

Infield – Deivi Cruz

Cruz gets the nod on the final infield spot by virtue of appearances. His 1,408 at-bats is 600 more than the next highest infielder (Scott Livingstone). Cruz was with the Tigers from 1997-2001 and hit .263 with a 68 OPS+ in the 1990’s. He posted a strong 4.1 dWAR at shortstop however, which helps his value.

Outfield – Rob Deer

Despite only playing in 334 games for the Tigers, Deer is one of the most iconic Tigers of the 1990’s. The first well-known three true outcomes player, Deer became legendary for his penchant for either drawing a walk, hitting a home run, or most often, striking out. He hit 71 home runs and struck out 426 times in his two-plus years in the Motor City.

Outfield/DH – Kirk Gibson

The third member of this team who is more known for the 1980’s than the 1990’s, Gibson returned to Detroit and finished his career out with the Tigers from 1993-1995. He slashed .266/.349/.476 with 45 home runs and a 116 OPS+ while operating primarily as the teams designated hitter. Still, he did play 53 games in center field in the 1990’s, so he will act as this teams backup CF if needed.

The Starting Rotation

For those of you who don’t remember the Detroit Tigers of the 1990’s, you may have taken a look through that starting lineup and thought, “wow that team would be pretty good, why was Detroit so bad in the 1990’s?”. This slide should jog your memory.

Pitching was bad throughout the 1990’s with the steroid era in full reign. Still, Detroit’s rotation for the decade was particularly bad. Here are the five best starters to come out of an ugly, ugly era of Tigers pitching.

Justin Thompson

Thompson was Detroit’s first round pick back in 1991. He was expected to be the next great Tigers starter. While that did not come to fruition, he still finished as Detroit’s best pitcher of the 1990’s – a feat that says more about the state of Detroit’s pitching than anything.

Thompson made an 11 game cameo in 1996 but truly broke out in 1997. He went 15-11 with a 3.02 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and a remarkable 152 ERA+. He was an All-Star at age 24 and looked like a future ace.

Thompson took a step backward in 1998 but was still solid, going 11-15 with a 4.05 ERA and a 116 ERA+. 1999 was ugly, with a 5.11 ERA which led to him getting dealt to the Rangers in a blockbuster that netted the Tigers Juan Gonzalez.

An unfortunate series of injuries meant that Thompson, at age 26 in 1999, would not pitch in the big leagues again until 2005, when he threw 1.2 innings before being done with pro ball for good.

Thompson’s 13.2 bWAR is the highest among Detroit starters from 1990’s.

Brian Moehler

Brian Moehler made 131 career starts for the Tigers, 98 of them in the 1990’s. His 4.50 ERA and 105 ERA+ were decidedly average, but that still makes Moehler the second-best starter of the decade for the Tigers.

His best season was 1998, when Moehler went 14-13 with a 3.90 ERA and a 121 ERA+.

Moehler ended up pitching until 2010, finishing his career with a 4.81 ERA and 84 wins.

David Wells

David Wells made 64 starts for the Detroit Tigers and was their third most valuable pitcher. He posted a 3.78 ERA in the Motor City, with a 1.21 WHIP and a 122 ERA+.

Boomer went on to have a wildly long and successful big league career, throwing in 21 different seasons and going 239-157 with a 4.13 ERA, three All-Star nods and a perfect game in 1999.

Frank Tanana

The left-handed Tanana threw with the Tigers from 1985-1992. His best years were in the 1980’s, but Tanana still made 93 solid starts with the Tigers in the 90’s. He went 35-31 with a 4.44 ERA and was one of Detroit’s better starters in the early part of the decade.

Bill Gullickson

Gullickson was the team’s only 20 game winner of the decade, going 20-9 with a 3.90 ERA in a league-leading 35 starts in 1991. He went 31-27 with a 5.04 ERA and an 85 ERA+ over the next few years however, and was out of baseball after 1994.

Some teams have periods where their bullpen is bad, followed by periods of solid, or even great, bullpen performances. The Tigers seem to have been born into a crappy bullpen, molded by blown saves and ballooned ERA’s.

The 1990’s were no different, as the Tigers saw a cavalcade of bad relievers on the hill in the Motor City for the decade. Here are the six best of the bunch.

LOOGY – Sean Runyan

Runyan led the league in appearances in 1998 with 88, but only threw 50.1 innings. A true LOOGY, he had a 3.54 ERA and a 135 ERA+ for the Tigers from 1998-1999.

Middle – Jerry Don Gleaton

A fellow left-hander, Don Gleaton had a solid season in 1990 (2.94 ERA, 137 ERA+) followed by an average season in 1991 (4.06 ERA, 104 ERA+). That is enough for him to crack the All-1990’s bullpen with a 3.47 ERA in 158 innings.

Middle – Storm Davis

Storm Davis finished out his 13-year career with two seasons in the Motor City. Across 83.1 innings, Davis had a 3.35 ERA and a 139 ERA+ with four saves for the Tigers.

Set-Up – Doug Brocail

Brocail has an argument as the best Tigers reliever of the 1990’s. The right-hander threw 222.2 innings with the team between 1997-1999. He went 12-10 with a 2.83 ERA and a blistering 163 ERA+. He also posted a solid 1.16 WHIP and a 7.8 K/9. Brocail was at his best in the Motor City, although he pitched all the way until age 42 with the Houston Astros in 2009.

Set-Up – Todd Jones

Todd Jones’ 235 saves are the most in Detroit Tigers franchise history. He racked up 89 of them in the 1990’s along with a 3.92 ERA and a 121 ERA+. He played for seven different teams between 2001-2005 before finishing his career out with three seasons and 93 saves for the Tigers from 2006-2008.

Closer – Mike Henneman

Henneman has a case for the best reliever in Tigers history, throwing 669.2 innings of 3.05 ball with 154 saves and a 136 ERA+. He was at the tail end of his career in the 1990’s, but still posted a 3.33 ERA with a 126 ERA+ and 99 saves from 1990-1994. He had 18 saves and a 1.53 ERA in 1995 before getting traded to the Houston Astros for Phil Nevin.

Next: 2006 Tigers: Where are they now?

So there you have it – the Detroit Tiger’s 1990’s All-Decade Team. It wouldn’t hold a candle to the teams of the 1980’s or even the 2000’s, but there was still plenty of talent to go around in the offense-heavy era of the 90’s.

As always, we welcome your feedback. Think there’s someone we missed? Would you order the lineup differently? Let us know!