Detroit Tigers: Best January Moves Since 2000

A look at the Detroit Tigers’ most impactful January roster moves.

Traditionally speaking, the Detroit Tigers aren’t a very active team in January. Since 2000 the club has made an average of five moves each January, and the vast majority of them were temporary signings of fringe big leaguers with spring training invites attached.

This isn’t necessarily unusual across baseball. Many teams get aggressive with trades or signings in November and December, while the top free agents often let the process play out until February or even March. Perhaps we’ll see a flurry of activity over the next two weeks, given more than 80% of free agents remain unsigned, but we’re not holding our breath.

It’s hard to provide baseball content when nothing is happening, but it does give us a chance to reflect on the past, as Sebastian has done in his great Al Kaline retrospectives, or Rogelio did with his look back at Brian Moehler’s infamous sandpaper incident.

Who knows, maybe in 20 years fans will look back at the signing of Robbie Grossman, or the upcoming additions of international prospects as hugely impactful moments for the franchise. But for now, let’s take a look back at the most impactful and newsworthy January moves by the Detroit Tigers over the last 20 years.

January 19, 2010  – Detroit Tigers sign José Valverde

Seasons with the Detroit Tigers: 4
Career WAR with the Detroit Tigers: 3.6

It can be hard to remember the positives about a player when the end of his career goes so poorly (see Joe Nathan, Francisco Rodriguez, etc.), but for a few seasons José Valverde was a very effective closer for the Detroit Tigers. A strong group of relievers helped the 2006 Tigers make the World Series, but by 2009 the bullpen was in shambles. Todd Jones had retired after a brutal 2008, Joel Zumaya was injury prone, and though Fernando Rodney stepped into the closer’s role in 2009, he was still several years away from finding himself.

Valverde was a former All-Star and had 167 career saves when the Tigers signed him. He made two more Midsummer Classics with Detroit, and in 2011 he won the Major League Baseball Delivery Man of the Year Award after going 49-for-49 in save opportunities. Valverde was always a bit of an adventure, and by 2012 it was clear he could no longer throw his splitter. Still, he gutted out another 35 saves before losing the closer’s job after two huge blown saves in the playoffs. The Tigers invited him back for 2013, but they released him after he posted a 5.59 ERA through 20 games. His 119 saves with Detroit ranks fifth among Tigers relievers, and his 91.5 percent save conversion rate is best in franchise history.

 January 11, 2003 – Detroit Tigers trade for Nate Robertson

Seasons with the Detroit Tigers: 7
Career WAR with the Detroit Tigers: 5.8

The 2002 Detroit Tigers were one of the worst teams in franchise history, but that club tends to get overshadowed by the historically bad 2003 team. As part of his rebuilding process, Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski shipped Mark Redman, the 2002 squad’s top pitcher, to Florida for Nate Robertson and Gary Knotts. Redman went on to have a career year for the Marlins, and Knotts was knocked around for two seasons with Detroit, but Robertson became a huge part of the Tigers’ rebuild.

Nate Robertson was an under-the-radar player. He made just eight starts in 2003, missing out on the infamy that woeful club left branded on starters Adam Bernero, Nate Cornejo, and Mike Maroth. And he never showed the dominance of phenoms like Jeremy Bonderman and Justin Verlander. But from 2004-2008, no Detroit Tigers pitcher made more starts (154) or threw more innings (934.2) than Robertson. He wasn’t an All-Star, and things went downhill for him very fast in 2008, but for at least four seasons he was the sort of reliable, innings-eating starter every contender needs.

January 20, 2016 – Detroit Tigers sign Justin Upton

Seasons with the Detroit Tigers: 2
Career WAR with the Detroit Tigers: 7.1

The surprise signing of Justin Upton in 2016 mirrored the events of the #2 move on this list in many ways. Detroit’s newly minted GM Al Avila had already made a splash that offseason, trading for Francisco Rodriguez and Justin Wilson, signing Jordan Zimmermann to a huge free-agent contract, and inking multi-year deals with Mike Pelfrey and Mark Lowe. The team still had a hole in the outfield, with one of the corners set to be handled by a combination of Mike Aviles, Tyler Collins, and Steven Moya, but most fans assumed Avila was done.

Then Mike Ilitch decided the outfield wasn’t good enough, and the Detroit Tigers signed Justin Upton to a massive, 6-year, $133 million contract. The early returns weren’t very promising. Upton, the #1 overall pick in 2005, began 2016 in a horrible slump, and by the All-Star break he was a negative WAR player hitting just .235 with 9 home runs and a brutal 31.5% strikeout rate.

He turned things on in the second half, however, and he was the hottest hitter on the planet down the stretch, batting .292 with 13 home runs in September and October to almost single-handedly keep the Tigers in the playoff race. Upton was very good in 2017, making the All-Star team and batting .279/.362/.542 over 125 games, but the Tigers decided it was time to rebuild, and they offloaded Upton’s salary before he could have a more lasting impact on the franchise.

 January 26, 2012 – Detroit Tigers sign Prince Fielder

Seasons with the Detroit Tigers: 2
Career WAR with the Detroit Tigers: 8.4

From the moment Prince Fielder became a free agent in 2011 Detroit Tigers fans began harboring unrealistic dreams of him signing in the town where his father made his name. It was fun to dream about the return of a young man who as a kid appeared in a McDonald’s commercial and hit home runs at Tiger Stadium. It was pure fantasy, of course. The Tigers already had Miguel Cabrera at first base, and by 2011 Victor Martinez had fully transitioned from catcher to DH. There simply wasn’t room for Fielder. The calls for Fielder grew louder in mid January when reports surfaced that V-Mart tore an ACL and would miss the 2012 season. It still seemed far-fetched, though, as Martinez was signed through 2014, and you don’t just go sign the biggest free agent on the market to a massive, multi-year deal because you lost your DH for a season.

Back in 2012 Twitter wasn’t quite the cesspool it is today. It exploded in popularity in 2011, but it was still somewhat quaint by today’s standards. Fans were a bit more gullible, and there was enough smoke about Fielder signing somewhere soon that many people believed it when Scott Swaim at MLBInsideNews tweeted “#Breaking: #Nationals to sign Prince Fielder to 8 year deal.” Then, just as many Tigers fans were realizing “Scott Swaim” was a fraud, a very real tweet from Jon Heyman indicated Prince Fielder was coming to Detroit. He also tweeted this gem:

Fielder’s run in Detroit was successful, but short. He largely did what the Tigers hoped, hitting .295/.387/.491 with 55 home runs over two seasons. But he was dreadful in the playoffs, hitting just .196 with one double and one home run in 24 games, and in November 2013 Dave Dombrowski made one of his greatest trades, swapping Fielder and his monster contract for Ian Kinsler. Speaking of great Dombrowski trades…