The Best Free Agent Signings in Detroit Tigers History

There’s a surprising name atop the list of the best Detroit Tigers free agent signings.

It has now been 45 years since the advent of MLB free agency, and 44 years since the Detroit Tigers signed their first ever free agent, the flashy and loquacious Tito Fuentes.

A few days ago Mike Petriello of MLB.com took a look at another former Detroit Tigers player, Max Scherzer, and wondered if he might be the best free agent of all time. That query led to a convoluted system of judging free agent signings, but it’s an enjoyable article, and we thought we might borrow the concept for the Detroit Tigers.

Petriello’s system assigns points to free agent signings based on their WAR per season, how many above-average (2+ WAR) seasons they had, MVP or Cy Young awards, World Series appearances, and if they brought back a solid return in a trade. They also included some specific criteria to determine free agents, only a few of which we’ve followed here:

• Only true free agents deals, no contract extensions. For our purposes that eliminates Justin Verlander, who signed an extension in 2013, and Miguel Cabrera, who the Tigers extended in 2008 and again in 2014.
• Only look at deals of 2+ years. They chose 3+ years, but we’re being more forgiving.

And that’s it. We’ll begin our list with an Honorable Mention section for the man you see above.

Free Agent: J.D. Martinez, 2014, 6.4 points

3+ seasons, 3 above-average seasons, 3.4 WAR/yr

Perhaps it’s good J.D. Martinez barely misses this list, because his status as a minor-league free agent doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the names here. Truly one of the most remarkable aspects of the Houston Astros’ run of success over the past few years is they managed it despite making two huge blunders — drafting Mark Appell first overall in 2013, and cutting J.D. Martinez in 2014. But obviously no one expected Martinez to do what he did, and luckily for the Detroit Tigers he became one of the best examples of found money in modern baseball history. In parts of four seasons with Detroit J.D. Martinez hit .300/.361/.551 with 99 homers, and he’s responsible for one of the most memorable home runs in Comerica Park history. He would’ve placed 4th on this list if the Tigers had managed to get anything useful for him in a trade, but alas.

Free Agent: Darrell Evans, 1984, 6.9 Points

3 seasons, 2 above-average seasons, 1 title, 2.9 WAR/yr

For lack of a better term, Darrell Evans is one of the greatest Old Baseball Players ever. He signed with Detroit when he was 36, and his 152 home runs after turning 37 are the 3rd most of all time, behind only Barry Bonds (195) and Evans’ former teammate, the recently departed Henry Aaron (163). Evans would have easily ranked higher if he had a better 1984 season (he hit just .232 with 16 HR), or if his initial contract with Detroit had included his stellar 1987 season, when he put up 4.9 WAR after hitting .257/.379/.501 with 34 home runs. A truly great free agent signing for the Tigers, Evans is the only player on this list who actually won a World Series ring with the team.

Free Agent: Cecil Fielder, 1990, 7.2 Points

2 seasons, 2 above-average seasons, 5.2 WAR/yr

The Tigers initial free agent contract with Cecil Fielder was for two years and $3 million total. Over those two years Fielder hit .269/.362/.551 with 95 home runs, 265 RBI, and two second-place finishes in the MVP vote. We’ll probably never see another player begin his Detroit Tigers career in such a stellar fashion. Cecil Fielder then re-signed with the club for one year and what was then a record $4.5 million. He re-signed with the Tigers again after that, but his 1992 season would be the last above-average campaign he produced as a player (2.8 WAR), as his solid offensive performances couldn’t quite make up for his deficiencies in other areas. If we took publicity and impact into account, Cecil Fielder may have topped our list, but instead he comes in at #4.

Free Agent: Prince Fielder, 2012, 7.5 Points

2 seasons, 2 above-average seasons, 1 pennant, 3.5 WAR/yr, returned value in trade

Prince Fielder created quite a stir when he signed with the Detroit Tigers, but overall he didn’t have quite the impact his father did, either on the field or in the city’s imagination. Prince hit .295/.387.491 with 55 home runs and 214 RBI in his two years with the Tigers, which was solid, but far short of his father’s production. But Prince Fielder had a much better supporting cast than Cecil, particularly on the pitching side, and as such he lands an extra point for helping that 2012 team reach the World Series — though his playoff performance left much to be desired. And Prince gets one more point thanks to Dave Dombrowski’s miraculous ability to flip him to the Texas Rangers for Ian Kinsler, who would go on to produce 18.2 WAR for the Tigers over the next four seasons.

Free Agent: Tony Phillips, 1989, 8.0 Points

3 seasons, 3 above-average seasons, 5.0 WAR/yr

Tony Phillips had the great misfortune of playing Major League Baseball about 20 years too soon. After eight mostly average years in Oakland, the Detroit Tigers signed Phillips to a 3-year, $4-million deal and he promptly became one of the best leadoff hitters in baseball. In his first three seasons with the Tigers he hit .270/.375/.392 while playing above-average defense in 170 games at third base, 140 games at second base, 133 games in the outfield, and 25 games at shortstop. Phillips led all of baseball with 114 runs scored in 1992, but he averaged just 12 home runs and 14 stolen bases per season, so he was overshadowed by boppers like Cecil Fielder and Mickey Tettleton.

Phillips’ ability to get on base and score was certainly appreciated at the time, but it’s fun to imagine what kind of contract a player with his elite on-base skills and defensive versatility would command in today’s game. He accumulated 15.1 WAR from 1990-1992, and he was heading into his age-34 season when he re-signed with the Tigers in 1993. The closest modern comparison is probably Ben Zobrist, who accumulated 12.1 WAR from 2013-2015 and was heading into his age-35 season when the Chicago Cubs signed him to a 4-year, $56-million deal in 2016. Phillips landed a 3-year, $10.6 million deal when he re-upped with the Tigers, which was obviously good money, but adjusted for inflation it’s only about 31% as much as Zobrist received.  Tony Phillips is simply one of the most underrated baseball players ever — his 50.9 career WAR is the most, by far, of any player who never made an All-Star game — and he is well deserving of the title of best Detroit Tigers free agent signing.