Detroit Tigers: The homegrown WAR project Part 1

The Detroit Tigers have several homegrown players who have contributed to the team’s success under manager AJ Hinch. So how important is that to win a title?

Back when I started the Detroit Tigers Minor League Report, I spent time looking at World Series winners and the core of teams I grew watching.  Since the Tigers have drafted high in the last four seasons, there is a good chance a good amount of a potential World Series-winning team would be built with homegrown talent.

What may help is the news that the owners are talking about expanding the playoffs to 14 teams as part of the collective bargaining agreement in the off-season.

While I am not thrilled personally with the idea, it got me thinking since if Detroit adds in the off-season, they could be close to a playoff spot. Before you laugh me out of the room, there have been teams that won from the wild card spot.

There is a core that so far in the 2021 Detroit Tigers squad that has not spent the same amount of time in the minor leagues together as their 1984 counterparts but it is a different era. At one point, it was fashionable to carry three catchers on the roster and have one or two fewer arms in your pitching staff.

The 1984 Detroit Tigers to start

I looked at the 1984 Detroit Tigers squad. I kept it simple and used the WAR of the players they had that drafted by the team or from international signings for that season. The one constant for this list as the Tigers will be the only one I will break out the entire list of players for is that each player had to be a starter (min 100 games) or for pitching, a min of 10 starts, and for any reliever, anyone who appeared more than 20 games. For example:

Lance Parrish. WAR 2.8: Stats: 33 HR 98 RBI .237/.287/.443
Lou Whitaker.  WAR 4.3  Stats: 13 HR 56 RBI .289/.357/.403
Alan Trammell  WAR 6.7 Stats:  14 HR 69 RBI .314/.382/.468
Howard Johnson WAR 1.0 Stats: 12 HR 50 RBI .248/.324/.394
Kirk Gibson       WAR 5.1  Stats: 27 HR 91 RBI .282/.363/.516
Barbaro Garbey WAR 0.6 Stats: 5 HR 52 RBI  .287/.325/.391
Tom Brookens WAR 2.0   Stats: 5 HR 26 RBI   .246/.306/.397
Jack Morris WAR 2.5 Stats: 240 IP GS 37 19-11 ERA 3.60 WHIP 1..25
Dan Petry WAR 3.5 Stats 233 IP GS 35 18-8 ERA 3.24 WHIP 1.27
Dave Rozema WAR 0.5 Stats: IP 101 GS 16 7-6 ERA 3.74 WHIP 1.26
Total WAR= 30

For the Willie Hernandez & David Bergman deal, Willie Hernandez won the MVP & Cy Young and was the last Tiger pitcher to do so under Justin Verlander in 2011. His WAR was 4.8 and Dave Bergman was 2.0. The Tiger who was traded that was the homegrown prospect, Glenn Wilson? -.0.7 WAR in 1984. He was an All-Star in 1985 with 14 HR and 102 RBI’s and batted .275/.311/.424

The core of that team was fueled by the mid-1970’s drafts in which Morris, Parrish, Whitaker, Petry, Gibson, and Trammell were drafted and developed. The 2021 Tigers do have elements of a homemade core with 14 players that were either signed internationally or drafted and played in the farm system.

While the 1980s was a completely different era in team builds, I went ahead and started looking at other teams, starting from 1997 because I was curious to see how the World Series winners faired with homegrown talents.

1997 to 2000: The Florida Marlins to the New York Yankees.

1997: Florida Marlins. Ah yes, the first title for Dave Dombrowski and Jim Leyland. Charles Johnson, the Marlins 1st round draft pick, had a WAR of 4.4 to lead the homegrown farm talent on the team.  Of the starting 9 that season, Jeff Conine, Luis Castillo, and Edgar Renteria were the only players that came from the organization. (Castillo, Renteria both were international signings)

The pitching staff was helped in the second half of a season by another international signing, Livan Hernandez, who had a 1.7 WAR. He would go 4-0 in the postseason and won MVP in both the NLCS and World Series. Homegrown Total WAR: 5.7

1998: New York Yankees: The Yankees three in a row World Series titles start with this squad. Derek Jeter leads all homegrown talent with a 7.5 WAR. This Yankees squad did well in international signings with Mendoza (signed in 1991), Rivera, (signed in 1990) El Duque, Orlando Hernandez (signed in 1998) and  It was another international purchase from JPL in September of 1998 that went low key but turn out to be a great signing for the Yankees in Alfonso Soriano. Homegrown Total WAR: 27.5

1999: New York Yankees: Homegrown Total WAR: 25.8

2000: New York Yankees: Homegrown Total WAR: 25.1

The Yankees used their homegrown talent to fuel them to three straight World Series titles, similar to what the A’s did in the 1970s with Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, and Vida Blue.

Boston and Chicago break the cures.

2004: Boston Red Sox: Theo Epstein built this team with smart signings and trades when he took the reins over in 2002. Only Nomar Garciaparra was the only player that was from the system but did not see the title thru as he was part of a 4-way trade that got Boston Doug Mientkiewicz and Orlando Cabrera at the 2004 Trade Deadline.  David Chadd, a familiar name among Tigers fans, was the scouting director. Homegrown Total WAR: 0.0

2005: Chicago White Sox: Theo Epstein broke a curse and the following year, Ken Williams broke the next longest World Series drought. Williams had a good, young core of talent that the Sox drafted with Joe Crede, Aaron Rowland, Mark Buehrle and getting a first-round talent in Jon Garland from the Cubs in a trade-in 1998. Williams, by the way, played for the Tigers for a season in 1989.

Even Brandon McCarthy, a 17th round draft pick by the Sox in 2002, pitched 65 innings. A key part of the rotation, Freddy Garcia, was acquired on June 27 of 2004 from Seattle for Mike Morse, Miguel Olivo, and Jeremy Reed.  Morse played four seasons in Seattle part-time, Olivo was a solid backup and Jeremy Reed played in parts. Ken Williams used his prospects to bolster the rotation and it paid off. Homegrown Total WAR: 8.1

The Detroit Tigers’ next steps.

While there is plenty to address with the Tigers heading into the off-season, you have to like the progress of the farm system. How that will play a role in the team seems to point to a large one but seeing how the pitching development has come along, it seems like for now, the core of the homegrown talent may come from pitching.

Part two in which I cover the World Series winners from 2006 (and a few Detroit Tigers squads) to 2020 will be out later this week.