Detroit Tigers: The homegrown WAR project Part 1

2001 to 2003: Former Detroit Tiger Luis Gonzalez to future Tiger Miguel Cabrera

2001: Arizona Diamondbacks:  Four years after the Diamondbacks came into the league, they would win the World Series and the earliest an MLB franchise had ever won the World Series. However, their homegrown prospects made, if any, a contribution to their title. Byung-Hyun Kim, the team’s number 3 prospect in 2000 according to Baseball America, had a WAR of 3. John Patterson, the number 1 prospect for the Diamondbacks and number 10 overall in the MLB, did not make his debut until 2003. What hurts about this squad was watching former Tiger Luis Gonzalez capture the game-winning hit.

Homegrown Total WAR: 3.0

2002: Anaheim Angels:  Finally, all the years of frustration, the Angels win their first World Series. Lead by homegrown talents like Troy Glaus, Garret Anderson, Tim Salmon, who has been around the club since 1992, and Darin Erstad, who had the highest WAR of any homegrown player with 6.4. Their rotation had 3 key starters in Jarrod Washburn, Ramon Ortiz, and rookie John Lackey. The staff as a whole had 5 homegrown players. Homegrown Total WAR: 26.4

2003: Florida Marlins:  The firesale of 1997 in some aspects paid off for this World Series winner. Braden Looper came over via the Edgar Renteria deal and was the team’s primary closer and Derrek Lee came over via the Kevin Brown trade from San Diego. Alex Gonzalez was an international free agent signing and so was some guy named Miguel Cabrera. Overall, this squad was built for a good run…only to be sold off again. Luis Castillo and Jeff Conine are the only holdovers from 1997(Conine came back mid-season trade from Baltimore). Homegrown Total WAR: 15.3