8 of the most hated Detroit Tigers players since 2000

Jose Valverde

One category of players that is always going to at least get consideration for these sorts of lists are high leverage relievers that make things way more interesting than fans would prefer. Case in point: Jose Valverde. On the surface, Valverde had a pretty nice four season run with Detroit with a 3.22 ERA with 119 saves in 226 appearances with the Tigers.

However, what is lost in those surface level numbers is the how Jose got to those numbers. His 4.0 BB/9 rate often resulted in a couple of free baserunners in the bottom of the ninth in close games and collectively giving Tigers fans heartburn. There were the inherited runners that Valverde let score after things had already gone sideways late in games. It was the wild inconsistency from game to game where you never knew which Valverde you were going to get. Even with all of the good Valverde did for Detroit, you won't find many fans longing for the days when he was closing out games.

Ryan Raburn

This is a funny one because Ryan Raburn is a classic case of a guy being hated for basically existing as an everyday player. Raburn actually was a reasonably useful player from 2007-2010 as he posted an .812 OPS in over 1,000 plate appearances. He hit a few home runs here and there, put up a couple decent seasons, and generally existed in the "he's fine" camp.

However, things changed when he became an everyday player. Not only did his OPS dip almost 100 points in 2011, but fans began noticing that having a guy that plays all the time being very meh was not desirable for a team that had real playoff aspirations. He also made some very questionable defensive plays including have a ball hit off his glove and go over the fence for a home run. No good team wants a Ryan Raburn-type clogging up the lineup, but that is exactly who Detroit had and Tigers fans were decidedly not fans of it.

Todd Jones

Remember the Jose Valverde section? Yeah, well Todd Jones was another guy cut from the same cloth. In Todd's second stint with the Tigers, he put up a very mediocre 4.31 ERA and 93 in 170 appearances with Detroit across three seasons. Not great to be sure, but the real story here isn't the numbers but road that Jones took to get them.

On any given night, things could go wildly differently for Jones. Because he was not a guy that missed bats later in his career, sometimes he would get a quick inning thanks to ground balls finding gloves. However, his collective 9.9 hits per nine innings pitched during his time in Detroit tells a story of a guy that didn't fool batters often. When things went wrong for Jones, it usually was particularly bad and those blown saves and late inning meltdowns earned Jones a lot of ire from the Tigers' fan base.

Brandon Inge

This one is going to get some folks upset because Brandon Inge does have a vocal section of Detroit's fan base in his corner. They did really turn out for Inge to get him into the All-Star Game back in 2009 after all. He was a good defender and he did put up some really nice seasons for Detroit especially from 2004-2006. There is also his connections to the community to consider here.

However, there is no denying that a large portion of Tigers fans grew tired of Inge. The highest OPS he posted in a season from 2007 to 2012 including the season where he made the All-Star Game was .720 which is decidedly not great. All of that value he provided with his glove was offset by the fact that his hit tool was not great to terrible and only got worse as he aged. There was also the weirdness from the end of his career when he very clearly didn't take the news well that he was being phased out and showed up late for spring training.

Joe Nathan

Joe Nathan certainly belongs on the list for a number of reasons. Nathan had put together a really nice career and was coming off two excellent seasons for the Rangers when the Tigers signed him to a two year, $20 million before the 2014 season which was a lot of money for a reliever back then. Most Tigers fans thought the days of getting Jones-ed or Valverde-d were finally coming to an end. Sadly, that was not the case.

Nathan did put up 35 saves in 2014, but his ERA jumped to 4.81 and the inconsistency he showed gave Tigers fans a strong sense of deja vu. Worse than that, though, was that Nathan did not respond well to fans' frustration with his play as he made a decidedly rude gesture to fans during a game in August 2014 that he ended up having to apologize for. 2015 was no better as he made one appearance before hurting his elbow and having to undergo Tommy John surgery which cost him the rest of the season.

Jordan Zimmermann

This was pretty much a peak "he made a lot of money and didn't play well" problem when it comes to Jordan Zimmermann. Zimmermann was actually one of the jewels of that offseason where the Tigers inked him to a five year, $110 deal as he had been very consistently good with the Nationals up until that point. Unfortunately, the laws of physics and the human body often don't get along that well.

In 99 appearances with the Tigers from 2016-2020, Zimmermann posted a 5.63 ERA which isn't exactly what you want from a guy the team is giving nine figures. There were multiple injured list stints along the way that hampered Zimmermann and his stuff declined significantly from his time in Washington. While never a guy that struck out a million batters, the soft contact he used to be good at getting turned into hard contact and those routine fly balls started turning into home runs. All in all, it was a bad time for all those involved and Tigers fans certainly don't remember him (or his contract) fondly.

Prince Fielder

This one is a bummer because there was a lot of excitement about the arrival of Prince Fielder. When the Tigers signed Fielder to a nine year, $214 million deal, the city of Detroit was excited to get a guy that was a perennial MVP candidate in Milwaukee that hit tank jobs and had fun doing it. He even won the Home Run Derby wearing a Tigers uniform which was pretty sweet.

However, things started taking a turn against him when he only went 1-15 in the World Series in 2012. He certainly wasn't the only reason that the Tigers didn't win, but his offensive ineptitude in the series definitely didn't help. Then, his numbers started to dip in 2013 when he posted an .819 OPS and fans started wondering if/when the guy Detroit gave all that money to was going to show up. After another lackluster showing in the playoffs (and comments afterwards that were less than contrite), Detroit ended up trading Fielder to the Rangers where he would play parts of three more seasons before issues with his neck would prematurely end his career. One has to wonder if those neck issues impacted his time in Detroit, but fans are instead left to wonder what could have happened if that money had been spent elsewhere.

Javier Baez

Finally, we come to the only active Tigers player on this list in Javier Baez. This was always a risky bet as the free-swinging Baez had a long history of being a feast or famine sort of hitter. When he was good, he was REALLY good on both sides of the ball. However, he would also have this stretches where he was the easiest guy to strike out in the league and very rarely drew walks which made his slumps feel much worse. However, that did not deter the Tigers from signing Baez to a six year, $140 million before the 2022.

The rest of the story (so far) is already well documented. Baez has been pretty dreadful at the plate with the Tigers with a combined .636 OPS in a season and a half or so of play. There have been benchings from his struggles and making boneheaded plays due to total lack of game awareness. To the surprise of no one, there have also been a lot of strikeouts yet again. Things could, in theory, turnaround still but Baez's contract is currently among the worst in baseball and Tigers fans are already tired of being reminded of that every time he takes the field.

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