Team 96: The 2001 Tigers

Tom Pidgeon/Getty Images

Year: 2001

Record: 66-96

Win Percentage: .407

Win Percentage Change: -.081 from year before

Run Differential: -152

Pythagorean Record: 67-95

AL Finish: 11th of 14

Manager: Phil Garner

Best Transaction: Letting Juan Gonzalez walk

Sure, this one wasn’t up to the Tigers, but boy, did it work out. Randy Smith wanted to keep Gonzalez in Detroit. Gonzo’s first year in Detroit was a disaster, but Smith literally sold the farm to get the guy.

It was widely reported that Smith offered Gonzalez an eight-year deal worth around $140M. That means Gonzalez could have been in Detroit in 2008! Good thing this one didn’t go through. Gonzo rejected the Tigers' offer and decided to become a free agent.

Gonzalez had only 1.5 good years left in the tank, and his last full season in the bigs was in 2001. It really could have been the worst contract in the history of pro sports. By rejecting the Tigers offer, Gonzalez lost around $100M. Ouch.

Worst Transaction

Where to begin? The Tigers' main draft prize in 2001 was Ryan Raburn in the fifth round. The Tigers took Kenny Baugh in the first round, and Baugh never even sniffed the big leagues.

You could also look at the trade of Brad Ausmus, Doug Brocail, and Nelson Cruz to the Astros for Mitch Meluskey, Roger Cedeno, and Chris Holt. Ausmus and Brocail were still playing in the big leagues in 2009, while these other jokes are off doing something else.

Upper: The emergence of Steve Sparks

Sparks was a journeyman knuckleball pitcher who had failed to find a home until he arrived in Detroit. Sparks ended up being the staff ace and was named Tiger of the Year.

He compiled a record of 14-9 with a 3.65 ERA—all of this for a team that finished the season 30 games below .500! That’s really impressive. I remember being impressed at the time, but this really stands out now.

Sparks also led the league in complete games and tossed in a shutout for good measure. He never won more than 10 games in any other big league season and was out of town by mid-2003.

Downer

A real lack of power plagued the Tigers in 2001. This was why they brought Gonzalez into town in the first place and why that left field wall was eventually moved closer.

The Tigers placed 12th in the American League in home runs (something that would be unheard of now) and didn’t have a single player reach the 20 HR mark. Rob Fick led the club with 19 homers, while Bobby Higginson chipped in with 17 and Tony Clark hit 16.

I thought that maybe this would result in more doubles and triples since usual HR balls may find gaps or bounce of the wall. The Tigers saw no jump in doubles and ranked ninth in the AL. However, they ranked first in triples, led by Roger Cedeno with 11. Still, some home runs would have been nice.

Summary

Just another bad Randy Smith team. This club set the Tigers up for reaching rock bottom. They would go on to lose 106 games in 2002 and 119 in 2003 before finally turning it around.

It should say something that the Tigers' three best players in 2001 were Steve Sparks, Rob Fick, and Randall Simon. That’s just flat disappointing. Sparks was a good story and Fick was weird-looking, but that’s just not enough. This club ranked 11th in OBP, hurt severely by the likes of Juan Encarnacion and Deivi Cruz.

Dave Mlicki made 15 starts for the Tigers in 2001 and had an ERA north of 7.00 before getting shipped out of Detroit. Even though they played in a huge ballpark that swallowed home runs, the Tigers staff still had an ERA over 5.00.

24-year-old Jeff Weaver was a bright spot, winning 13 games, while Danny Patterson was pretty good out of the bullpen. Too bad the bottom had to go and fall out in 2002.

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