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    • How the Tigers put together the MLB playoff roster
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    How the Tigers put together the MLB playoff roster

    Caradoc Wyn Posted on

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    The Detroit Tigers fought their way through an arduous rebuild and the result is finally in: The Motor City is once again home to an October winner.

    The Tigers advanced to the MLB postseason for the first time since 2013 after defeating the Houston Astros 2-0 in the AL Wild Card Series. Detroit brought its brand of baseball to the home of the American League kings for most of the last decade, knocking them out of the World Series.

    Aside from likely Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal pitching a six-inning gem in Game 1, the Tigers managed a group that didn’t get much attention outside of Michigan State.

    That is, until now, after two months of turning heads by securing a playoff spot with a miraculous 31-11 record. The Tigers pulled it off with a full team effort, with manager AJ Hinch and the coaching staff using every player in the squad to maximize their potential. And the result was a young and talented group that pulled it all together and won almost non-stop.

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    Here’s a look at some of the aspects of how the Tigers assembled this playoff roster, from a buy-in to a bold message to the way Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris went all-in for the Tigers’ youth team.

    How the “Gritty Tigs” were constructed

    They found every way to win, whether it was using Skubal to a win in Game 1 or Andy Ibáñez’s game-winning three-run double to earn a win in Game 2 in a bullpen outing that featured seven pitchers were used. These were just the team’s most recent successes, including the Parker Meadows grand slam in San Diego, Trey Sweeney’s bone-crushing catch in Baltimore and last week’s comeback win against Tampa Bay.

    From a 0.2 percent chance of making the playoffs in early August to now facing the Cleveland Guardians in the ALDS, the hungry Tigers have continued to find a way despite the odds. They have earned the nickname “Gritty Tigs” due to their resilience, which is in keeping with the winning ethos in Detroit.

    “I mean, our city is built on sand,” Hinch told reporters in Houston on Wednesday. “I mean, that’s it. And you know, I remember saying that I wanted to have a team that the city would be proud of. I think the city is pretty proud of what we do and how we do it and the fight that this team shows and we can move forward.”

    This was Harris’ plan and it quickly came to fruition. Instead of relying on top free agents last winter, he consistently stuck to freeing up spots for young players and instead supplementing fringe players. (That didn’t work well for Troy Weaver and the Detroit Pistons.) The focus was on maximizing player development in-house and seeing what the top-tier farm system could produce in both the short and long term. to try to build a sustainable winner.

    The plan looked bleak in mid-summer when the Tigers struggled and traded three of those signings, Andrew Chafin, Mark Canha and Jack Flaherty, for prospects (including playoff starting shortstop Trey Sweeney). But the youth movement worked and the Tigers agreed to the plan and responded well to Hinch’s vision.

    Young hitters like Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter and Parker Meadows rejoined the team after IL stints or a trip to Triple-A to provide left-handed pop and clutch hitting.

    Spencer Torkelson returned from Triple-A and hit .308 in games on August 14, and Skubal’s stable of pitchers emerged as the most dynamic bullpen arsenal in baseball.

    Here’s what the Tigers’ leadership told Free Press columnist Jeff Seidel about the plan last Friday while wearing champagne-soaked T-shirts after clinching a playoff spot.

    Harris: “Very satisfactory. Our job is to adapt our strategy to the players we have. We currently have a pitching team that has a lot of expertise and depth, but very little experience. So how do we change our approach to pitching to put these guys in more comfortable positions and allow them to help our team win? That’s what we came up with and AJ did a masterful job of executing the plan, and on top of that, the players deserve a lot of credit for the buy-in and understanding why they’re being used in certain situations. ”

    Tigers owner Chris Illitch: “I knew it would happen at some point. My point is not to make predictions, but you can see the tremendous progress up and down the organization, at the lowest levels, at the middle levels, Low-A, High-A, Double-A – you see it is everywhere, and we’re seeing it now at the major league level. It’s very, very exciting.”

    COMPLETE BULLET: Give Scott Harris credit: His plan is clearly working for the Detroit Tigers

    Now let’s open the books and see how this breaks down.

    Shock swept the baseball internet on Wednesday when it was announced that the Tigers’ 2024 wild-card squad will be paid less overall than Astros reliever Josh Hader – the shutdown lefty who blew Game 2 in the eighth inning . The Tigers’ 26-man wild-card roster costs a total of $18.8 million, compared to Hader’s AAV (average annual value) of $19 million this season. Three other Astros, Justin Verlander, Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve, also fit that description.

    The main reasons for this are the fact that the Tigers are so young (25.7 is the average age of the 26-man wild card roster) and baseball’s salary structure for players entering the league. Most players are early in their careers during their first six years of service under team control and are limited by the preliminary and arbitration process to the amount they can earn.

    The Tigers had just four players — Keith ($2.83 million), Skubal ($2.65 million), Rogers ($1.7 million) and Mize ($830,000) — in the playoffs -Rosters that earned $800,000 or more. Keith signed a long-term contract in January before his MLB debut; Skubal, Mize and Rogers signed one-year contracts to avoid arbitration. The rest of the roster falls between the MLB minimum salary of $740,000 and $766,300, with closers Jason Foley and Greene at the higher end.

    Detroit Tigers 2024 payroll

    However, the $18.8 million figure paints a different picture than reality.

    The Tigers’ payroll ranked 23rd at $106.5 million for the 2024 season, nearly $60 million less than the average of all 30 teams but far higher than what the Tigers are currently operating at.

    Of course, this boils down to missed free agent signings from past and current Tigers regimes.

    The Tigers’ highest-paid player is shortstop Javier Báez, who will make $25 million in 2024 as part of former general manager Al Avila’s six-year, $140 million contract. Báez has been on the injured list since the end of August and underwent hip surgery.

    Second on the list is pitcher Kenta Maeda, who was not named to the wild card list after being taken out of the rotation over the summer and went 3-7 with a 6.09 ERA this season. He received a two-year, $24 million contract before the season and will earn $14 million in 2024.

    So what was the key to overcoming all of this? Well, in the words of Hinch, it’s a brave attitude, along with the fact that you’re playing for everyone else in the clubhouse and making the same sacrifices as them.

    INSIDER: It’s not easy to change in baseball. But amazingly, that’s exactly what the Tigers did

    “If you can change the psyche and maybe take out a bit of pride and ego, anything is possible,” Hinch told reporters on Wednesday. “You can make decisions that put guys in a position to be successful.”

    Jared Ramsey is a sports reporter for the Detroit Free Press, covering the city’s professional teams, the state’s two flagship universities and more. Follow Jared on X @jared_ramsey22 and email him at [email protected].

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    Caradoc Wyn
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