Detroit Tigers: Worst Baseball Team Ever?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I believe the Detroit Tigers may in fact be the worst major league baseball team ever assembled. We may well be witnessing baseball history here. Consider:

  1. The Tigers are 31-96 going into today’s games. That puts them on pace to go 40-122, which is worse even than the 1962 Mets.

A few teams have actually been even worse than that; the 1935 Braves went 38-115, which is a tiny bit worse. The 1916 A’s went 36-117, which is worse. But the standard deviation of wins back then was greater than it is now. There’s more competitive balance today; going 40-122 in 2003 is far more awful, IMHO, than going 38-115 or 36-117 back then.

  1. The Tigers’ W-L is no fluke. The '35 Braves, for example, were a bit unlucky; their runs scored and allowed suggest that they should have gone 50-103, which ia still terrible, but they were unlucky in close games. The 1916 A’s should have won 41 games, not 36. Even the 1962 Mets were quite unlucky in close games; their run differential called for 50 wins, not 40.

But the Tigers… the Tigers’s W/L record of 31-96 is a bit unlucky, but 4 games. Not much difference. I think they’re even worse than the 1916 As.

  1. My God, what a pathetic lineup these bozos have. Most horrible teams have at least one good player. The '62 Mets had Richie Ashburn and Frank Thomas. The '35 Braves had Wally Berger. The '16 A’s at least had Bullet Joe Bush and Amos Strunk. The Tigers have nobody. Well, I guess Dmitri Young is a decent player. The pitching is an absolute nightmare.

I submit the 2003 Tigers are the most horrific band of losers to ever wear major league uniforms in the modern era. Thoughts?

2

Rick-being a big BB fan I agree. I was in Chicago Mem Day weekend & saw the Tigers at Cellular. I was shocked at how pathetic they are- can’t do anything right. I regularly go to UCLA-Pac Ten games- Detriot doesn’t look as good as a fair college team. The only competitor that I saw is the 62 Mets. But in 7 short years they won it all. Also, the Mets were drafted to attract the frustrated NYC(ex-Dodger & Giant)) fans , not necessarily to win. Hence George Weiss,Hodges, Neal, Craig ,Stengel etc etc. The team was really to make $$ & it did. But the pitiful “Tigers” have no such excuse.

3

31 games? In 1968, one single tiger pitcher, Denny McLain won 31 games.

I think it is obvioulsy intentional by the owner of the tigers for them to be so bad, and to lose so many games. He wants a bad team, why, I dont know, but he does.

The new owner(the pizza guy) of the tigers has not hired one single good player since he bought the team.

Other teams, want to win, and hire good players. When the tigers do get a good player by accident, like Cecil Fielder, they get rid of him, which the new owner did.

The tigers are the absoulte worst in history, because this is the first time a team has not wanted to win, has not wanted to hire good players. Even the old teams of yesteryear, tried to win, and tried to get and keep good players if they could find them. They never had an intentional policy of keeping good players off the team.

Seems pretty obvious to me.

4

Detroit is pretty bad, no doubt. But the 1899 Cleveland Spiders (NL) are considered the worst. I couldn’t get the exact #s but I know this cuz my Orioles finished 4-32 last year, and there were many comparisons made…

5

Found it! 1899 Cleveland Spiders 20-134 :eek:

6

The Orioles finished 4-32? What happened to the other 136 games?

The Tigers are horrible. They’re beyond horrible. I’ve just moved from a year in Michigan, and what shocked me the most, even more than the hideous play, was the unbelievable lack of class and anything resembling pride in the organization. It was pathetic, sad, and actually embarrassing to witness. The GM talking shit about his players to the media, the players’ blatant disrepect for their manager, etc., etc. Terrible to see a once-great organization in such a state.

7

Very well said, Kyla. I was an unfortunate eyewitness. I can’t figure out Trammel, & especially Gibson. Gee, from friends who were there, Gibson really tried to kill Orosco for blacking his hat in 1988. Kirk can’t stand humiliation-how can he take this? Can’t the league take control, the way the NBA did of the Cavs 15-20 years ago, when the owner intentionally destroyed the teams?

8

What’s really sad about Detroit is not the on-field product, but the attitude of management. At least my Orioles are trying to fix things. Detroit seems content to put these youngsters on the field, and if someone shows promise, but gets exspensive, they’ll let him go. The bottom line drives things, NOT winning. Very Sad! Kind of like KC.

9

Ilitch bought the Tigers in 1992. Fielder was traded in 1996 in the second half of the season. That was also the last year he managed an OPS above .700. The Tigers traded him at just the right time. Besides, he wasn’t helping. And the Tigers hardly got him by accident - they scouted him in Japan.

The 1996 Tiggers had Fielder, David Wells, Travis Fryman, Phil Nevin, past-their-primes Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker and Kirk Gibson. They couldn’t win more than 60 games (out of 144).

They also signed Juan Gonzalez back in 2000, but that didn’t work out too well. So they decided to develop from within.

Their owner isn’t deliberately tossing games. They just have an incompetent front office and not much of a farm system.

10

Uhhhh, none of the good players you mention above was recruited by Illich, in fact, Illich got rid of all of them.

If you dont think Fielder wasnt helping the tigers, then you are unfamiliar with Fielder and the Detroit team back in the early 1990’s. You also must never have seen Fielder play and hit. If Fielder was kept in Detroit, who is to say he would not have been great for many more years? Detroit is where he performed well, and where he wanted to play. After he got traded, his motivation went away, and he just wanted to retire, he had plenty of money, and his love of playing in Detroit ended involuntarily.

What the tigers needed from Illich, was a couple of other good hitters on the team so the opponents could not pitch around Fielder. The problem Fielder was having, is that there were no good hitters behind him in the lineup. If Illich was to have gotten a couple of good hitters to follow and precede Fielder, his best years were ahead of him. This fact was well known at the time, and was Fielders biggest complaint with Illich.

Illich got rid of Fielder because he was too good for the team. He was the 11th player to hit over 50 home runs.

illich is purposely ruining the team, I dont know why. He just cant be that inept or stupid, or such a poor businessman.

The other poster is correct in that if a young new player shows some promise of becoming good, the tigers/illich gets rid of him.

11

MAN! I remember Cecil hitting one on the LF roof of Tiger Stadium! They shoulda NEVER ditched that stadium!

12

The Orioles may have started 4-32 last year, but they finished 67-95.

By the way, you can find an amazing wealth of stats at http://www.baseball-reference.com.

13

I’m not so sure they’re the worst team ever. I’m not positive, but I thought I’d read somewhere that a lot of their losses were by one run or two, which isn’t awful.

Susanann, the point Neurotik was making was that Fielder was not a good player when Ilitch traded him. He was a fat cat who was doing nothing for the team. He played only two more seasons and was washed up at 34. Not to mention injury prone. He may have been the 11th player to hit 50 home runs, but that was in 1990. Six years later, he was more of a risk than an asset. And what’s this talk of his motivation leaving him after he left Detroit? Heck, if I were a Tiger, my motivation would increase tenfold after being traded from them, not decrease. No, Fielder got old and hurt, and therefore was not worth keeping.

Also, if the team was actively trying to get rid of its good young players, Bobby Higgenson wouldn’t still be on the team. His trade value was highest a few years ago, but he’s on the decline now.

jackelope, the Orioles finished the year with a 4-24 September; it’s called a “collapse” around these parts, even though they didn’t have a heck of a lot to collapse from. In the other months, they were 63-71.

14

The Orioles ENDED 4-32 last year. That is one miserable stretch drive.

BTW, who thinks that the Tigers will end up with TWO 20 game losers this year? I believe that Bonderman already has 17 or 18 losses, and Maroth has about 16. Alan Trammell is already on record as saying that he won’t pull either pitcher from the rotation just to avoid the dubious honor of becoming a 20 game loser.

PS The Tigers may have only won 31 games, but 6 of them are against my White Sox.:confused:

15

Yeah, he got rid of them all after 1996. If you need reminding, that’s the year they won 53 games. The team stunk before Ilich got rid of those guys.

Yeah, that’s it. :rolleyes:

Hey, Fielder was great in the early 1990s. Ilich got rid of him in 1996, his last good year. Or is it a coincidence that the team won more games in 1997 without Fielder than they did in 1996 or 1995 with him?

Yeah, that’s it. It wasn’t because he was 33 years old and wasn’t in great shape. It was because he missed Detroit so much. Bull. Fielder was on his last legs when the Tigers traded him. He never had an OPS above .800 for the rest of his career. Or hit above .260. Or slugged more than .420. Or hit more than 20 HR. Or more than 70 RBI.

In short, he sucked. And it wasn’t because he was distraught over not playing for the Tigers. It was because his body was breaking down.

As I’ve already pointed out, Fielder’s best years were NOT ahead of him. They were behind him. He was on the cusp of being a washed up player.

Or are you saying that there weren’t any good hitters on the 1997 Yankees, 1998 Angels or 1999 Indians? Sorry, Fielder’s problem wasn’t protection, it was his body was beginning to break down.

Bull. He got rid of Fielder because he was on the verge of being washed up. He hit 50 homers in 1990 and never did it again.

No, he’s not purposely ruining the team. The front office has just been inept and given contracts to players who haven’t lived up to them.

You mean like Bobby Higginson? He of the $11 million per year contract? Or how they resigned Matt Anderson (who went and got injured)? Or how they resigned Damion Easley? Or went out and signed Dean Palmer? Or when they signed Juan Gonzalez? Frankly, Detroit’s farm system hasn’t exactly been producing much.

The only two you have can really have a complaint about are Jeff Weaver and Robert Fick. And Weaver hasn’t exactly been a star since leaving Detroit and Fick was in such demand he’s getting paid a whopping $1 million with Atlanta.

Frankly, it’s not been lack of trying that’s kept Detroit down. It’s lack of intelligence in who they give big contracts to and a farm system that has just not been very productive.

16

About the 1899 Cleveland Spiders:

http://www.nocryinginbaseball.com/hos/spiders.html

17

More fuel for the fire:

1962 Mets OBP: .317
1935 Braves OBP: .309
1916 A’s OBP: .299

2003 Tigers OBP: .297

There’ve been lower team OBPs, but mainly during the dead ball era and in the late 60s, which pitching ruled the land. The 1916 A’s number above should be read with that in mind; in 1916, the league OBP was only .316, and no team was better than Detroit’s .334 that year. The league OBP so far this year in the AL is about .333.

Detroit’s pitching is pretty bad this year, but it’s not the worst in the league. There’s no question, however, that this is one of the worst offensive teams ever.

18

It is, in fact, the worst stretch drive in the history of major league baseball, post-1900 at least.

19

And as to that:

Maroth 6-18
Bonderman 6-17
Cornejo 5-13
Bernero 1-12
Knotts 2-5

Ladies and gentlemen, your Detroit Tigers starting rotation. Maroth and Bonderman have 6-7 starts left each.

The one I find puzzling is Maroth; I can understand pitching Bonderman because he’s a prospect, but Mike Maroth has absolutely no chance whatsoever of being a successful major league pitcher. He strikes out less than four guys every nine innings. NOBODY with so few strikeouts can win in the major leagues; it’s totally impossible to do that. He just does not have any stuff at all, he has no future. Why in God’s name are they running him out there?

20

Something about this struck me as intriguing, so I did a bit of research…

Leaders in Innings Pitched.

Cy Young is, of course (with 827 decisions and 749 CGs, you’d have a lot of innings pitched too!), the leader in innings pitched. But unless there is something seriously awry here, he has only 3.43 K/9 Innings. But then it gets interesting. Warren Spahn averages just under 4.5 K/9IP, and Pete Alexander has 3.8 K/9IP. Kid Nichols comes up with 3.325 K/9IP. The great Christy Mathewson has 4.7 k/9IP.

I’ll certainly grant that it is difficult to find a pitcher who did well over his career (and the stats quoted above do not take anything into account other than my being able to find them on that page) and did not average over 5 K/9IP, but it is not impossible to do:)