Team 92: The 1999 Tigers

Year: 1999

Record: 69-92

Win Percentage: .429

Win Percentage Change: +.028

Run Differential: -135

Pythagorean Record: 68-93

AL Finish: 11th of 14

Manager: Larry Parrish

Best Transaction: Traded Bryce Florie to the Boston Red Sox for Mike Maroth

Florie was a fringe big leaguer at best and was a mop-up guy in the bullpen. Maroth is best known for losing 21 games in 2003, but he threw nearly 900 innings while with the Tigers, and that has to count for something. Someone had to start those games, right?

Worst Transaction: Traded Luis Gonzalez to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Karim Garcia

Do I really need to explain this one? Gonzalez hit nearly 60 home runs in 2001, and Garcia struck out at a near-record pace in his brief time with the Tigers. Gonzalez made five All-Star games, while Garcia hit 14 total home runs in 104 games with the Tigers before being shipped out of town.

Upper: Dean Palmer

Palmer signed with the Tigers the winter prior to the 1999 season. He was picked up to provide some power from the corner after the Joe Randa experiment failed. Deano responded with 38 homers and 100 RBI in his first season in Detroit.

Palmer’s time in Detroit was marred by injuries and wasted money, but this first season he gave the Tigers exactly what they needed.

Downer

Bobby Higginson’s decline in Detroit seemed to happen a little too fast. He was the man for a while. He was a guy that was worth the cost of admission there for a while.

In 1999, at the age of 28, we started to see some weaknesses in his armor. Higginson appeared in only 107 games due to injuries, and when he did play, he was not very good. Higgy finished the season with an OPS+ of 88 and a .239 batting average. He did all of this while making about $4M, which was quite a bit 10 years ago.

Summary

The 1999 Tigers were actually a bit better than the 1998 club, but this was still no picnic. The Tigers' front office spent some serious cash in between the two seasons on guys like Dean Palmer that didn’t result in much of a change in the win/loss columns. They hung in there in April, going 11-12, but put together a 10-18 May from which they could not recover.

The Tigers finished 12th in the AL in ERA in 1999, which gave fans more of the same. Dave Mlicki was decent in the rotation, winning 14 games and posting a better than average ERA. A 22-year-old Jeff Weaver dazzled at times but ended the season with an ERA of 5.55. Willie Blair was brought back into town and put up an ERA of over 6.00.

This also marked the last season in Tiger Stadium. I still remember that final game at the Corner, when Rob Fick hit that grand slam up onto the right field roof, and watching Todd Jones close it out in the ninth. Good times.

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