2018 Detroit Tigers: What went wrong?
When you’re paying a guy $30 million, you hope he can play a full season and be productive at the plate. In the case of Miguel Cabrera, that didn’t happen. Cabrera was still an above average hitter (.299/.395/.448, 128 wRC+), but only played 38 games before a ruptured biceps tendon ended his season in June.
When Cabrera went down with his season-ending injury, the Tigers were 31-37 (.456). They went 33-61 (.351) from that point on. That’s not to say missing Cabrera was solely responsible for their ugly record after his injury, but it definitely didn’t help.
As mentioned earlier, Victor Martinez closed out his career this season. It was a brutal ending to a good career. According to Fangraphs WAR, Martinez was the second-worst position player in baseball. Only Chris Davis was worse.
At least Martinez had age to blame. He was 39. The Tigers had too many young players who were below replacement level, including 23-year-old Victor Reyes (-1.0 WAR) and 26-year-old Ronny Rodriguez (-0.9 WAR). They also had players in between the young guys and the old guys who were awful, like 28-year-old Mikie Mahtook (-0.2 WAR), 28-year-old James McCann (-0.1 WAR) and 33-year-old Jim Adduci (-0.5 WAR)
One of the biggest disappointments among the pitchers was Michael Fulmer, who was the AL Rookie of the Year in 2016 and an all-star in 2017. In those two seasons combined, he had 21 wins and a 3.45 ERA. This year, he was 3-12 with a 4.69 ERA. He also spent time on the Disabled List with an oblique injury.
Veteran pitcher Jordan Zimmermann had a Jekyll-&-Hyde season. He had a 7.91 ERA after his first five starts. Then he pitched 12 scoreless innings across two starts before landing on the DL with a shoulder impingement in early May. He came back from the injury and pitched well for another nine starts. In 11 starts from April 30 to August 10, Zimmermann had a 2.80 ERA in 64.3 innings.
For a guy making $24 million per season (and still owed another $50 million over the next two years) this was a hopeful stretch of games. Maybe that contract wouldn’t be a total loss. Then those hopes were dashed when Zimmermann closed out the year with a 5.48 ERA in his last nine starts. It looks like that contract will continue to be an albatross.
In the bullpen, closer Shane Greene showed that a pitcher can save 32 games without being very good. Greene saved 32 games, tied for fourth in the American League, but had a 5.12 ERA thanks in large part to the 12 home runs he allowed in 63.3 innings. Greene had a career-high in saves in what was actually the worst season of his career (-0.1 WAR).
Off the field, the Tigers had an embarrassing situation with pitching coach Chris Bosio. After reportedly referring to an African-American attendant as a “monkey,” Bosio was fired by the team for violating “Club policy and his Uniform Employee Contract.”
Bosio denied the allegations, claiming he was referring to pitcher Daniel Stumpf as “Spider Monkey.” He swore on his mom and dad’s graves it was Stumpf’s nickname, but research revealed that no one ever called Stumpf that. Stumpf himself said, “Spider Monkey is not a nickname I have been called or I’m familiar with.”