tiger2022 Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 My vote goes for Chet Lemon. He was a great center fielder. He could hit, steal a bag if he needed. His career WAR is 55.7. I know WAR has limitations, but it is higher than HOFers like Joe Mauer, David Ortiz, Hank Greenberg, Tony Perez, Kirby Puckett, Jim Rice, Lou Brock, Harold Baines... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motor City Sonics Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 Tiger fans the last decade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oblong Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 I came across a tweet years ago that made a case for Lemon for the HOF. He didn't explicitly say he should get in but pointed out when you compare his offensive numbers to his peers at the time and all of that, he compares favorably with HOFers. His defense did a lot for him. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasfh Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 Does anyone think of Travis Fryman anymore? The guy crushed it for us for seven years. Great hitter for an infielder, plus defense. believe it or not the guy was a 35-win player for his career! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyMarsh Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 Mickey Tettleton comes to mind. Sported a 135 OPS+ the 4 years he was here, I'd imagine there haven't been many catchers in Tigers history that have topped that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiger2022 Posted July 3 Author Share Posted July 3 Fryman was a helluva player. Had he stayed as a SS, you are talking a guy who might have had HOF consideration. Just slightly better than Jim Walewander. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyMarsh Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 Tony Phillips is another name that comes to mind, not just for the Tigers but in general. Averaged over 5 WAR a season his 5 years here and put up over 50 for his career yet didn't make a single All Star team. Has to be one of the few guys in history that has 50+ WAR without a single All Star appearance. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toddwert Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 12 minutes ago, RandyMarsh said: Mickey Tettleton comes to mind. Sported a 135 OPS+ the 4 years he was here, I'd imagine there haven't been many catchers in Tigers history that have topped that. that was gonna be my guy.... Tony Phillips was great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger337 Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 5 hours ago, chasfh said: Does anyone think of Travis Fryman anymore? The guy crushed it for us for seven years. Great hitter for an infielder, plus defense. believe it or not the guy was a 35-win player for his career! He was arguably the Tigers best third baseman ever. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger337 Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 Tettleton and Phillips were awesome. Everybody talked about Fielder, but both of those guys were better than him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger337 Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 So, far I am agreeing with everyone in this thread! That doesn't happen too often. 😀 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger337 Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 How about JD Martinez? 4th on the Tigers all-time in OPS+. I really wish he was with the Tigers longer. Cobb 171 Greenberg 161 Heilmann 149 JD Martinez 147 Crawford 147 Cabrera 140 Cash 139 Tettleton 135 https://stathead.com/baseball/player-batting-season-finder.cgi?request=1&match=player_season_combined&order_by=b_onbase_plus_slugging_plus&ccomp[1]=gt&cval[1]=1500&cstat[1]=b_pa&team_id=DET Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiger2022 Posted July 4 Author Share Posted July 4 9 hours ago, Tiger337 said: How about JD Martinez? 4th on the Tigers all-time in OPS+. I really wish he was with the Tigers longer. Cobb 171 Greenberg 161 Heilmann 149 JD Martinez 147 Crawford 147 Cabrera 140 Cash 139 Tettleton 135 https://stathead.com/baseball/player-batting-season-finder.cgi?request=1&match=player_season_combined&order_by=b_onbase_plus_slugging_plus&ccomp[1]=gt&cval[1]=1500&cstat[1]=b_pa&team_id=DET King, Alcantara, and Lugo are my favorite Tigers. Probably the greatest trade in Tiger's history. Avila drives a hard bargain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiger2022 Posted July 4 Author Share Posted July 4 (edited) Skeeter Barnes. The guy could play anywhere, didn't hurt you defensively and was a solid hitter. He'd probably be hitting 3rd on the 2024 Tigers. Edited July 4 by tiger2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasfh Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 16 hours ago, RandyMarsh said: Tony Phillips is another name that comes to mind, not just for the Tigers but in general. Averaged over 5 WAR a season his 5 years here and put up over 50 for his career yet didn't make a single All Star team. Has to be one of the few guys in history that has 50+ WAR without a single All Star appearance. Fun fact: Kirk Gibson also did not make an All-Star team. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasfh Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 Underrated pitchers: how about Jamie Walker? LH reliever came to the Tigers already in his 30s and was a really reliable arm out of the pen for those really bad teams. Didn't walk many guys and still had decent strikeout rates. I'm glad he got to the Series with us. Then he went to Baltimore on a multiyear deal and fell apart. He'd be a pretty good fit in our bullpen today. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 9 minutes ago, chasfh said: Fun fact: Kirk Gibson also did not make an All-Star team. Did Gibby at one (or two times) simply state he was not interested in being 'selected' to the ASG if not voted in? I am not sure factual but I seem to remember it had nothing to do with the honor as much as he wanted/really needed a break at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyMarsh Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 7 minutes ago, chasfh said: Underrated pitchers: how about Jamie Walker? LH reliever came to the Tigers already in his 30s and was a really reliable arm out of the pen for those really bad teams. Didn't walk many guys and still had decent strikeout rates. I'm glad he got to the Series with us. Then he went to Baltimore on a multiyear deal and fell apart. He'd be a pretty good fit in our bullpen today. I'm having a hard time thinking of pitchers, one guy who comes to mind who I don't know if I would say is underappreciated but a guy who carved himself quite a career that may not have been expected is Drew Smyly. Working on nearly a 12 year career now and over 60 million in salary. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasfh Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 Just now, RandyMarsh said: I'm having a hard time thinking of pitchers, one guy who comes to mind who I don't know if I would say is underappreciated but a guy who carved himself quite a career that may not have been expected is Drew Smyly. Working on nearly a 12 year career now and over 60 million in salary. I was thinking of him, too. He kind of got lost in the shuffle with all those All-Star pitchers we had at the time. You know who else got lost in that shuffle and was probably underappreciated at the time? Doug Fister. What a great pickup he was in that trade that included MTS fave Casper Wells. Got several good years out of him, plus a run of eight straight strikeouts in this one weekday afternoon game, just a few years before seemingly everybody was doing that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyMarsh Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 Just now, chasfh said: I was thinking of him, too. He kind of got lost in the shuffle with all those All-Star pitchers we had at the time. You know who else got lost in that shuffle and was probably underappreciated at the time? Doug Fister. What a great pickup he was in that trade that included MTS fave Casper Wells. Got several good years out of him, plus a run of eight straight strikeouts in this one weekday afternoon game, just a few years before seemingly everybody was doing that. Yeah I was gonna say Fister too, I vaguely remember us being interested in Ubaldo Jimenez but the Indians ended up getting him so we had to "settle" for Fister. Not sure how accurate those rumors were but that sure turned out great for us. He was especially dominant to finish the 2011 season after we got him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tigeraholic1 Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 Milt Cuyler, particularly the 91 season his rookie year. He had 41 stolen bases. He was electric on the base path. Even garnered some ROY votes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasfh Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 12 hours ago, Tiger337 said: He was arguably the Tigers best third baseman ever. Even better than Darnell Coles? Now that's saying something! 😝 I just plugged the criteria into the query machine and it turns out Travis Fryman racked up a higher WAR for the Tigers than George Kell did, and George went to the Hall of Fame in a Tigers' cap! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiger2022 Posted July 4 Author Share Posted July 4 35 minutes ago, chasfh said: plus a run of eight straight strikeouts in this one weekday afternoon game, just a few years before seemingly everybody was doing that. He struck out 9 straight batters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasfh Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 6 minutes ago, tiger2022 said: He struck out 9 straight batters. Ok, so I lied ... 😏 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiger2022 Posted July 4 Author Share Posted July 4 I'll throw another name out there: Mike Heath. He was solid behind the plate and was a solid hitter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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