Filling The Gap Between RBI And Runs - 2014

Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick led the AL in Runs Assisted in 2014
(Photo Credit: James Squire/ Getty Images)

Imagine the following scenario.  Tigers slow-footed designated hitter Victor Martinez leads off an inning with a single and is removed for speedy pinch runner Rajai Davis.  Third baseman Nick Castellanos doubles Davis to third and Davis eventually scores on a weak grounder by Alex Avila. This sequence goes into the books as a run scored for Davis and an RBI for Avila, but Martinez and Castellanos get no credit for the team scoring a run despite contributing important hits.

To the best of my knowledge, this kind of run participation by Martinez and Hunter described above is not publicly tracked like runs scored and RBI.  My goal is to track this run involvement for all players with the help of play-by-play data at Retrosheet.org.  I want to account for every instance of a player helping to create a run, whether it be a run scored, run batted in or an indirect contribution for all games where play-by-play data are available.

Limitations of Runs Scored and RBI 
  
The above example illustrates that the runs scored and RBI statistics do not always give players the credit they deserve for participation in run scoring, but that is not their only limitation.  Many analysts eschew these metrics because they measure things that are, to some extent, out of control of the individual batter.  Unless a batter hits a home run or steals home, he needs teammates to help him score runs.  Even a relatively poor base runner will score a lot of runs if he gets on base frequently and has good hitters behind him.  Who bats behind him in the line-up is as important as base running skill in determining how many runs a player will score.  

The RBI statistic has similar limitations to runs scored.  Unless he smacks a home run, a player needs teammates on base in order to drive in runs.  If a player has hitters batting in front of him who frequently get on base, then he is more likely to drive in runs than if he has weaker hitters setting him up.   Thus, a player on a good hitting team has more chances to drive in runs than a player on a poor hitting team.

A batter’s position in his line-up also influences his runs scored and RBI totals. For example, a lead-off hitter  usually has fewer opportunities to drive home runs than a clean-up hitter, since the generally weaker 7-8-9 hitters bat in front of him.  The RBI leaders at the end of a season are as likely to be the players with the most opportunities as the players most proficient at hitting with men on base.

Many mathematically-minded fans would like to see RBI and Runs become extinct in favor of statistics, such as on-base percentage, Weighted On-base Percentage (wOBA) and Batting Runs, which isolate a player's contribution from those of his teammates.  Despite the shortcomings of these measures however, most traditional fans still like the concreteness of runs scored and RBI.  Players like it too which is understandable.  A batter does not want to reach base to improve his on-base percentage, but rather to put himself in position to score a run.  Moreover, a batter up with a runner in scoring position is not focused on his slugging average, but rather he is thinking about driving in the run.

The Origins of Runs and RBI

The runs scored and RBI statistics both have long histories. Shortly after Alexander Cartwright and the New York Knickerbockers established the first set of modern baseball rules, the first box score appeared in the New York Morning News on October 25, 1845.  The only statistics that were included in this box score were hands out (Today, they are simply called “outs”.) and runs for batters.  Some of the early baseball writers had ties to cricket, a relative of baseball, and early box scores reflected that association.  Hits that did not result in runs were not included because, in cricket, one either scores a point by reaching the opposite wicket or is out. 

The runs batted in statistic was recorded in newspapers in 1879 and 1880 and was an official statistic in the National League in 1891.  However, fans complained that the measure was unfair to leadoff batters and too dependent on opportunity and it was quickly dropped.  Ernie Lanigan, an important baseball statistician in the early 20^th century, personally tracked runs batted in and included the statistic in New York Press box scores starting in 1907.  It became an official statistic again in 1920 under the name, “Runs Responsible For”.  The RBI statistic gradually gained acceptance and eventually became even more popular than the runs scored metric. 

Runs Assisted

Because of their extensive history and their popularity with fans, media and players, the runs scored and RBI metrics are not going to disappear as some in the sabermetric world would like.  I would argue that they really shouldn't be eliminated altogether even from the sabermetric community.  While they should not be used as overarching player evaluation measures, it is good to know how actual runs were scored along with how they theoretically should have been scored.

If one is going to use actual runs scored in any analysis of players though, it is a good idea to consider the entire run as opposed to the popular practice of just looking at RBI. To that end, the Runs Assisted (or RAS to distinguish it from the pitching metric "Run Average") statistic gives players credit for contributing to runs without a run scored or RBI.  Here are the ways a batter can get a Run Assisted:  

• A batter advances a runner to either second or third with a hit, base on balls, hit batsmen, error, sacrifice bunt, or another kind of out.  If that runner then scores either during the same at bat or an ensuing at bat, the batter who advanced him is given a Run Assisted.

• A batter reaches base and is removed for a pinch runner or is replaced by another runner on a force out.  If the new runner then scores, the batter who originally reached base is given a Run Assisted.

The 2014 American League Runs Assisted Leaders are listed in Table 1 below.  Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick led the league with 68 Runs Assisted.  Kendrick assisted runs on the following events:

• 34 hits (H)
• 11 walks (BB)
• 1 hit batsman (HBP)
• 3 times reached on errors (ROE)
• 1 sacrifice bunt (SH)
• 13 outs (OUT)
• 3 Removed from bases due to force out or pinch runner and new runner scored (RR)

The leading Tigers were Victor Martinez (55), Ian Kinsler (47), and Torii Hunter (46).

Table 1: AL Runs Assisted Leaders, 2014

Player	Team	H	BB	HBP	ROE	SH	OUT	RR	RAS
Howard Kendrick	ANA	34	11	1	3	1	13	3	68
Erick Aybar	ANA	29	8	2	3	2	20	3	68
Josh Donaldson	OAK	21	12	2	1	0	18	1	56
Victor Martinez	DET	27	4	2	5	0	12	5	55
Dustin Pedroia	BOS	34	10	0	3	0	7	1	55
Jose Bautista	TOR	24	18	0	0	2	8	2	54
Brian Dozier	MIN	25	16	1	2	2	5	1	53
Jose Reyes	TOR	33	3	0	3	2	11	1	53
Melky Cabrera	TOR	29	8	1	3	2	7	2	52
Elvis Andrus	TEX	26	5	0	2	7	9	3	52
Evan Longoria	TBA	26	9	1	2	1	9	2	50
Alexei Ramirez	CHA	30	4	1	0	1	11	3	50
Brandon Moss	OAK	24	12	2	0	0	9	2	49
Ian Kinsler	DET	29	2	0	1	3	12	0	47
Torii Hunter	DET	19	3	3	0	0	20	1	46

The information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet.

Runs Participated In 

The addition of Runs Assisted allows us to expand the Runs Participated In (RPI) measure.  The current RPI definition is the number of runs to which a player made a direct contribution.  It is calculated by adding runs scored and RBI and then subtracting home runs:

   RPI = RS + RBI - HR

RPI was first introduced as runs produced in the 1950s by Sports Illustrated writer Bob Creamer but was more recently renamed RPI by Tom Tango.  If  Kendrick doubles and then scores on a single by Erick Aybar, neither player actually produces the run by himself.  Both participate in creating the run but neither is 100% responsible for producing the run.  Thus, the name “runs participated in” is more appropriate than "runs produced".  Home runs are subtracted in the RPI formula, so that a player does not get credit for two runs (an RBI and a run scored) when he only participated in one team run. 

Adding Runs Assisted to the RPI formula yields:

   RPI = RS + RBI + RAS - HR 

One might question whether a Run Assisted should count as much as a run scored or an RBI since it is more likely to also produce an out.  I would guess that a player getting an assist typically contributes less to the run than a player with a run scored or RBI, (although the opening example shows that is not always the case).  More complicated statistics involving linear weights are better for answering that question.  By definition, runs scored, RBI and Runs Assisted will count the same in the Runs Participated In measure..

Also, remember that RPI does not address the biases of runs scored and RBI (and RAS for that matter).  It is still the case that some players have more opportunities to contribute to runs based on their teammates and batting order position.  RPI is not a replacement for something like Batting Runs, but rather a simple alternative for those that prefer to look at actual runs scored.   

Keeping the above caveats in mind, the American League RPI Leaders are listed in Table 2 below.  AL MVP winner Mike Trout led the league with 234 RPI. followed by Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera (230) and Blue outfielder Jose Bautista (223).  Other Tigers among the leaders were Kinsler (222) and Victor Martinez (213).    

Table 2: AL Runs Participated In Leaders, 2014

Player	Team	PA	R	RBI	RAS	HR	RPI
Mike Trout	ANA	705	115	111	44	36	234
Miguel Cabrera	DET	685	101	109	45	25	230
Jose Bautista	TOR	673	101	103	54	35	223
Ian Kinsler	DET	726	100	92	47	17	222
Howard Kendrick	ANA	674	85	75	68	7	221
Josh Donaldson	OAK	695	93	98	56	29	218
Victor Martinez	DET	641	87	103	55	32	213
Brian Dozier	MIN	707	112	71	53	23	213
Michael Brantley	CLE	676	94	97	42	20	213
Albert Pujols	ANA	695	89	105	42	28	208
Erick Aybar	ANA	642	77	68	68	7	206
Evan Longoria	TBA	700	83	91	50	22	202
Adam Jones	BAL	682	88	96	44	29	199
Alexei Ramirez	CHA	657	82	74	50	15	191
Melky Cabrera	TOR	621	81	73	52	16	190

The information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet.

Tigers Infield Worst in MLB in Preventing Hits On Ground Balls

The Tigers are counting on a healthy Jose Iglesias to improve their infield defense in 2015
(Photo credit: Julian Gonzalez/Detroit Free Press)

Last year, I wrote that the Tigers yielded the worst batting average on ground balls (.276) of any team in the majors in 2013. Whether by design or circumstances, the Tigers made some moves to improve their infield defense heading into the 2014 season.  In this post, I will examine how well that worked out...or how much it didn't.  

The infield reconstruction started in late July, 2013 with the acquisition of acrobatic shortstop Jose Iglesias from the Boston Red Sox and continued last winter when they traded first baseman Prince Fielder to the Rangers for second baseman Ian Kinsler.  The latter deal caused a chain reaction of position shifts.  Miguel Cabrera moved back to first base and rookie Nick Castellanos took over at third base after spending 2013 as a left fielder in Toledo.  

It appeared that their new infield would be good enough give the Bengals an average defense which would save them an estimated five wins in 2014.  As it turned out, Kinsler was one of the best second baseman in baseball, but nothing else went as planned. 

First, Iglesias missed the whole season with stress fractures in his shins and the replacements - Andrew Romine, Eugenio Suarez and company - could not pick up the slack. Moreover, Castellanos was more of a liability than imagined - probably the worst third baseman in MLB.  Cabrera defended well in the first half, but was hobbled by injuries in the second half.  

As a result of these problems, the Tigers once again allowed the worst batting average on ground balls (See Table 1 below). According to the retrosheet databases, there were 2,016 ground balls off the 2014 Tigers staff, 567 of which resulted in hits yielding a batting average of .281.  

Table 1: Batting Average Against On Ground Balls, 2014

Team	BIP	H	BA
OAK	1,976	424	.215
SFN	1,982	434	.219
LAN	2,039	463	.227
PIT	2,205	513	.233
CIN	1,916	455	.237
SEA	1,928	459	.238
BAL	1,981	474	.239
SDN	1,933	465	.241
WAS	1,957	480	.245
SLN	1,999	491	.246
MIL	2,035	500	.246
PHI	2,071	510	.246
CHN	1,949	480	.246
TOR	1,933	479	.248
HOU	2,130	529	.248
BOS	1,998	502	.251
COL	2,215	564	.255
NYA	1,912	488	.255
ARI	2,015	516	.256
CLE	2,014	516	.256
NYN	1,994	512	.257
KCA	1,959	514	.262
ANA	1,833	482	.263
MIN	2,034	544	.267
CHA	2,104	572	.272
ATL	1,852	508	.274
MIA	2,155	594	.276
TEX	1,817	503	.277
TBA	1,729	482	.279
DET	2,016	567	.281

The information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet.

The major league batting average on ground balls was .252, so you would expect the average team to allow 508 hits on 2,016 ground balls.  Thus, the Tigers allowed an estimated 59 more hits on ground balls than an average infield given the same number of opportunities.  Since the average failure to convert a batted ball into an out costs about 0.75 runs, the Tigers infield was responsible for an estimated 44 extra runs which translated into four wins.  

The lowest batting average on ground balls was .215 achieved by the Athletics.  In comparison to Oakland, the Tigers allowed 133 extra hits on ground balls which translates into a whopping 100 runs further illustrating the value of a strong infield defense.

One might guess that the Detroit hurler most affected by the porous infield would be Rick Porcello, a rather prolific ground ball pitcher.  However, Porcello surrendered hits at only a .241 rate.  Other pitchers were not so reliant on ground balls, but they were hurt more by high averages - Drew Smyly (.326) and Justin Verlander (.323).  

Why the big difference between Porcello and Smyly/Verlander?  This may have been due to random luck or it could be that Porcello induced weaker contact on grounders than other pitchers.  Unfortunately, data such as speed of batted balls are not yet available to the public. It's interesting to note though that Anibal Sanchez (.233) seemed to be unaffected by the poor defense for a second straight year.  

The Tigers made no moves to improve their infield for 2015, but a healthy Iglesias and Cabrera would help.  It's also important that Castellanos improves somewhat.  It's not likely that he'll ever be good, but hopefully he can become below average rather than horrible.  If the infield can manage to be merely average defensively, they can add four wins.  This might be enough to offset a potential downgrade in the starting rotation if Max Scherzer is not signed.  

If I Had a Hall-of-Fame Ballot

Strikeout king Randy Johnson should make Hall-of-Fame in first year on ballot. 
(Photo credit: Ron Vesely, Getty Images)

There were three new Hall-of-Fame Inductees in 2014 - pitchers Tommy Glavine and Greg Maddux and first baseman Frank Thomas - but new candidates and many worthy holdovers still leave the 2015 ballot quite crowded.  The log jam is due largely to confusion and division on how to deal with players linked to the Performance Enhancing Drugs (PED).  There are 34 eligible players and writers can vote for up to 10 candidates.  Unless a voter favors a very small elite Hall of Fame, this makes it virtually impossible to fill out a ballot without leaving off some deserving names. I, of course, do not have a vote, but will fill my theoretical ballot here.

My selection process involves comparing players to their contemporaries, other players at the same position and current Hall-of-Fame members.  I value peak performance and career performance equally.  I use many traditional and advanced statistics, most of which can be found on Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs.  Some of my favorites are plate appearances, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging average, batting runs, wOBA,and WAR for hitters and innings pitched, ERA, pitching runs, strikeouts and WAR for pitchers.  I used multiple WAR statistics in my analysis, but any WAR cited below is Baseball-Reference WAR.

I do not bring PED use into my thought process.  The use of PEDs has been very widespread, not only in the 1990s and 2000's, but all the way back to the sixties and even further.  It is impossible to know which players stayed clean and which used and how much it affected their performance.  Eliminating or even judging players based on suspicion seems very unfair to me.  It also seems pretty obvious that the game turned a blind eye to the problem for many decades.  Thus, I consider PED use to have been part of the game and choose players solely based on their on-field performance.

Now, for my ballot:

Barry Bonds: He was the greatest player of his generation and is on a very short list of the best players ever.  You can't have a Hall of Fame without him.  

Roger Clemens: As with Bonds, the Hall-of-Fame would not make much sense if it excluded Clemens.  He is one of the five best pitchers in the history of the game.

Randy Johnson: He was one of the most dominant pitchers of any era finishing second all time with 4,875 strikeouts and posting 5 top of the 11 strikeout totals ever.  His career WAR of 104 was seventh best among pitchers.     

Pedro Martinez: Like Clemens and Johnson, Martinez is an obvious selection.  Martinez did not have as many great years as the other two, but his 86 WAR was 14th best ever and his 291 ERA+ in 2000 was the best in the history of MLB.    

Jeff Bagwell: Not on the same level as Bonds, but still a slam-dunk selection.  He is 21st all-time in Batting Runs and has a WAR comparable to Rod Carew, Joe Dimaggio and Pete Rose.    

Mike Piazza: Another automatic selection.  He is arguably the best hitting catcher ever leading all receivers in Batting Runs and Weighted Runs Created.

Mike Mussina: Might get overlooked because he never won a Cy Young award, but had a 123 ERA+ in over 3,500 innings and his 345 Pitching Runs was an impressive 13th all-time.

Alan Trammell: He was over shadowed by Cal Ripken and slick-fielding Ozzie Smith, but his 70 WAR is eighth all-time among shortstops.

Curt Schilling: He was arguably the best post-season pitcher ever, but was a lot more than that.  He had a 127 ERA+, 3,116 strikeouts (15th best ever), 81 WAR (21st best).  

Craig Biggio: The versatile Biggio scored more runs (1,844) than any second baseman ever and was second to Eddie Collins with 3,060 hits. He also had 291 home runs, 414 stolen bases and caught over 400 games.   

A voter can only check off ten names, but there are more than ten who deserve Hall-of-Fame status.  Other deserving Hall-of-Famers include Edgar Martinez, Mark McGwire, Tim Raines, John Smoltz and Larry Walker.

Sabermetrics Book

 With the holidays approaching, I wanted to remind people about my book Beyond Batting Average.  I'm pleasantly surprised that the hard copy version of the book continues to sell pretty well without much promotion.  I can thank Google, Amazon, Twitter and a number of internet friends for that.     

Not as many people know about the less expensive e-book that can be purchased on Lulu.com.  You can purchase the e-book version of Beyond Batting Average for $4.00 on Lulu.  The hard copy version costs $14.00 (also available at Amazon). 

Beyond Batting Average was published in 2010 and I believe it is still the most up-to-date and comprehensive sabermetrics primer available. It is accessible to fans who are trying to learn sabermetrics and would like a more organized and broader presentation of the subject than you'll typically find on the internet.  My book serves as a good introduction to more advanced books such as The Book by Tom Tango, Mitchell Lichtman and Andrew Dolphin.

Some of my favorite reviews of Beyond Batting Average are listed below:

Dan Dickerson (Detroit Tigers broadcaster)

I really love Beyond Batting Average - it makes the cut for the "suitcase" library that I take with me on the road...definitely a handy resource

James Bailey Baseball America's Top Ten Books of 2010 

For fans who want to learn more about new sabermetric statistics, Lee Panas' "Beyond Batting Average" is a great resource that can easily be followed by any student of the game...
What the book does particularly well is explain complicated concepts in simple terms.   

Neil Paine (Baseball-Reference)

I have no doubt that you'll find it easy to keep up with the stats that Panas presents. I was also impressed with how comprehensively Panas covered each topic; on several occasions, he delved into metrics that even I would not have thought to include in the discussion. Simply put, after reading this, you will be able to converse about sabermetrics with pretty much anybody and hold your own.

Tom Tango (The Book Blog)

If you are a non-mathy guy, but want to understand sabermetrics better, then a huge thumbs up for this book. If you are pretty much comfortable with sabermetrics, but still not there yet (you haven’t run any of your own studies), then a regular thumbs up.

David Gassko (The Hardball Times)

There has not really been a comprehensive resource that explains all the sabermetric statistics you need to know in one simple package. Well, at least there wasn’t until Lee Panas published Beyond Batting Average. 

Dan Szymborski (Baseball Think Factory)

Panas hits all the basic issues quite well and seems to be very up-to-date on what measures are generally used by the statnoscenti of the internet, which is extremely helpful to people who want to jump in with both feet. The author is also very good at telling the reader where these stats can be found and has focused on stats that are readily accessible to the public.

Steve Slowinski (DRays Bay)

Lee's writing is clear and concise, but also quite engaging for a topic that can sometimes get quite nerdy and dull. If you're looking to learn more about sabermetrics and want a book to start you off on the right foot, this is a great book to look into. And even if you already know a good deal about sabermetrics, it's a really handy reference tool. I consider myself well versed in baseball statistics, but I learned a decent bit from the book and I'm sure that I'll be referring to it whenever I have questions over the course of the season. Thanks Lee, this is a keeper.

Justin Inaz (Beyond The BoxScore):

Lee Panas published a terrific sabermetric primer. It's extremely current, with great scope, and will be an awesome resource for those interested in learning more about sabermetrics--especially player valuation statistics. I'm linking to Tango's review of it, but you can find the book on Lulu. If I do my baseball class again next year, I'll probably assign Lee's book.

Toirtap (Walk Like A Sabermerician)

Lee's straightforward approach and knowledge will make it a good resource for those who are just getting into sabermetrics.

Kurt Mensching (Bless You Boys)

With his book, Lee gives the reader a step-by-step guide through how stats were developed and how to best apply them. 

Tigers' Most Memorable Hot Stove Moves of The Past 25 Years

There is not a lot going on right now in hot stove action, so I was just looking at the off-season moves of the last 25 years.  Transactions are always exciting, so I remembered 99% of them - even the obscure ones like selecting Todd Steverson in the 1994 Rule 5 Draft.

I decided to put together a list of the most memorable moves of the last 25 years.  By "most memorable", I don't mean "best".  Sometimes a move seems great at the time it's made and then turns out to be a bad one or an insignificant one.  I'm judging this by the my own memory of which moves excited or intrigued me most as they were made.  I chose one move (or two related moves) each year.  The list is below.  Keep in mind that 1989 (for example) indicates the move was made in between the last game of 1989 and the the first game of 1990.  

1989 - After a horrible 103-loss season, the Tigers acquired free agents Tony Phillips and Lloyd Moseby at the December Winter Meetings. It was a different world back then.  I was at graduate school at UConn and had no television or computer.  Even though the moves were officially made two days apart, I learned about both of them on the same day in the newspaper.  

1990 - Rob Deer was signed as a free agent the day after Thanksgiving when usually nothing is happening.  I knew his limitations, but he was an intriguing player and the timing of the deal made it memorable.  They later traded pitcher Jeff Robinson for Mickey Tettleton.  I should have liked that move more, but it just didn't have a big impact at the time.  It was another one that I learned about in the paper a couple of days after it happened.

1991 - This was a quiet off-season, but I'll go with the signing of outfielder Dan Gladden.  He was a bad player, but I remembered his grit in the Twins 1987 and 1991 championship seasons and I somehow believed that would help the Tigers. 

1992 - One of my favorite players - Kirk Gibson - returned the Tigers and he of course would make them a winning organization again.  

1993 - The Tigers signed pitcher Tim Belcher.  He was coming off a poor season, but he had quite a bit of past success and I was surprised the Tigers were able to sign him. He and another free agent acquisition David Wells were surely going to give the Tigers the winning pitching staff they lacked the last few years.  

1994 - Wow, I've got nothing.  How about selecting outfielder Todd Steverson in the Rule 5 draftt?

1995 - The move of the off-season didn't happen until spring training.  Pitchers Cade Gasper and Sean Bergman were traded along with Steverson to the Padres for catcher Raul Casanova, pitcher Richie Lewis and outfielder Melvin Nieves.  There was Todd Steverson creating more off-season excitement.  Plus, I knew that Casanova and Nieves would be two important building blocks of a future champion.  

1996 - One of the many Brad Ausmus deals was made during the winter meetings.  Ausmus went to the Astros along with Jose Lima, Trever Miller, C.J. Nitkowski and Daryle Ward.  In return, the Tigers received Doug Brocail, Brian Hunter, Todd Jones and Orlando Miller.  Boy, what a wheeler and dealer Randy Smith was.  The Tigers were finally in good hands.  

1997 - On expansion draft day, the Tigers moved Travis Fryman to Arizona for Matt Drews, Gabe Alvarez and Joe Randa.  I didn't care for that move, but it was memorable because of Fryman and the uniqueness of the expansion draft.  

1998 - The Tigers signed Dean Palmer.  I knew he wasn't that great and that the Tigers overpaid, but it was unusual for the Tigers to make such a high profile signing.  The later signing of Gregg Jefferies and trade of Luis Gonzales on the same day made me seriously question Smith's competency as a GM.  

1999 - This was a big one and it came very early in the Hot Stove season.  Juan Gonzalez, Danny Patterson and  Gregg Zaun came from the Rangers in exchange for Alan Webb, Fran Catalanotto, Francisco Cordero, Bill Haselman, Gabe Kapler and Justin Thompson.  All of that for ONE year of Juan Gonzalez? There was no longer any questions about the competency of Randy Smith.

2000 - Another big Brad Ausmus deal by Smith - Ausmus, Brocail, Nelson Cruz (no, not that Nelson Cruz) went to the Astros in exchange for Roger Cedeno, Chris Holt and Mitch Meluskey.  I actually liked that deal because Meluskey was going to be a stud.

2001 -  Juan Encarnacion and Luis Pineda were traded for Dmitri Young. 

2002 - Pitchers Mark Redman and Jerrod Fuell were traded to the Marlins for pitchers Rob Henkel, Gary Knotts and Nate Robertson.  Firmly in the internet era now, we knew ahead of time that Redman had been traded and I wasted a lot of time trying to figure out who they would get back.   

2003 - That was a fun off-season after a miserable regular season.  First they signed second baseman Fernando Vina and Rondell White as free agents, moves that inspired a press conference at the time.  Yeah, that was a different time.  Then they stole Carlos Guillen from the Mariners.  The most ,memorable move came in January though - the signing of Pudge Rodriguez.  The Tigers were a real organization again.  

2004 - Another big free agent signing in Magglio Ordonez.  Not quite as shocking as the Pudge signing, but still a big deal.

2005 - Signed Kenny Rogers.  Big free agent signings were becoming less exciting now.

2006 - Gary Sheffield from the Yankees for pitchers Anthony Claggett, Humberto Sanchez and Kevin Whelan. I was a Sheffield fan and liked this deal.  

2007 - The most memorable Tigers move of my lifetime - MIGUEL CABRERA. THE MIGUEL CABRERA came to the Tigers in an eight man-player with the Marlins.   I couldn't believe they were able to trade only prospects for the best young hitter in the game.

2008 - Finally a quiet off-season.  The biggest move was Matt Joyce for Edwin Jackson.  The most memorable thing about it was getting my unexciting blog posting linked by Rob Neyer.  He was apparently looking for a Tigers blogger who didn't like the trade and I fit that description.  

2009 - The Tigers lost Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson and acquired Phil Coke, Austin Jackson, Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth.  I hated this deal at the time.  

2010 - Victor Martinez was signed. Some felt the Tigers overpaid, but I liked this signing.

2011 - Prince Fielder was signed.  It was hard to dislike what basically seemed like a gift from owner Mike Ilitch, but it didn't seem like a great fit and it appeared that the money could have been better spent.. 

2012 - The signing of Torii Hunter was the biggest move of a relatively tame off-season.

2013 - Fielder was traded for Ian Kinsler in what was seemed like a genius move by GM David Dombrowski

2014 - Is the Anthony Gose deal going to be their most memorable moment this off-season?  They also re-signed Martinez but that too predictable to be memorable.