response 24 of 109:

Oct 26 21:31 UTC 2001

Detroit is a very good sports town, and specifically a very good 
baseball town.  It is definitely possible to have a contender in 
Detroit.

I'm not sure where they placed on the total salary list (a list which 
varies through the season anyway, as teams make trades and players get 
injured); probably somewhat below the average.  They cut salary from 
last year.  That was because Tom Ilitch had some sticker shock over the 
price of Comerica Park.  Ilitch personally paid a *lot* more for the 
ballpark than most owners; I think he might have paid more than any 
other owner ever has.

The Tigers have been in a downward spiral for 15 years; they traded 
some great prospects (example" John Smoltz) to take a shot at winning 
it all in 1987, then tried to buy a contender in the early 1990's, when 
for a couple of years they had the highest salary in baseball, then 
around the time Tom Monaghan bought the team, they decided they had to 
build from the ground up and discovered they had almost no quality 
prospects in their whole minor league system.

It's been an uphill struggle to build a good farm system.  Partially 
this requires luck; they've had some good prospects who didn't pan out 
or who got injured.  Partly it requires talent recognition; the Tigers 
have not had many really good drafts.  It takes about 4 years to take 
a "normal" 1st or 2nd round draft choice and make him into a major 
league player, assuming normal luck and normal ability to draft 1st and 
2nd rounders.

Players haven't come up through the minors and bolted from the Tigers; 
they have never made it up through the minors, gotten injured, or been 
traded for guys who never made it as major leaguers.  Other than Travis 
Fryman, who was a star 3B for the Tigers and then just wasn't re-
signed, there haven't been any impact major leaguers who left the 
Tigers for free agent opportunities.

The Tigers are in a tough spot now, and there's little for them to do 
but to place blame.  They have big expenses from Comerica Park, and 
declining expectations (and support) from their fans.  Their farm 
system now seems more promising than it has in years, but honestly, 
that's not saying a lot.

If they spend a lot of money on players and put together a winning 
team, I am confident they could fill the ballpark.  But without the 
support of the fan base, they don't feel they have the money to spend.  
Without the contender, the fan base doesn't feel compelled to go to the 
ballpark.