Detroit Tigers: 1990-1999 All-Decade Team
By Matt Snyder
Starting Pitchers: Justin Thompson, Brian Moehler, David Wells
Drafted 32nd overall by the Tigers in 1991, Justin Thompson was supposed to be the great young pitching star of the 90s. Things looked on track as he made his way through the Tigers system before suffering an arm injury in 1994.
Still, Thompson made it to the Major Leagues to make 101 starts for the Tigers between 1996 and 1999 before being traded to the Texas Rangers in the Juan Gonzalez deal. Despite not panning out as scouts has hoped and just four season as a Tiger, Thompson ended the decade with the highest WAR of any Tigers pitcher.
While the Tigers got less from Thompson than they hoped, the got more than they might have hoped for from Brian Moehler, the team’s sixth-round pick in 1993. His 8.6 WAR was the second-highest of the decade among all Tigers pitchers. His 3.4 WAR season in 1999 was a career high for a career that extended to 2010 for three teams.
David Wells‘ inclusion on this list pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the Tigers in the 1990s. Boomer spent a lot of years in the Major Leagues but his time in Detroit isn’t what many baseball fans will remember. In just 66 appearances over parts of three seasons, Wells posted the third-highest Fangraphs WAR of any 90s Tigers pitcher.