# 2002 Detroit Tigers season

The 2002 Detroit Tigers season was the team's 102nd season and its third at Comerica Park. It involved the Detroit Tigers making a valiant attempt to win the American League Central. However, despite their best efforts and clutch performances, their division-winning goal came up far short. They finished last in the division and missed the playoffs for the 15th consecutive season.

## Offseason

* December 19, 2001: Adam Riggs was signed as a free agent with the Detroit Tigers.

## Regular season

On July 2, the Tigers and White Sox set a Major League Baseball record by combining to hit for 12 home runs in one game. The box score for the home runs is as follows:
* Detroit Young 2 (7,1st inning off Ritchie 0 on, 2 out, 9th inning off Howry 0 on, 2 out); Fick (11,1st inning off Ritchie 1 on, 2 out); Lombard (1,7th inning off Ritchie 0 on, 1 out); Magee (6,9th inning off Howry 0 on, 0 out); Easley (4,9th inning off Howry 1 on).
* Chicago Lofton (4,1st inning off Bernero 0 on, 0 out); Ordonez 2 (15,1st inning off Bernero 0 on, 2 out, 8th inning off Paniagua 3 on, 1 out); Valentin (11,2nd inning off Bernero 0 on, 0 out); Alomar 2 (6,4th inning off Bernero 0 on, 2 out, 6th inning off Lima 0 on).

### Notable transactions

* June 4, 2002: Curtis Granderson was drafted by the Tigers in the 3rd round of the 2002 Major League Baseball draft. Player signed June 28, 2002.
* July 5, 2002: Jeff Weaver was traded by the Tigers to the New York Yankees, and cash was sent by the Tigers to the Oakland Athletics, as part of a 3-team trade. The Athletics sent Carlos Peña, Franklyn Germán, and a player to be named later to the Tigers. The Yankees sent Ted Lilly, John-Ford Griffin, and Jason Arnold (minors) to the Athletics. The Athletics completed the trade by sending Jeremy Bonderman to the Tigers on August 22.
* August 16, 2002: Jason Beverlin was selected off waivers by the Tigers from the Cleveland Indians.

### Season standings

vteAL Central :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Minnesota Twins | 94 | 67 | .584 | — | 54‍–‍27 | 40‍–‍40 |
| Chicago White Sox | 81 | 81 | .500 | 13½ | 47‍–‍34 | 34‍–‍47 |
| Cleveland Indians | 74 | 88 | .457 | 20½ | 39‍–‍42 | 35‍–‍46 |
| Kansas City Royals | 62 | 100 | .383 | 32½ | 37‍–‍44 | 25‍–‍56 |
| Detroit Tigers | 55 | 106 | .342 | 39 | 33‍–‍47 | 22‍–‍59 |

### American League Wild Card

vteDivision leaders :
| Team | W | L | Pct. |
| New York Yankees | 103 | 58 | .640 |
| Minnesota Twins | 94 | 67 | .584 |
| Oakland Athletics | 103 | 59 | .636 |
vteWild Card team (Top team qualifies for postseason) :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
| Anaheim Angels | 99 | 63 | .611 | — |
| Boston Red Sox | 93 | 69 | .574 | 6 |
| Seattle Mariners | 93 | 69 | .574 | 6 |
| Chicago White Sox | 81 | 81 | .500 | 18 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 78 | 84 | .481 | 21 |
| Cleveland Indians | 74 | 88 | .457 | 25 |
| Texas Rangers | 72 | 90 | .444 | 27 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 67 | 95 | .414 | 32 |
| Kansas City Royals | 62 | 100 | .383 | 37 |
| Detroit Tigers | 55 | 106 | .342 | 43½ |
| Tampa Bay Devil Rays | 55 | 106 | .342 | 43½ |

### Record vs. opponents

2002 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ANA | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TB | TEX | TOR | NL |
| Anaheim | — | 7–2 | 3–4 | 6–3 | 6–3 | 8–1 | 6–3 | 4–5 | 3–4 | 9–11 | 9–10 | 8–1 | 12–7 | 7–2 | 11–7 |
| Baltimore | 2–7 | — | 6–13 | 3–4 | 1–5 | 2–4 | 7–0 | 5–1 | 6–13 | 4–5 | 5–4 | 10–9 | 3–6 | 4–15 | 9–9 |
| Boston | 4–3 | 13–6 | — | 2–4 | 5–4 | 5–4 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 9–10 | 6–3 | 4–5 | 16–3 | 4–3 | 13–6 | 5–13 |
| Chicago | 3–6 | 4–3 | 4–2 | — | 9–10 | 12–7 | 11–8 | 8–11 | 2–4 | 2–7 | 5–4 | 4–3 | 5–4 | 4–2 | 8–10 |
| Cleveland | 3–6 | 5–1 | 4–5 | 10–9 | — | 10–9 | 9–10 | 8–11 | 3–6 | 2–5 | 3–4 | 4–2 | 4–5 | 3–3 | 6–12 |
| Detroit | 1–8 | 4–2 | 4–5 | 7–12 | 9–10 | — | 9–10 | 4–14 | 1–8 | 1–6 | 2–5 | 2–4 | 5–4 | 0–6 | 6–12 |
| Kansas City | 3–6 | 0–7 | 2–4 | 8–11 | 10–9 | 10–9 | — | 5–14 | 1–5 | 1–8 | 3–6 | 4–2 | 7–2 | 3–4 | 5–13 |
| Minnesota | 5–4 | 1–5 | 3–3 | 11–8 | 11–8 | 14–4 | 14–5 | — | 0–6 | 3–6 | 5–4 | 5–2 | 6–3 | 6–1 | 10–8 |
| New York | 4–3 | 13–6 | 10–9 | 4–2 | 6–3 | 8–1 | 5–1 | 6–0 | — | 5–4 | 4–5 | 13–5 | 4–3 | 10–9 | 11–7 |
| Oakland | 11–9 | 5–4 | 3–6 | 7–2 | 5–2 | 6–1 | 8–1 | 6–3 | 4–5 | — | 8–11 | 8–1 | 13–6 | 3–6 | 16–2 |
| Seattle | 10–9 | 4–5 | 5–4 | 4–5 | 4–3 | 5–2 | 6–3 | 4–5 | 5–4 | 11–8 | — | 5–4 | 13–7 | 6–3 | 11–7 |
| Tampa Bay | 1–8 | 9–10 | 3–16 | 3–4 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 2–4 | 2–5 | 5–13 | 1–8 | 4–5 | — | 4–5 | 8–11 | 7–11 |
| Texas | 7–12 | 6–3 | 3–4 | 4–5 | 5–4 | 4–5 | 2–7 | 3–6 | 3–4 | 6–13 | 7–13 | 5–4 | — | 8–1 | 9–9 |
| Toronto | 2–7 | 15–4 | 6–13 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 6–0 | 4–3 | 1–6 | 9–10 | 6–3 | 3–6 | 11–8 | 1–8 | — | 9–9 |

### Roster

Worst Seasons in Detroit Tigers History :
| Rank | Year | Wins | Losses | Win % |
| 1 | 2003 | 43 | 119 | .265 |
| 2 | 1952 | 50 | 104 | .325 |
| 3 | 1996 | 53 | 109 | .327 |
| 4 | 2002 | 55 | 106 | .342 |
| 5 | 1975 | 57 | 102 | .358 |

## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Brandon Inge | 95 | 321 | 65 | .202 | 7 | 24 |
| 1B | Carlos Peña | 75 | 273 | 69 | .253 | 12 | 36 |
| 2B | Damion Easley | 85 | 304 | 68 | .224 | 8 | 30 |
| 3B | Chris Truby | 89 | 277 | 55 | .199 | 2 | 15 |
| SS | Shane Halter | 122 | 410 | 98 | .239 | 10 | 39 |
| LF | Bobby Higginson | 119 | 444 | 125 | .282 | 10 | 63 |
| CF | Wendell Magee | 97 | 347 | 94 | .271 | 6 | 35 |
| RF | Robert Fick | 148 | 556 | 150 | .270 | 17 | 63 |
| DH | Randall Simon | 130 | 482 | 145 | .301 | 19 | 82 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Craig Paquette | 72 | 252 | 49 | .194 | 4 | 20 |
| Damian Jackson | 81 | 245 | 63 | .320 | 1 | 25 |
| George Lombard | 72 | 241 | 58 | .241 | 5 | 13 |
| Ramón Santiago | 65 | 222 | 54 | .243 | 4 | 20 |
| Dmitri Young | 54 | 201 | 57 | .284 | 7 | 27 |
| Mike Rivera | 39 | 132 | 30 | .227 | 1 | 11 |
| José Macías | 33 | 107 | 25 | .234 | 0 | 6 |
| Hiram Bocachica | 34 | 103 | 23 | .223 | 4 | 8 |
| Jacob Cruz | 35 | 88 | 24 | .273 | 2 | 6 |
| Matt Walbeck | 27 | 85 | 20 | .273 | 0 | 3 |
| Omar Infante | 18 | 72 | 24 | .235 | 0 | 3 |
| Andrés Torres | 19 | 70 | 14 | .200 | 0 | 3 |
| Eric Munson | 18 | 59 | 11 | .186 | 2 | 5 |
| Mitch Meluskey | 8 | 27 | 6 | .222 | 0 | 0 |
| Craig Monroe | 13 | 25 | 3 | .120 | 1 | 1 |
| Oscar Salazar | 8 | 21 | 4 | .190 | 1 | 3 |
| Dean Palmer | 4 | 12 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Ryan Jackson | 4 | 6 | 2 | .333 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting and other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Mark Redman | 30 | 203.0 | 8 | 15 | 4.21 | 109 |
| Steve Sparks | 32 | 189.0 | 8 | 16 | 5.52 | 98 |
| Mike Maroth | 21 | 128.2 | 6 | 10 | 4.41 | 58 |
| Jeff Weaver | 17 | 121.2 | 6 | 8 | 3.18 | 75 |
| Adam Bernero | 28 | 101.2 | 4 | 7 | 6.20 | 69 |
| José Lima | 20 | 68.1 | 4 | 6 | 7.77 | 33 |
| Brian Powell | 13 | 57.2 | 1 | 5 | 4.84 | 30 |
| Nate Cornejo | 9 | 50.0 | 1 | 5 | 5.04 | 23 |
| Seth Greisinger | 8 | 37.2 | 2 | 2 | 6.21 | 14 |
| Andy Van Hekken | 5 | 30.0 | 1 | 3 | 3.00 | 5 |
| Brian Moehler | 3 | 19.2 | 1 | 1 | 2.29 | 13 |
| Shane Loux | 3 | 14.0 | 0 | 3 | 9.00 | 7 |
| Jason Beverlin | 3 | 12.1 | 0 | 3 | 9.49 | 7 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Juan Acevedo | 65 | 1 | 5 | 28 | 2.65 | 43 |
| Jamie Walker | 57 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.71 | 40 |
| Jeff Farnsworth | 44 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5.79 | 28 |
| José Paniagua | 41 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5.83 | 34 |
| Julio Santana | 38 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 2.84 | 38 |
| Óscar Henríquez | 30 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4.50 | 23 |
| Fernando Rodney | 20 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6.00 | 10 |
| Matt Anderson | 12 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9.00 | 8 |
| Eric Eckenstahler | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.63 | 13 |
| Franklyn Germán | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 6 |
| Danny Patterson | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 15.00 | 1 |
| Matt Perisho | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.71 | 3 |
| Terry Pearson | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.50 | 4 |
| Matt Miller | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.50 | 1 |
| Kris Keller | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27.00 | 1 |
| Jason Jiménez | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27.00 | 0 |
| Erik Sabel | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | inf | 0 |

## Awards and records

* On July 2, the White Sox and Tigers set a Major League record by hitting 12 home runs in one game.

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Toledo Mud Hens | International League | Bruce Fields |
| AA | Erie SeaWolves | Eastern League | Kevin Bradshaw |
| A | Lakeland Tigers | Florida State League | Gary Green |
| A | West Michigan Whitecaps | Midwest League | Phil Regan |
| A-Short Season | Oneonta Tigers | New York–Penn League | Randy Ready |
| Rookie | GCL Tigers | Gulf Coast League | Howard Bushong |