Let’s face it—Mike’s health was failing (it was fairly common knowledge), and he made some decisions that maybe weren’t ROI or bottom line driven, but born out of emotion. I’m sure he wanted a WS before he died and became even more sentimental and loyal to those he cared about. This led to some exciting seasons for Tigers fans, even if the team came up short. But also forced the team to find AB’s for declining players like Victor and Miggy.
The 2006-2013 stretch was the best sustained period of Tigers baseball over the last 70 years.