The Detroit Tigers All-Decade Team, the 2000's

Quickly as it came, the first decade of the 21st Century has come and gone.  With a decade or century or millenium ending, as we've all experienced within the past 11 years, people need to compile lists.  So with that, I have taken the initiative to compile the All-Decade Team for our beloved Detroit Tigers for the 2000s.

A few notes, stats only compiled from the beginning of the 2000 through the end of the 2009 seasons are counted for this team.

Now, you may notice that this list will be heavy on players who have played for Jim Leyland, as Leyland's tenure as manager coincided with the team getting good.  There's a reason for that.  For the first six seasons of this decade, the Tigers were awful.  From 2000 through 2005, the Tigers were the worst team in baseball.  The team's record was an abysmal 386-585 for a winning percentage of .399, finishing an incredible 199 games under .500.  The team lost atleast 90 games five years in a row (2001-2005), lost over 106 games twice (2002 & 2003) and tied the Major League record for losses in a season with 119 in 2003.  That 2003 team is also the worst team in American League history.  Phil Garner, Luis Pujols and Alan Trammell guided the club and all of them suffered atleast 96 losses in that period, the most wins the team had was 79.

Since 2006, with Leyland as manager the team has incurred an incredible turnaround, how much credit due to Leyland is debateable, but the numbers don't lie.  Since 2006, the team is 343-306 and in 2006, made the post-season for the first time since 1987, made the World Series for the first time since 1984 and captured the franchise's first Wild Card berth.  After suffering 12 straight losing seasons from 1994 to 2005, Leyalnd's Tigers have had three winning seasons in four years.  Also, the Tigers lost the AL Central Division Championship in 2009 in the 163rd game of the season, losing to the Minnesota Twins in a one-game playoff.