Detroit Wheels
Peter Brooks    7 years   509-625

Personnel History

An expansion team under Peter Brooks, the Detroit Wheels grew cautiously, and reached their peak about halfway through the 2001 season. Since then, some of the players regressed, but in 2003 new owner Mark Ammer made a series of poor judgements, and the team needed to regroup under Brooks in 2004.

There were a number of missed opportunities. In 2002, the Wheels traded up from the #2 to the #1 pick to draft the wrong player (Brandon Webb instead of Miguel Cabrera). Ben Sheets was traded before his career took off; Corey Koskie was sent away undervalue; and the constant swapping of Jim Thome and Jason Giambi served no real  purpose.

Since 2004 moves have been more shrewd. Newcomers included Mark Teixeira, Dan Uggla, and Matt Cain, and the pitching staff is gelling around Webb, Cain, Burnett, and Francis.

2006

The Wheels operated in a narrow band around .500 all season, never getting more than 5 over or 6 under .500 until mid-September. Then they ran off a seven game winning streak, but it was too late to make much of an impact on a playoff run. The Wheels finished with a run differential 4th best in the conference, but were a 12th best (of 13) 19-27 in one run games. As such, there were a lot of individual stars in both the lineup and the rotation. Pierzynski (.330/26/91), Teixeira (.293/40/113), Uggla (.292/28/92), and Lee (.280/29/112) led the offense. Brandon Webb won 19 games, and Matt Cain won another 14. While Jason Isringhausen saved 35, he had not too much help from the bullpen.

2005

The Wheels got to 10 over at 27-17, sank to 1 over at 36-35, went back to 12 over at 59-47, dropped to 4 under at 70-74, and rallied to finish .500 for the first time in the franchise's history. Playoff contention really wasn't an issue, the closest the Wheels got in the second half of the season was 7 games out. The pitching staff was the star of the show, especially in the first half of the season, when they posted a 3.55 ERA, among the league's best. Webb, Lackey, and Burnett were solid, and there was a bit of a surprise in Shaun Estes in the first half. The offense, aside from Carlos Lee, Mark Teixeira, and Morgan Ensberg, was pitiful. The team only managed a .303 OB% and of the team's 391 walks on the season, more than half were drawn by the big three.

2004

Returning to Detroit, the Wheels regained most of the ground they had lost in the prior two years. Their 28-12 record in one-run games masked an offense that ranked last in the conference (24th overall) and a pitching staff in the lower half of the league. The Wheels -147 run differential was worse than their 74-88 record, in fact worse than anyone in the conference. If you thought the reason was because the bullpen was lights out, you'd be disappointed to learn that the Wheels' closers were Greg Aquino and Jose Vizcaino. The Wheels started poorly, hitting a low of 16-30 in late May, following a gruelling road trip to Dresden, Washington, and Nashua. They managed to claw their way back to one under at 54-55, but were never in the playoff hunt. Individually, there weren't any outrageous performances, but Eric Byrnes played well over his head all season. Jason Giambi made up for it with his worst season in his career.

2003

The Zephyrs were just a few games under at the time of the trade when they essentially sent all of their depth off to Portland for their first round 2004 draft pick. After that, there was no hope, and the Zephs went 37-82 the rest of the way, Good players were few and far between: Jason Giambi hit 32 homers though his other stats dropped off severely, Carlos Lee had 64 extra base hits, and Freddy Garcia and Brandon Webb were a passable 1-2 in the rotation. 

2002

Offense, particularly power, was down across the board in Detroit in 2002. Aside from the trade which sent Jim Thome for Jason Giambi (and cost the Wheels 14HRs in production), the home run production of the troika of Corey Koskie, Carlos Lee, and Matt Lawson dropped from a collective 89 HRs in 2001 to 38 in 2002. This turned a good offense into a poor one, and a poor offense was too much for the pitching staff to bear. Darryl Kile, Doug Davis, and Freddy Garcia each won 13 in 2001; in 2002 they combined for 11 wins, 9 from Garcia. Three other signed starters -- Sheets, Ortiz, and Cornejo -- combined for just 11 more. Meanwhile, Glendon Rusch, traded to Rosehaven, won 15 although abetted by a much better offense as well as a more spacious park. The Wheels were no factor, sank quickly, enjoyed a bit of a late season renaissance, but then sank to the cellar at the close of the season.