In 1987 the Tigers were fighting for the playoffs so they made a trade with the Braves. The Tigers acquired 36-year old righty starting pitcher Doyle Alexander for a little known prospect named John Smoltz. Alexander started 16 games for the Braves before coming to the Tigers and he was 5-10 with a 4.13 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP. But, Alexander turned things around with the Tigers starting 11 games for them in which he was 9-0 with a 1.53 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP. He went on to lose Game #1 and #5 of the American League Championship Series to the Twins that season. He started 2 games in that series and he was 0-2 with a 10.00 ERA and a 1.67 WHIP. In three years with the Tigers, Alexander started 78 games in which he was 29-29 with a 3.91 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP.
If the Tigers only knew what they had in John Smoltz. Smoltz has pitched in 723 games (481 starts) in his major league career and he is 213-155 with 154 saves, a 3.33 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. He has also whiffed 3,084 batters in his major league career to date which is the 16th highest total in major league history. Smoltz won the Cy Young Award during the 1996 season with the Braves. In 1996, Smoltz pitched in 35 games (all starts) and he was 24-8 with a 2.94 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. He only allowed 199 hits in 1996 in 253 2/3 innings while whiffing 278 batters! That’s not all though as Smoltz is one of the best pitchers in post season history. He has pitched in 41 games (27 starts) in the post-season and he is 15-4 with 4 saves, a 2.67 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP. It’s hard to fault the Tigers for making this trade as it was in the heat of a pennant race. The problem was that they didn’t do a good enough job of scouting their own prospects to know what they had in Smoltz.
