November 29, 2015: Five years, $110 million. That is the contract that the Detroit Tigers gave starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann.
Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a mulligan in the world of baseball contracts.
When Al Avila made the signing, there honestly were not many red flags. Zimmermann did undergo Tommy John surgery in 2009, but was showing zero ill effects from it. In fact, he had won a total of 47 games for the Washington Nationals over the course of the past three seasons when he first donned the Old English D.
His first season with the Tigers (which was also his first season in the American League) wasn’t a complete failure. 9-7 with a fairly lofty 4.87 ERA. Ok, not great, but he’ll be better next year, right? Well, next season (2017) saw him go 8-13 with a 6.08 ERA, AND also more earned runs than any other pitcher in baseball that season. He then turned in a 7-8 year last season with a 4.52 ERA, which was his best season with the team, and even then it wasn’t all that great.
If you were on the fence about him coming in to this season, his first 12 starts with the team this year might be enough to put you over the edge. Zero wins, seven losses, and 7.51 ERA. Plus, a WHIP (walks and hits divided by innings pitched) of 1.686. That means he’s allowing almost two baserunners PER INNING!
With his on-average salary of $22 million a season, it’s very easy to expect more than this from Zimmermann. A lot more, actually. Just think, he’s made $66 million (plus whatever amount he has made to this point of the current season) to win a grand total of 24 games with the Tigers.
I do understand that pitchers have bad seasons. It’s something that simply happens from time to time. Even pitchers like Justin Verlander have had seasons that some would consider as terrible. But, this is more than just a rough stretch. Zimmermann has consistently shown over the past 2.5 seasons that not only is he not going to live up to his massive contract, but as time has moved forward in those seasons, that he is hardly worth a big league roster spot anymore. Whether it be via DFA, trade, or a straight release, the time has come for the Tigers to move on from Jordan Zimmermann.
