The Brewers have signed veteran right-hander Jordan Zimmermann to a minor league contract and invited him to Major League Spring Training, per a team announcement. It’s a homecoming for the Auburndale native and UW-Stevens Point product. He’s represented by ISE Baseball.
Zimmemann, 35 in May, had a much different free-agent experience this time around than his he did in his first foray into the open market, when he was one of the top names available in the 2015-16 offseason. He’d put together an excellent five-year run with the Nationals leading up to that free-agent venture, but the resulting five-year, $110MM investment from the Tigers proved to be a disaster for the Detroit organization.
Three of Zimmerman’s five seasons in Detroit ended with an ERA north of 6.00, including a 2020 season in which he was limited to just 5 2/3 innings. The right-hander’s best year with the Tigers came in 2018, when he tossed 131 1/3 roughly average innings — far from the No. 2/No. 3 type of starter the Tigers hoped to be getting in signing him to that nine-figure deal. On the whole, Zimmermann’s time with the Tigers produced 514 1/3 innings of 5.63 ERA ball with a similarly discouraging 4.80 SIERA and a lackluster 16.3 percent strikeout rate.
For the Brewers, however, there’s no risk in taking a speculative flier on a pitcher who, at least from 2011-15, was one of the game’s more underrated arms. A return to that form shouldn’t be expected — not when his average fastball has dipped about four miles per hour as he’s weathered forearm, back, shoulder and UCL injuries in the past half decade. But Zimmermann’s control remained excellent throughout his Tigers tenure, and he can still generate above-average spin on that depleted four-seamer. If he indeed makes the Brewers’ roster, it’s unlikely to be with the expectation of serving as anything more than a fifth starter or swingman.
Nats signed Scherzer over him…..YAY
Not really. They played together in Washington in 2015.
More like Tigers signed him rather then Scherzer.
I knew this was going to happen like 3 years ago because when he was a free agent he wanted to sign or find away to become a Brewer. Good for him maybe it will help him turn his luck around on the mound
More to come? One paragraph was plenty.
Brewers have always had a decent reputation of turning junk into treaure. maybe he could be a bullpen piece if he has a decent spring. if not, can always cut him. everyone laughed when they traded for Pomeranz at the dealine as being a non impact move-now look at him
Oakland does better than them at signing undervalued talent.
Oakland definitely does. they are a run well organization
It’s all fun and games till you see the price tag…
It’s a minor league contract.
It’s a *Jordan Zimmermann* minor-league contract.
you have some of the oddest and worst takes on this site dude.
just relax and enjoy the Gallo and Khris Davis 400 combined Ks this year
It’s weird how a simple joke on here turns somebody into an “idiot”. He’s coming off of a historically bad contract, and I was joking by saying “just see the price tag”. That’s all.
Btw, I’ll enjoy the K’s.
I’m not sure what you mean by that… they can always cut him. He may not even make the Majors.
Jokes are usually funny – if they lack humor it probably can’t be called a joke.
Glad that Jordan Zimmermann could return home with his riches and maybe try for one more summer in the sun with the Brewers. Though, I have a feeling that this signing could only move the needle one way: down! When Zimmermann signed that terrible (for the team) 5 yr/$110M deal just before Thanksgiving 2015, the Tigers had to expect better than a 5.63 ERA, a 25-41 record, 618 HA, and a 368/123 K/BB over 514 IP. Yes, he was 33-14 for the Nationals in 2013-2014, making the all star team both seasons with a 2.96/1.08 ERA/WHIP. He was starting to lose velocity in his final season with the Nats (2015) but did lead the NL with 33 GS that season.
Wouldn’t expect much, but heck, it’s just a minor-league depth signing!
He was the Barry Zito of the Detroit Tigers. A minor league signing is ok but I doubt he makes any real impact.
Much worse than Barry Zito, at least he gave some quality starts here and there. Zimmerman was a flat out disaster.
It was funny/strange when the highly paid Barry Zito was left off one of the post-season rosters. Though, Zito did have a few post-season moments and compared to Zimmermann’s tenure with the Tigers, Zito would be a first ballot HOFer. Maybe the only worse signing than Zimmermann in recent memory was the 7 yr/$161M that the O’s bestowed on Chris Davis.
Funny/Strange-Gordon?
I dunno.
As a Tiger fan, I hold no real animosity towards JZ. He was simply injured all the time. Hard to get mad at a player who is never on the field. The reason Chris Davis gets the hate is he is still in the lineup trying, where he’s visible. Both are bad contracts.
Too charitable, Stymee. I’m a Tiger fan too. JZ always had that angry look on his face as if his failure was due to bad fielding or blown calls by the umps. He was a disaster almost every game he pitched other than April 2016 when he was quite good before going down with the first of his many injuries.
The only good thing to come from the signing is that it set the precedent for not signing aging pitchers to long-term, expensive deals.
Before Zimm got hurt he was dealing the first couple months of his stint in Detroit. It’s too bad. He was damn good in Washington.
Correct. Fans forget he was an ace for his first Tiger month.
Thereafter it was oh the humanity. He blew out his neck in week 5 or so, permanently aggravating a preexisting malady.
This signing was expected and is just a home-state Hail Mary. If he makes the big leagues at all this season, that can only mean the Brewers are abysmal.
I continue to stand by my prediction that the Brewers will win the NL Central. However, the Brewers did not get better today by signing Jordan Zimmerman.
Zimmerman can basically take Brett Anderson’s role as veteran 5th starter if he’s healthy. If not send him home.
Zimmerman is not a guy you want on the bump every 5th day unless you are ok with 5 runs in 4 innings of work pretty much every time he takes the ball.
So he could be the #3 starter on the Cubs.
Good for him. He was terrific in his first month in Detroit. Saw him pitch on opening day that year. Then the neck injury happened and he has never been the same. But he was a stand up guy the entire time. Never made excuses and fully accepted the expectation that he should pitch better because of the size of his contract. His failure was not due to effort because he put everything he had into trying to get better. I doubt he will be able to make it back to be an effective MLB pitcher unless it is in a limited role as a reliever. Even then, the odds are against him. But I will be pulling for him to defy the odds.
TigerDoc –
I’ll be pulling for him too….as unlikely as any success is. This really speaks to his love for the game. Zimmerman doesn’t need to do ANYTHING anymore with all the money he’s collected, yet he’s still giving it everything he can, even on a minor league deal for relative peanuts, just because he loves to play baseball. Meanwhile, clowns like Scooter Gennett refuse to play for less than a $3 million (or whatever) MLB contract, coming off multiple miserable seasons, and hasn’t been heard from since. I appreciate the passion for the game in Zimmerman
Some guys don’t know when to retire.
Captain Pierce was a strong man strong as any man alive Stuck in his craw that they made him retire at the age of 65
How did he get away from the halos?Slipping Artie,he’s your kind of analytics.Pitcher with a pulse!
Wouldn’t be the first washed up starter to tack a few years onto the end of his career coming out of the bullpen. Literally no risk in bringing him in for a look.
I like the low risk high reward aspect. He was great, he’s from Wisconsin and even if he’s just ok he’ll be a fan favorite
Ohhh look, Jordan just cut his hand on his toilet paper roll, out for the year.
Hard to say he makes the team unless his fastball is back up to the 94 range.
Glad he gets one more shot. I still have a photo and plaque of him when he threw the first no-hitter in Nats history on the last game of the season!
Loved him when he was a Nat, but I’m not so sure he had much left at this point. And he is highly likely to get injured.