ESPN.com, citing an unidentified source, reported the financial terms at $110 million over five years. I think part of the reason it got done quickly is because Jordan, I feel, this is where he wanted to play.
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The real question Zimmermann will have to answer in Detroit: What did the Tigers get? He was traded at the deadline from Detroit to Toronto.
This offseason’s first major move features the Tigers addressing their starting rotation.
The Detroit Tigers aren’t done searching for starting pitching. Recently, they traded for veteran closer Francisco Rodriguez and outfielder Cameron Maybin. He’ll earn $18 million in each of the next two seasons, $24 million in 2018 and $25 million in each of the final two years. Last season, he posted a 3.66 ERA with a 7.3 strikeouts per nine innings in 33 starts over 201 1/3 innings. Zimmermann’s agent further elaborated on how the deal transpired by saying that the first conversation took place in day one of free agency.
That leaves the St. Louis Cardinals with a top-shelf pitching market of Zach Grienke, who should be written off as a Los Angeles Dodger already, David Price, Johnny Cueto and … that’s it. Deep breaths everyone. “He’s a top of the rotation type talen we’ve been targeting this offseason”.
Listen, we know it’s tough to catch up on everything happening in the baseball world each morning. The Tigers are expected to pick ninth in next year’s draft, but the first 10 picks are protected. It remains to be seen if all that went into Zimmermann’s contract.
Zimmermann, 29, has spent the last seven seasons with the Washington Nationals. This is really a dream come true. In 2014 – the best season of his career – he was throwing his fastball 71 percent of the time, but throttled that back to 63 percent in 2015.
Now Avila, Dombrowski’s longtime assistant, is the GM, and the team apparently still had a decent amount of financial flexibility coming into this offseason. Since the Dodgers are nearing their luxury tax threshold, an elite starter like Price or Greinke might be out of their reach. “Because he was our top target and it’s very rare when you say to the owner, ‘This is the guy we’re going to get, we may not end up getting him, ‘ but it’s a pretty good feeling so thanks to Mr. Ilitch, we were able to do that”.
“It means a lot”, Zimmermann said.
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All along, the Tigers have acknowledged they were looking to bolster the rotation. As such, Zimmermann can help this team substantially even if he’s no better than what he was in 2015: about a three-win starter who fills 200 innings.
