The Detroit Tigers' first major move of the offseason is upon us. The Tigers and starter Jordan Zimmermann have reportedly agreed to a contract expected to be for five-years in the range of $110 million, according to Fox Sports' Jon Morosi and CBS Sports' Jon Heyman on Sunday.
An All-Star two of the past three seasons, Zimmermann went 13-10 with a 3.66 ERA and 1.205 WHIP in 2015. While he was expected to command a long-term deal heading into free agency, Zimmermann remained underrated enough that his deal was never expected to rise to Max Scherzer levels. He spent each of his first seven MLB seasons with the Nationals, emerging as a beloved figure in the nation's capital.
"It's difficult putting into words the feelings of appreciation I have for the love and support I've felt over the past seven years," Zimmermann said in a tweet by his agent, Mark Pieper. "The same level of commitment and passion that you fans showed me every game I took the ball is what I placed in every pitch I tossed wearing a Nationals uniform."
The Tigers were also attracted to Zimmermann's consistency. Since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2009, he's bounced back with stellar results. He has made at least 32 starts each of the previous four seasons, coming back a much stronger overall pitcher.
Detroit will hope he can continue that trajectory going forward. After taking four straight AL Central crowns, the Tigers nose-dived to last place and a 74-87 record. The pitching staff fell apart without Scherzer, ranking 28th in earned run average, 27th in WHIP and tied for 21st in quality starts. Justin Verlander and David Price, the latter of whom was traded midseason, were the only Tigers starters (min. 20 starts) with ERAs under 4.99.
All of that made Zimmermann an attractive candidate, especially given the club's desire to get back in the division race.
The Nationals were always unlikely to re-sign Zimmermann because they have a glut of arms and were eventually going to make a difficult decision about one of their stars. Even with a large spending budget, inking long-term deals for Zimmermann, Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez and Doug Fister seemed infeasible. Zimmermann especially seemed to be a likely target to move when the Nats shocked the baseball world by signing Scherzer to a seven-year deal.
Allowing Zimmerman to walk frees some long-term cash and allows the Nationals to plot their course going forward. We'll just have to see if the risk of letting his consistency walk comes with a reward.
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