The Detroit Tigers have reportedly made the first major free agent signing of the MLB offseason.
Multiple reports indicated Sunday morning that Detroit has signed former Washington Nationals ace Jordan Zimmermann to a five-year, $110 million contract:
Zimmermann, 29, finished among the top seven in NL Cy Young voting in both 2013 and 2014 before struggling a bit this past season.
Washington's top pitcher those two seasons, Zimmermann posted 33 wins compared to 14 losses with an ERA under three and a WHIP of below 1.10.
This comes a year after Washington offered Zimmermann a five-year, $105 million deal, which is an indication that a down 2015 season (3.66 ERA, 1.21 WHIP) didn't necessarily have a negative impact on his value.
While this is somewhat of a big loss for the Nationals, they pretty much guaranteed Zimmermann wouldn't return when they signed Max Scherzer to a seven-year, $210 million contract last winter.
For the Tigers, this was a much needed win in free agency. Here's a team that finished in last place this past season with a 74-87 record. After years of domination in the rotation, they didn't have a single pitcher record more than 13 wins on the season.
Zimmermann immediately takes over as Detroit's ace, pretty much throwing out any thought that this team was going to go into full-scale rebuild mode.