In 2016 the Detroit Tigers signed free agent Jordan Zimmerman to a 5 year $110 million contract. For the previous seven years, Zimmerman had been a dependable starter for the Washington Nationals winning 19 games in 2013.
The contract with Detroit did not produce positive results. It started very well as Zimmerman was 5-0 with an 0.55 ERA in his first month. However, he got injured and finished the season with a 9-7 record and an ERA of 4.87. After that the results were much worse. Over the 5 years, Zimmerman won a total of 25 games. His total record was 25 -41. HIs lowest ERA in the 5 years was 4.52 and most years it was over 6.00. In 2019 his record was 1-13. In his last year of the contract, he appeared in only 3 games. $110 million for only 25 wins over 5 years is a great example of a Swing Badder contract.
