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3 Players Who Won't Be on the Tigers Roster After 2020 Season

By Brendan Balsamo

Jordan Zimmermann will likely say goodbye to Detroit after his fifth year with the team.
Jordan Zimmermann will likely say goodbye to Detroit after his fifth year with the team. / Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

The Detroit Tigers are named in no one's 2020 MLB playoff predictions. After finishing 47-114 in 2019 and showing little improvement in the current offseason, they're probably gonna stick around at the bottom of the standings this season as well, especially considering the dangers of the AL Central. They do have surplus of veteran talent that they can dump in pursuit of their rebuild, however.

With that in mind, it'll be difficult to see this trio still donning the Old English D come 2021.

3. Ivan Nova

Ivan Nova is likely only sticking in Detroit for one year.
Ivan Nova is likely only sticking in Detroit for one year. / Mark Cunningham/Getty Images

After one season with the Chicago White Sox in which he started 34 games and pitched to a 4.72 ERA, Ivan Nova signed a one-year, $1.5 million deal with the Tigers in January. He'll likely slide into the fourth spot in the rotation and mostly project as an innings-eater in Detroit, as he posted a career high in starts and tied his career high in innings with 187 in 2019. He hasn't put up an ERA under 4.00 since 2016, so he's not a guy to keep in the rotation for longer than a year at this point, especially now that he's 33 years old and not getty any younger.

2. CJ Cron

CJ Cron has come to the Tigers from the Twins after hitting 25 home runs in 2019.
CJ Cron has come to the Tigers from the Twins after hitting 25 home runs in 2019. / Mark Cunningham/Getty Images

CJ Cron stayed in the AL Central after coming from the Minnesota Twins on a one-year, $6.1 million deal. Cron will provide some much needed power to a Tigers team that hit the second-least home runs in the MLB in 2019. With Minnesota, he hit 25 homers and had 78 RBI on a record-setting team; if he hits like that again in 2020, you can expect him to try and look for big-time money in free agency before the 2021 season. The Tigers will likely be unwilling to pay him what he'd desire considering they're still rebuilding. Expect 2020 to be his only year in Detroit.

1. Jordan Zimmermann

Jordan Zimmermann hasn't lived up to his contract and will likely throw his last inning in Detroit in 2020.
Jordan Zimmermann hasn't lived up to his contract and will likely throw his last inning in Detroit in 2020. / Jason O. Watson/Getty Images

After posting five straight seasons of a sub-4.00 ERA with the Washington Nationals, it seemed like the right move for the Tigers to sign Jordan Zimmermann to a five-year, $110 million contract. In the first four years oft that deal, however, he hasn't put up an ERA of less than 4.50, including two seasons up over 6.00. Those are abysmal numbers for a guy making $25 million in 2020. Unless this season is somehow a complete turnaround for Zimmermann, his days in Detroit should be considered numbered.