Former Orioles fan favorite gets yanked around in Cardinals' latest roster move

The Baltimore Orioles burned through a lot of pitchers during their embarrassing tank seasons. With the constant churn of arms, it was sometimes hard for fans to grow attached to anyone on the mound. Ellicott City native and lifelong Orioles fan Bruce Zimmermann managed to become a fan favorite while hanging around the Orioles in a few different roles for four years despite struggling to produce on the mound.

The highlight of Zimmermann's Orioles career was probably a seven-start stretch to begin the 2022 season where he put up a 2.72 ERA. It quickly went south after that, as Zimmermann made six more starts for the Orioles that season at a 9.79 ERA before being optioned and converted to a reliever.

Bruce Zimmermann is still hanging aorund after the Orioles gave up on him

Zimmermann pitched just 13 innings out of the bullpen in 2023 and then spent the entire 2024 season in the minors before electing free agency. He made a cameo for the Brewers last season, where he basically just ate six innings in a 0-7 loss to the Padres to help preserve the Brewers' rotation as they prepared for the playoffs.

That kind of usage can be hard to stomach for a player who at one point was part of an MLB rotation, even if it was a historically bad rotation. It's not a glamorous role being a triple-A depth reliever who gets called up for a spot start and then immediately DFA'd, but it is a role that teams need, and Zimmermann is in the process of making a career out of being that guy.

Zimmermann is currently that guy for the Cardinals, and yesterday might have been the most brutal example of how life as a minor league depth pitcher goes. Zimmermann was added to the roster the morning of the first game of a doubleheader, pitched five innings of three-run ball (still an Orioles starter at heart), and then was DFA'd in between games to make room for another arm. In total, he was a big leaguer for less than 10 hours.  

That's the life of a pitcher on the very outer fringes of the major leagues. There was nothing Zimmermann could do in those five innings that would have made it so the Cardinals wouldn't have DFA'd him, just like there was nothing he could have done in the six innings he pitched for the Brewers last year that would have made them add him to the playoff roster. It's not romantic, but it's a job.

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