NL Central rival steals Brewers' 2025 pitching depth piece in latest transaction

It takes a village to get through the 162-game MLB regular season. Through the trials and tribulations, injuries, and Triple-A call-ups, 55 players ended up donning the Milwaukee Brewers' jersey at one point or another last season. Some, like team leaders William Contreras and Christian Yelich, were on the roster all season, impressively avoiding the Injured List for the entirety of the more than six-month-long campaign. Others appeared in just one game for the Brew Crew in 2025, but their contributions all added up to an impressive 97 regular season wins that led all of baseball.

One of those players who made just one appearance for the MLB-best Brewers in 2025 was starting pitcher Bruce Zimmermann. The Brewers added Zimmermann to their organization in December of 2024, hoping that he could serve as valuable starting pitching depth in the minor leagues. After appearing in parts of four seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, with his peak workload coming in 2023 when he tossed 73.2 innings, having a starting pitcher with big-league experience on their Triple-A squad was valuable for the Brewers, despite Zimmermann not having too much success during his sporadic major league career; the southpaw held a career 5.57 ERA before joining the Brewers.

Despite the Brewers sustaining a swath of starting pitching injuries at the beginning of the season, Zimmermann's name wasn't called upon, and when Milwaukee's rotation depth got healthy, his chances of cracking the big-league roster looked very slim. However, during the final month of the season, when the Brewers were resting some of their key pitchers for the postseason, Zimmermann stepped up and covered six innings in a start against the San Diego Padres on September 23. It wasn't the best showing for the 30-year-old Zimmermann -- he surrendered five earned runs, including two homers in a 0-7 loss for the Crew -- but the innings he covered were important for a pitching staff in desperate need of rest before their postseason run.

The Brewers designated Zimmermann for assignment after the start, but he cleared waivers and remained with the organization for the final week of the season. At the completion of the campaign, he became a free agent, and now he has earned a new opportunity with one of the Brewers' NL Central rivals.

St. Louis Cardinals sign former Brewer Bruce Zimmermann to a minor league contract

Zimmermann lands with the St. Louis Cardinals on a minor league deal after his performance in 2025 left much to be desired. His "kitchen-sink" arsenal of pitches, which includes two fastball shapes that barely crack the 90 mph threshold, doesn't overpower hitters, but it does have the ability to keep them off-balance and produce some soft contact.

Where Zimmermann excels is with his command. He maintained an impressive 5.2% walk rate in Triple-A last season and consistently posted above-league-average Location+ grades during his time in Baltimore. Even still, without an ability to miss more bats, it's difficult to see Zimmermann ever progressing past a back-end big league starter at best.

It would be a shock to see him make the Cardinals' Opening Day roster out of spring training, but with St. Louis currently going through a rebuild, it's not entirely impossible. More likely, St. Louis will elect to give playing time to the young arms they have acquired from the Boston Red Sox this offseason, and the homegrown starters rising through their farm system. However, when injuries inevitably arise, it's certainly a possibility that the Brewers find themselves facing off with an old friend in a divisional match-up at some point during the 2026 campaign.