The Rangers introduced that they’ve signed left-hander Patrick Corbin to a one-year main league deal. The ISE Baseball shopper’s actual assure isn’t publicly identified however Jon Heyman of The New York Submit experiences that it is going to be a barely greater than $1MM, with incentives value round one million as properly. Righty Jon Grey was transferred to the 60-day injured checklist because the corresponding transfer.
For the Rangers, this may look like a quantity-over-quality transfer. Corbin’s previous few years haven’t been good on a charge foundation, however he has been an efficient innings-eater for the Nationals. The southpaw signed a six-year, $140MM cope with Washington going into 2019. He had simply wrapped up a stellar season for the 2018 Diamondbacks, tossing 200 innings with a 3.15 earned run common. Whereas his strikeout charge had beforehand hovered round 20%, he punched out 30.8% of opponents that 12 months.
His first 12 months as a Nat may hardly have gone a lot better. He logged 202 innings over 33 begins within the common season with a 3.25 ERA, 28.5% strikeout charge, 8.4% stroll charge and 49.5% floor ball charge. He logged one other 23 1/3 innings within the postseason because the Nats charged all the way in which to the World Collection and received all of it for the primary time in franchise historical past.
However his outcomes declined in 2020 and by no means actually recovered. His strikeout charge fell to twenty.3% that 12 months and his ERA climbed to 4.66. Within the 4 full seasons since then, he has a mixed 5.71 ERA, 17.7% strikeout charge and seven.3% stroll charge. He didn’t put up an ERA beneath 5.20 in any of these 4 campaigns.
However as alluded to earlier, he no less than compiled bulk innings for the Nats. He has really been about as dependable as a pitcher might be over the previous decade. He missed the 2014 season resulting from Tommy John surgical procedure. He was activated in July of 2015 and tossed 85 innings that 12 months. The Snakes used him as a swingman in 2016, with Corbin logging 155 2/3 innings that 12 months over 24 begins and 12 reduction appearances. Since then, he has made no less than 31 begins and logged no less than 171 innings in each full season, along with making 11 begins within the shortened 2020 season. Any pitcher can get harm at any time, but it surely’s laborious to discover a higher observe document of well being in as we speak’s sport. From 2016 to 2024, Corbin’s 1,492 innings are second in baseball behind Aaron Nola.
A reliable back-end starter has some comprehensible attraction to the Rangers. The aforementioned Grey suffered a wrist fracture and goes to be out for a fairly some time. Right this moment’s switch to the 60-day IL means a return in late Could is the best-case state of affairs. Cody Bradford is shut down with some elbow soreness and confronted an unsure path again to well being.
They may nonetheless have a reliable rotation with out these two, although there are questions with every candidate. Nathan Eovaldi has been largely wholesome for the previous few years however has two Tommy John surgical procedures on his observe document and is now 35 years previous. Jacob deGrom has missed many of the previous two seasons resulting from Tommy John surgical procedure and had loads of points earlier than that as properly. He hasn’t gone previous 92 innings in a season since 2019 and turns 37 in June. Tyler Mahle additionally missed many of the previous two seasons resulting from Tommy John surgical procedure and has been battling forearm soreness in camp.
Prospect Kumar Rocker is a candidate to step up and take a job however he additionally missed many of the previous two years resulting from his personal TJS. Jack Leiter is impressing in camp however management nonetheless appears to be a difficulty, because it has been all through his minor league profession. Dane Dunning is coming off a tough 12 months, as is non-roster invitee Adrian Houser.
A man like Corbin taking the ball with regularity might be helpful for a gaggle like that with so many query marks. It’s additionally attainable that he’s been higher in recent times than it could seem. As talked about, he has a 5.71 ERA over the previous 4 years. Nevertheless, his .328 batting common on balls in play and 67.4% strand charge had been each on the unfortunate facet. His 4.99 FIP and 4.60 SIERA in that span counsel his ERA might need been inflated by a few full run. The Nationals had a team-wide -82 Defensive Runs Saved and -96 Outs Above Common throughout that four-year span, maybe explaining a few of the dangerous luck and further runs crossing the plate.
If Corbin can take the ball and supply half-decent innings, that might be helpful to the Rangers, particularly at this worth level. They’re clearly making an attempt to keep away from the aggressive stability tax in 2025, which has largely restricted them to pretty modest dealings this offseason. RosterResource tasks their CBT quantity at $235MM, solely about $6MM beneath this 12 months’s $241MM base threshold of the tax. Corbin’s wage received’t transfer that very a lot, since he’s barely making greater than the $760K league minimal.
Presumably, Corbin received’t be an possibility for the Rangers instantly. He’ll want a number of weeks to get himself into sport form, so he’ll doubtless begin the season on the injured checklist, or maybe he’ll consent to a short optionally available task to start out the 12 months. President of baseball operations Chris Younger tells Kennedi Landry of MLB.com that Corbin’s spouse is because of have a child within the subsequent 24 to 48 hours, so he received’t even be becoming a member of the membership in Arizona. He’ll as a substitute be a part of the membership in Texas after they break camp.
Till Corbin is prepared, the Rangers will doubtless give Rocker and Leiter some legit probabilities at locking down jobs. If these don’t work or different harm conditions pop up, Corbin will slot into the rotation combine and ideally stabilize issues.
Images courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski and Geoff Burke of Imagn Pictures.
