Texas Rangers Sign Free Agent All-Star Pitcher to Lucrative Deal

The Texas Rangers have made a major move less than 10 days away from the season.

Sep 26, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Nationals starting pitcher Patrick Corbin (46) pitches against the Kansas City Royals during the sixth inning at Nationals Park. | Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

The Texas Rangers have made a major move late in the game and have added to their pitching staff.

According to an announcement from the team, the Rangers have signed former Washington Nationals and Arizona Diamondbacks free agent All-Star left-hander pitcher Patrick Corbin to a one-year deal.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post has reported the deal is worth slightly over $1 million in guaranteed money and contains "a few million" in other incentives which will likely be both performance and innings based.

While Corbin has struggled mightily over the last several seasons, he also throws some of the highest inning totals in all of baseball, something Texas is in desperate need of right now with so many injuries on the pitching staff.

Though his 5.71 ERA in 126 starts since 2021 don't inspire hope Corbin can get back to the All-Star caliber ace he was throughout the 2010s, the left-hander has shown the best ability a pitcher can have consistently: availabilty.

With the Corbin news, the Rangers have also placed right-hander Jon Gray on the 60-day injured list with a fractured wrist according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.

Signing Corbin, while certainly not a move which is going to light a fire underneath the fanbase, was clearly an indicator that the team knows Gray is going to be back anytime soon.

Over the last three seasons with Texas, Gray has made 72 starts and has posted an ERA of 4.16, and while Corbin's numbers have been worse than that in the same time period, being able to eat innings is unfortunately something the Rangers may be in desperate need of.

With both Gray and left-hander Cody Bradford out for the foreseeable future, a steady and experienced hand like the 35-year-old Corbin can come in and perhaps at least keep things afloat until Texas can get their stars back.