Rangers sign Patrick Corbin to 1-year deal

The Texas Rangers have signed veteran left-hander Patrick Corbin to a one-year contract, the club announced.

Corbin's deal is worth a little more than $1 million in guaranteed money and contains additional incentive clauses, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported.

To make room for Corbin on the 40-man roster, Texas moved right-hander Jon Gray to the 60-day injured list. Gray fractured his wrist during a recent spring game, and he will be re-evaluated in six weeks after a full shutdown, the Rangers announced Tuesday.

Corbin's arrival at camp is delayed because his wife is due to give birth at some point in the next two days, president of baseball operations Chris Young said, according to Kennedi Landry of MLB.com. It's likely he'll meet his new team in Texas ahead of the Rangers' final exhibition games March 24 and 25 at Globe Life Field.

The 35-year-old spent the past six seasons with the Washington Nationals, who signed him to a $140-million deal after his 2018 All-Star campaign. He played an integral role in Washington's 2019 World Series championship.

However, his production fell off dramatically over the final five years of his contract. Corbin's 5.62 ERA since 2020 is the highest in the majors over that span, and he led the NL in losses during three of the past four seasons, including a 19-loss campaign in 2022.

Despite his overall struggles, Corbin has remained a durable pitcher, making at least 32 starts in every 162-game season since 2017 and throwing 170-plus innings six times. His lifetime 1,892 1/3 innings rank 10th among active pitchers. This was an attractive quality for the Rangers after they lost Gray and Cody Bradford to injuries this spring, and they have two members of their rotation (Tyler Mahle and Jacob deGrom) coming off elbow surgeries.

"Signing a Patrick Corbin was an opportunity to bring in somebody who has really been an innings stabilizer over the past 10-plus years and a veteran player, competitor, by all accounts (who) just (has) a winning personality," Young told reporters, per Jared Sandler of 105.3 The Fan. "He's gonna fit in the clubhouse well and gives us added protection (against injuries).

"We also believe that there's some things we saw in the second half of last year with his performance that indicate he can continue that, and be a very serviceable major-league starting pitcher, which we need right now."

Adding Corbin also means top prospect Kumar Rocker can start his season in the minors. Rocker, who made his MLB debut last season, has endured a rough spring, posting a 22.85 ERA in three Cactus League starts.

Corbin owns a lifetime 103-131 record with a 4.51 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, and 1,729 strikeouts across 12 big-league seasons with the Nationals and Arizona Diamondbacks. The two-time All-Star's best season came with Arizona in 2018, when he finished fifth in NL Cy Young voting.