Rangers sign Colby Lewis to worst deal of the winter

Maybe Colby Lewis can be a decent major league pitcher and this will look like a decent deal but the odds are probably against that happening.

After a two year stint in Japan because no one in their right mind would have wanted him on their big league roster Lewis has returned to the US.

In fairness Lewis put up pretty good numbers in Japan but this was Japan after all. Lewis was 15-8 with a 2.68 ERA and a 9.3 K/9 in 2008 for Hiroshimaand had a 2.96 ERA and a 9.49 K/9 in 2009. The problem is he’s done nothing at the major league level being 12-15 with a 6.71 ERA in 217.1 IP spread over five seasons and three organizations in the major leagues.

To hand over a two year a contract worth $5 million and to include up to $500,000 in performance bonus’ for the 30 year old right hander seems absolutely silly to me.

I understand that other organizations were looking into Lewis but I can’t imagine any of them were willing to pay that price. I know the Rangers have felt like they are a mule in a horse race when it comes to signing Japanese pitchers but simply put these type of transactions are exactly the reason why the Rangers are stuck bobbing for second place in the AL West.

Lewis is expected to compete for a spot in the back end of the Rangers rotation, undoubtedly even if he fails to win the job there he’ll have to be put in the bullpen for a while because of the large sum of money he’ll be making.

This deal has all the signs of blowing up before the middle of May. I for one cannot wait until it does.

John Boarman
John Boarmanhttp://www.tireball.com
Founder and Owner of Tireball Sports.

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