Rangers sign RHP Colby Lewis to one-year contract for 2013 Season
Club’s all-time postseason wins leader was eligible for free agency at end of 2012
Arlington, Texas – The Texas Rangers announced today that the club has signed right-handed pitcher Colby Lewis to a one-year contact for the 2013 season. Financial terms were not disclosed, per club policy.
Lewis, 33, was placed on the 15-day disabled list on July 23 (retroactive to July 19), and had surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon in his right elbow on July 27. He was transferred to the 60-day disabled list on August 2. He was also on the disabled list from June 24-July 18. The Rangers’ Opening Day starter this year, Lewis went 6-6 with a 3.43 ERA (40 ER/105.0 IP) in 16 games/starts for Texas in 2012.
He has gone 4-1 with a 2.34 ERA (13 ER/50.0 IP) in 8 career postseason starts, all with Texas in 2010-11. He has the most career postseason wins of any player in Washington/Texas franchise history (1961-2012), and ranks 2nd in innings and strikeouts (44). His 2.34 ERA in the playoffs is the 2nd-lowest among all active pitchers with 50.0-or-more innings behind only Mariano Rivera (0.70). He was the winning pitching in series-clinching Game 6 of the 2010 American League Championship Series against New York-AL, when Texas secured its first-ever A.L. pennant.
Lewis signed back with Texas on January 19, 2010, a two-year contract covering 2010 and 2011 with a club option for 2012. He pitched for Nippon Professional Baseball’s Hiroshima Carp in 2008-09. Originally selected by Texas in the supplemental first round (38th overall) of the 1999 June draft, Lewis spent the first six years of his professional career in the Texas organization. He made the Rangers’ Opening Day roster in 2002, won 10 games for the club in 2003, and then missed most of 2004-05 with shoulder injuries. His 10 wins led all American League rookies in 2003. He has gone 44-44 with a 4.76 ERA (383 ER/723.2 IP) in 152 games/114 starts in his big league career with Texas (2002-04; 2010-12), Detroit (2006), and Oakland (2007).
With the Rangers, Lewis has a 44-42 career record with a 4.68 ERA (355 ER/683.0 IP) in 124 games/113 starts. He has gone 32-29 with a 3.93 ERA (221 ER/506.1 IP) in 80 games/starts since rejoining the club prior to the 2010 campaign. He ranks among Rangers all-time leaders in strikeouts (11th, 585), wins (16th, 44), and starts (14th, 113). His 80 starts the past 3 seasons are easily the most among Rangers, and, despite the time missed this year, his 32 wins in that span rank 2nd to only Matt Harrison (34).