The Texas Rangers announced Friday that the club has acquired left-handed pitcher Drew Smyly and a player to be named later from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for a player to be named later.
Smyly, 29, has not pitched the past two seasons due to injury. He suffered an elbow injury in March 2017 while with Seattle, leading to 'Tommy John' ligament replacement surgery in June 2017. Signed by the Chicago Cubs to a two-year contract prior to 2018, Smyly progressed to the point where he made a start on injury rehabilitation assignment with South Bend (A) in the Midwest League on August 30 (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 SO). He was formally shut down from any potential return in 2018 on September 10. He is expected to be fully healthy for the start of spring training in 2019.
In his last big league action in 2016, his final season with Tampa Bay, Smyly set career highs in most categories, including starts (30), innings (175.1), and strikeouts (167). He went 5-1 with a 3.73 ERA (29 ER/70.0 IP) over his final 12 starts for the Rays in 2016, the lone loss coming in his most recent MLB outing on September 26, 2016 at Chicago-AL. 
Originally selected by the Tigers in the second round of the 2010 June draft out of the University of Arkansas, the Little Rock native has a career record of 31-27 with a 3.74 ERA over 156 games/85 starts with Detroit (2012-14) and Tampa Bay (2014-16) spanning five major league campaigns. Smyly has held left-handed batters to a slash line of .202/.243/.334/.578 in his MLB career, the 5th-lowest opponents OPS among American League pitchers since the start of 2012 (minimum 500 at-bats). He pitched for Detroit in the 2012 and 2013 postseasons, including a pair of relief outings in the 2012 World Series against San Francisco. Smyly also pitched for Team USA in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.