Signing one of the worst pitchers in baseball isn't a solution to Rangers' issues

With key injuries to key contributors early in spring training to Jon Gray and Cody Bradford, the Rangers were forced into a tough decision, they needed to fill innings.

This is what brings us to Tuesday when the Rangers annouced the signing of lefty Patrick Corbin to a one-year deal. Corbin threw 507 innings over the last three years, so it does help alleviate the pain but still makes no sense.

Corbin has been nothing short of terrible the last three years of in Washington. His ERA, strikeouts, home runs allowed and walks per nine innings are terrible and his advanced stats are even worse, he also allows a lot of baserunners and surrenders runs at a high rate. There hasn't been a highlight since winning the 2019 World Series with the Nationals.

This comes off as a cry for help and a temporary stop to a potential long term problem with the injuries and it's taking away from what should be the real talking point this season, the offense.

Gray hit the injured list with the addition of Corbin on Tuesday and Bradford's timeline is a bit more uncertain. Tyler Mahle, who was scratched from his start on March 11 but returned to the mound on Tuesday and pitched six innings, surrendering two runs and striking out six batters. While none of the injuries that are year long currently, there is concern one of them may be more than projected.

Bradford had elbow discomfort that will be will be shut down for four weeks then reevaluated to determine the best course of action for his return. All of this has complied quickly for the Rangers which caused them to need quality innings eaters but there are certainly better options than Corbin.

Is the main rotation of Nathan Eovaldi, Dane Dunning, Leiter, Corbin and Tyler Mahle really the rotation Chris Young and Bruce Bochy want to run out there to begin the season?

deGrom has been injured almost his entire tenure, Kumar Rocker has terrible numbers this spring and Jack Leiter has been disappointing outside of his solid spring, but the latter two might get a rotation spot based off the uncertainty of the rotation.

Another name worth mentioning is Adrian Houser, who is looking for a spot in the rotation and is playing like he should get the spot. His performance this spring makes the addition of Corbin is puzzling since it could lead to Houser getting the short-end of the stick.

The Corbin signing doesn't move the needle to the pitching problems and it seems only health and a trade deadline move will be necessary for Texas to reach their World Series potential. If that's the case, why didn't they bypass Corbin and hit the market now?

There are many prospects in our farm system that have no clear path to the majors based on the current roster construction. and it would be worth it to trade them now and capitalize on the potential of this team that Corbin can't do. My personal picks would be Sandy Alcantara, Sonny Gray or Dylan Cease.

If Texas is looking to get the most out of a deal, they should consider trading with the St. Louis Cardinals who have plenty of options in Gray, Erik Fedde, Steven Matz and Andre Pallanete. Maybe Chris Young can even convince St. Louis to send Ryan Helsely as well to bolster the bullpen.

While unlikely, they can also go outside the box and acquire an arm like David Festa, Jose Quintana, Brandon Woodruff, Chris Bassitt or Bailey Ober.

However, the trade market right now is usually ice cold until final roster cuts are made before Opening Day. This may be the plan to add more arms as guys opt-out of minor league deals with other teams.

The signing of arguably the worst pitcher in the MLB is a cry for help to me. It's puzzling to see why you would put a risk in the starting rotation to give up six runs every start while you are trying to contend.

At the end of the day, this is an incredibly disappointing move when not only the trade market was in play but also when Texas has promising non-roster invitee arms that have been performing and would be a better choice. While there is a chance that Corbin recaptures his form in Texas under pitching coach Mike Maddux, there is still little reason to believe it.