He hasn’t pitched in a major league game since July of 2021. He came down with a flexor tendon strain in his throwing arm that May, came back for six starts, felt arm pain again, was dealt to the Dodgers, where he never pitched a game for them. He had surgery that offseason. 

The Dodgers signed him for the 2022 season, expecting him to come back in June, but he had the inevitable setback and wasn’t able to get back on a mound until late August. He made a number of rehab starts in the Dodgers’ minor league system, where he was hit around pretty badly, so the Dodgers chose not to call him up, then released him at the end of the season. 

The Rangers signed him to a minor league deal in January of 2023, where he began the season on the injured list. He started twenty-eight games for Frisco and Round Rock last year, with a decent 3.45 ERA. He was a free agent at the end of the year, and on February 5, the Rangers signed him again to a minor league contract.

Now the thirty-five-year-old lefty is attempting a comeback. The Rangers badly need him to regain his past glory. Okay, glory putting it on too thick. His career ERA is 3.95—nothing to write home about. But that last year with the Royals, in 2021 when his injuries started, he was pitching to a 2.51 ERA when he went down. 

He might never be a front of the rotation guy. But if he can be a fifth starter, that moves Cody Bradford to relief, and it makes the Rangers bullpen much stronger.

He wasn’t able to pitch his way to the Rangers rotation last year. Let’s hope he can this year.