Blue Jays ink ex-Nationals pitcher who signed one of the worst deals in team history

They say "flags fly forever" and while that's certainly true in the case of the Washington Nationals and their 2019 World Series Championship, one of the long-lasting ill effects was signing a pitcher who just couldn't repeat his success from that magical year. Patrick Corbin, who signed a six-year $140 million deal going into 2019, pitched like an ace en-route to the team winning their first ever championship.

Unfortunately, he hasn't pitched like that since then, and while he's been a part of some truly awful teams over that time, the 35-year-old was never able to live up to that deal. However, for a million dollars plus incentives, it looks like a signing that can't really hurt the Toronto Blue Jays...can it?

Blue Jays injuries force them to dip their toes into the free agent pitching market again

The Blue Jays spent all offseason adding pitching. From top tier names like Dylan Cease, Cody Ponce and Max Scherzer, to less heralded players like Spencer Miles, and Joe Mantiply - the Blue Jays seemingly left no stone unturned in their search to add depth to their club. And despite that extensive search, the Blue Jays got through one whole week of regular season baseball before they needed to dip their toes back into the free agent waters and reel in another fish.

This time, they hooked Corbin on a one-year $1 million deal, plus incentives according the Sportsnet reporter Ben Nicholson-Smith. Corbin played with the Texas Rangers last year and the results were not great. He threw 155.1 innings and allowed 161 hits, allowed 21 home runs and had a 1.36 WHIP with a 3.0 BB/9 rate.

And that's pretty much been par for the course for Corbin ever since 2019. That year with the Nationals he was worth 5.1 bWAR, starting 33 games in the regular season and throwing 202 innings. He had 238 strikeouts that year and finished fifth in the National League Cy Young award race. Over the next seven seasons he's been worth -2.6 bWAR and has accumulated a 5.41 ERA. But to Corbin's credit, he ate up a ton of innings and was an absolute workhorse on a Nationals team that basically has been rebuilding since that championship year.

Corbin has pitched 900 innings since the 2020 season, including 167 starts. He made 11 in that shortened season in 2020, and hasn't made less than 30 in a full season since then, throwing at least 150 innings in those years. But he's also allowed over 200 hits three times, leading the league in that category twice, while also leading the league in earned runs three times, and home runs allowed once.

But maybe, getting a few reps with the Blue Jays can revitalize him. The Blue Jays have lost Cody Ponce for what could be the entire season, and other pitchers such as Trey Yesavage, José Berrios and Shane Bieber are ramping up slowly before they make their season debuts. So there is an opportunity to jump into a rotation spot in the very immediate future and Corbin doesn't seem that far away from being pegged as the next guy up.

Nicholson-Smith has also reported that Corbin has been working out extensively in the off season and is already capable of throwing 80 pitches against live hitters. He's been sent to Single-A Dunedin for the time being, but it may not be surprising to see him called up within a week or two.

Blue Jays fans don't have to go too far back in the archives to recall a time when the team made an in-season signing of a major league caliber arm, hoping to make a comeback. Just last season they signed Spencer Turnbull in May, and he lasted just 6.1 innings at the major league level before being released at the end of June. It wouldn't be a shock if Corbin's tenure is longer, or equal as short as Turnbull's was if the results aren't there for the 13-year veteran.