Colby Lewis is staying with the Rangers.
AL West champion Texas and the pitcher have agreed on a $6 million, one-year contract, a person familiar with the deal said Friday. That person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal is pending a physical on the pitcher's surgically repaired right knee, and that exam likely won't happen until after the holidays.
Lewis was a free agent after setting career highs last season and leading the Rangers with 17 wins and 204 2/3 innings. The 36-year-old right-hander has won 27 games over the past two seasons since a hip resurfacing procedure that was unprecedented for a major league pitcher.
In October, only two days after the Rangers lost Game 5 of the AL Division Series to Toronto, Lewis had torn meniscus repaired in his right knee, which bothered himfor much of the second half of last season. He is expected to be ready for spring training.
If Lewis passes his physical, it would line up the Rangers to go into the 2016 season with the likely rotation including left-handers Cole Hamels, Derek Holland and Martin Perez, along with Lewis. Ace right-hander Yu Darvish expected to return in May after missing all of last season because of Tommy John surgery.
Lewis is 71-67 with a 4.81 ERA over 10 major league seasons, eight of those with the Rangers.
He was a first-round supplemental choice of the Rangers during the 1999 amateur draft and made his big league debut in 2002. He had right shoulder surgery in early 2004 before sitting out all of 2005. He then pitched for Detroit and Oakland and spent two years in Japan before returning to Texas in 2010 and being part of the Rangers' only World Series appearances.
After going 4-1 with a 2.34 ERA in eight postseason starts in 2010 and 2011, Lewis was hampered by injuries. He had surgery in July 2012 to repair a torn flexor tendon in his right elbow.
His comeback from that was thwarted by the troublesome hip that had bothered him for some time before he had the resurfacing procedure in August 2013 that was just short of a full hip replacement. He was 10-14 with a 5.18 ERA in 29 starts in 2014, but had a 3.86 ERA with two complete games while averaging 6 2/3 innings in 13 starts after the All-Star break that season.