Don't let Colby Lewis' numbers for the 2014 season fool you. It's true, Lewis' final ERA of 5.18 was the second-highest in the league among qualifying starters, but when you break down his season into halves, you'll see he was much better than the numbers show.
In fact, Lewis put together a nice second half with a 3.86 ERA and averaged 6 2/3 innings per start after finally figuring out how to pitch with a hip that was not chronically aching after his revolutionary hip resurfacing surgery in 2013.
Ever since the season ended, Rangers general manager Jon Daniels has made it clear he was interested in bringing Lewis back for 2015, but Lewis opted for free agency on Nov. 1, and rightfully so. On Tuesday night in a conference call, Daniels said he expects to see Lewis signed by the end of the week to serve as a back-end rotation piece in 2015.
"I expect we'll finalize him this week," Daniels said of the 35-year-old, who is the Rangers' best postseason pitcher in club history. "I expect he will be back."
You can definitely do worse than Lewis as a No. 5 starter, and probably even as a No. 4, so it'll be good for the Rangers to have that veteran presence back in the fold in 2015.
