Examining the contract: Patrick Corbin, Washington Nationals, six seasons, $140 million
Corbin was easily the hot free agent pitching figure coming out of 2018. He parlayed a 56-54 career record and 3.91 ERA over six seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks into that nine-figure deal with the Nationals.
I have a personal theory regarding free agency, which is that any deal is worthwhile if you win the World Series. By that standard, Washington’s signing of Corbin was a success.
In 2019, he was 14-7 for Washington, which survived a Wild Card race plus three playoff rounds to defeat the Houston Astros in a seven-game World Series.
Corbin was only 2-3 in that postseason, but that included a Game 7 victory in three innings of relief of Max Scherzer.
Since then, Corbin’s efforts have been less successful. He was 2-7 during the short 2020 season, and 9-16 in 2021. The Nats may have finished last this season, but Corbin’s bad record was legit, at least judging by his 5.82 ERA.
His strikeout rate fell way off, from 10.6 per nine innings in 2019 to 7.5 in 2021.
The Nats still owe Corbin $82 million through 2024, so they need a big return to form. On the other hand, and as noted earlier, World Series championships are worth any price, and Corbin contributed to one.
In a sense, that means his contract summons thoughts of one of the famous lines from the movie Casablanca: “We’ll always have Paris.” No matter what Corbin does through 2024, the Nats will always have 2019.