Thu Jan 17 12:05:29 2008

Comment | Email | Print

Rangers ink Jennings to one-year deal

---

Arlington, TX (Sports Network) - The Texas Rangers have signed pitcher Jason Jennings to a one-year contract.

Jennings, 29, is coming off an injury-plagued 2007 in which he finished 2-9 with a 6.45 earned run average in 19 games for the Houston Astros, logging only 99 innings due to a pair of long stints on the disabled list. Jennings was sidelined from April 9-May 28 with tendinitis in his right elbow, and his season ended on August 21 when he returned to the DL with a torn tendon in the same elbow.

The seven-year veteran was in his first season with Houston, after being acquired in the offseason in a four-player deal with Colorado, where he spent the first six years of his career.

It's been all downhill for Jennings since 2002, when he was 16-8 with a 4.52 ERA and won the National League Rookie of the Year award. He has not had a winning season since, although he did post a 3.78 ERA in Colorado in 2006 while going 9-13. He is 60-65 with a 4.91 ERA for his career.

Jennings is a native of Dallas who pitched at Baylor University, and currently lives north of Dallas, in Frisco.

The right-hander joins a projected starting rotation that also includes Kevin Millwood, Vicente Padilla, Brandon McCarthy and Kason Gabbard. He is expected to fill the spot that was created when the Rangers traded pitcher Edinson Volquez to the Cincinnati Reds for outfielder Josh Hamilton.