Something needs to be done about Wei-Yin Chen

The very fact that the Atlanta Braves recently signed All-Star second baseman Ozzie Albies to a seven-year extension and it’s for less money than what the Miami Marlins are paying Wei-Yin Chen over the next two years is absolutely absurd.

The Marlins entered Spring Training with the presumption that Jose Urena, Dan Straily and Chen would take the top three spots of the starting rotation. By the end, they made the wise decision to hand the rotation to their young rising stars. Urena opened the season and Straily was released but the same could not yet be done to Chen.

In 2016, the Marlins, under previous ownership, signed Chen to a five-year, $80 million contract to pair him with the late Jose Fernandez for a possible playoff run. The team still owes him $20 million this season and $22 next season. The money is guaranteed so there is an understandable urgency to get some value out of him.

They moved Chen in the bullpen but he has yet to have so much as a single positive outing. He has an ERA of 24.75 in four innings over three appearances. His first appearance ended without a single recorded out. He gave up a walk and a hit on the only two batters he faced and was given the hook in favor of Sergio Romo coming in to save Miami’s 3-0 win over Colorado on March 31. His best outing was when he gave up a run in two innings at home against the Mets on April 2. His worst was his most recent outing where he gave up 10 runs in two innings against the last place Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday.  

Marlins manager Don Mattingly has exercised patience towards Chen and defended him at every turn this season. Before the 1-5 road trip, he said,  “There’s going to be a lot of important outs he is going to have to get.”

“We have to be able to use him,” Mattingly said on March 31. “If not, it’s going to put stress and wear and tear on everyone else. He’s going to be fine.”

In Cincinnati, after Chen turned into a batting practice pitcher, he basically said that it’s been a hard position for him to adjust to after spending the last seven years as a starting pitcher.

“I expect him to be better than that, but sometimes it’s not quite fair for him the way we’ve used him,” Mattingly said on April 9. “He’s sitting a lot, doesn’t know exactly when he’s going to pitch and it’s just not the role I think he’s accustomed to, but I do think eventually he’s going to get better.”

One solution to that problem would be to schedule his appearances. That way there would be no surprises and he would likely be more prepared going into them, especially when they’re at home, where he had a 1.62 ERA in 13 starts last year. But as Mattingly said before Friday’s 9-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, that’s not part of the plan.

“No, can’t do that,” Mattingly said. “I’d like to say we could but we can’t schedule.”

One other available option would be to make Chen the opener. The Tampa Bay Rays invented that strategy with Romo last season and the Okland Athletics adopted it during the Wild Card game against the New York Yankees. Chen could start the first two inning, and pass it off to a starter for the next five, leaving the final two innings to the bullpen.

That plan was originally brought up as early as the beginning of Spring Training but has not yet been taken in consideration since. Main reason why is because unlike the Rays and A’s, there doesn’t seem to be a spot for that.

“We’ve talked about it being in consideration but I don’t know who we would do that for, as far as our starters, ” Mattingly said. “They’ve all actually thrown the ball pretty well.”

The opener would indeed stunt the growth of any of the four young starters the Marlins are trying to groom into aces. However if it would happen on this team, it would either occur after an injury to one of the starting pitchers or be done during a Jose Urena start, should his struggles continue.

For now the role for Chen going forward looks to be that of a long reliever in low leverage situations. Regardless, it can’t be worst than what has already transpired.

Tony Capobianco is the lead photographer for FiveReasonsSports.com