The Orioles are close to a multiyear deal with Taiwanese lefty Wei-Yin Chen, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. As a foreign player in Nippon Professional Baseball, Chen had free agency negotiated into his contract with the Chunichi Dragons.
Last year in Japan, Chen posted a 2.68 ERA, 5.1 K/9, 1.7 BB/9, and 0.49 HR/9 in 164 2/3 innings. He ranked 19th on Keith Law's top 50 free agents list. Law offered a positive scouting report, concluding that Chen "offers more upside than the typical NPB refugee, both due to age and the chance for the slider to become a consistently plus pitch." Chen, 26, throws relatively hard for a southpaw, as high as 92-94 when he's right according to Law.
New Orioles executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette has gone the international route to supplement his rotation, having already added an NPB starter in December in Tsuyoshi Wada.
Orioles aren’t making big flashy moves and won’t contend for a few years barring a miracle or three but guys like Wada and Chen could have great long-term effects and guys like Jai Miller and Dana Eveland could be surprises. I am not an O’s fan but I could definitely see a 75 win team in ’12.
They won’t contend IN a few years barring a miracle.
this would be another low risk but potentially high reward signing for the orioles. They are signing a lot of guys that will cause a competition in spring training and this could make them better in the long run. Nobody really knows anything about these guys so they could end up as a surprise this year. I like that DD is moving internationally. This will allow them to land big time international free agents over the next few years. Many orioles fans may not like what he is doing but they need to realize that this will take time and DD is doing the right things so far.
Love this move.
But I would, which I realize.
Wada, Chen, Britton, Matusz, Eveland all lefties.
but it is hard to go wrong with lefty starters
I like the direction of establishing the club internationally. Back in the late 80’s early 90’s the Astros invested heavily in developing scouting and signing players out of Venezuela, which gave them several good major leaguers. I’d like to see the O’s do something similar. Signing international free agents isn’t the same as building baseball academies and developing kids like the Astros did, but it does get the club moving towards a more intense focus internationally.
the orioles are building a baseball academy in Venezuela