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Royals To Sign Bruce Chen

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | November 23, 2011 at 4:02pm CDT

Piece by piece, the Royals' rotation is taking shape. They have agreed to sign Bruce Chen to a two-year deal worth $9MM. The deal also includes a $1MM roster bonus and up to $1MM in incentives.

Before agreeing to terms with Chen, Royals GM Dayton Moore told Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star that he is looking to add one or two more pitchers to compete with their internal candidates. Left-handers Jonathan Sanchez, Danny Duffy and Chen join right-handers Luke Hochevar, Felipe Paulino in the projected 2012 rotation at this point and relievers Aaron Crow and Everett Teaford could also transition to the rotation. Though Moore has already added two arms this offseason, the Royals lack top-of-the-rotation starters and may continue to pursue trades for available pitching.

Chen posted a 3.77 ERA with 5.6 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 155 innings for the Royals this past season. The Royals offered the 34-year-old Scott Boras client arbitration earlier today, which means they would have obtained a compensatory draft pick had he accepted one of his other offers. 

Jon Heyman of SI.com first reported the agreement (Twitter links) after Dutton reported that the sides were nearing a deal.

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Bruce Chen Kansas City Royals Transactions

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Comments

  1. denverbears

    9 years ago

    seems like a lot of money…for Bruce Chen

    Like
    Reply
    • Poppa Flan

      9 years ago

      Same as I was thinking. Damn… career journeyman spot starter getting 2 years and 9 million guaranteed? Someone’s happy…

      Like
      Reply
      • MB923

        9 years ago

        Except when he first put this, the offer said $9 mil for 1 year

        Like
        Reply
      • RationalSportsFan

        9 years ago

        Chen hasn’t been a spot starter for the last two years.  He has, however, been the Royals BEST starter.

        I understand that Bruce Chen is a punchline among baseball fans, but the fact is he has been a solid effective pitcher with the Royals.

        Like
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        • Howard

          9 years ago

          Agreed. I’m impressed with the Royals, 4.5mil for him a year isn’t terrible… I like what the Royals have done so far, rooting for them next year in the AL Central!

          Like
          Reply
    • Dodgersarelife

      9 years ago

      SCOTT BORAS strikes again, making other teams pay for junk.

      Like
      Reply
    • coolstorybro222

      9 years ago

      Hey, he pays Frenchy 5 million why not brucey?

      Like
      Reply
  2. MB923

    9 years ago

    $9 million for Chen? 

    Like
    Reply
  3. RationalSportsFan

    9 years ago

    Royals locked up the best Sino-Panamanian free agent out there.

    Like
    Reply
  4. Matt

    9 years ago

    Maybe Joe Saunders isn’t as overpriced as I thought.

    Like
    Reply
    • grownice

      9 years ago

      I’m tempted to flag this as inappropriate.

      Like
      Reply
      • NathanielS

        9 years ago

        Wow, nice theft.

        Like
        Reply
  5. Matt

    9 years ago

    Maybe Joe Saunders isn’t as overpriced as I thought.

    Like
    Reply
    • NathanielS

      9 years ago

      I’m tempted to flag this as inappropriate. 

      Like
      Reply
  6. MB923

    9 years ago

    Chen has been okay the past 2 years, but it’s funny that in 2012 he will be making more money than what he has made his entire career in 13 seasons ($8.5 mil career earnings).

    Edit- Now it says 2 years

    Like
    Reply
  7. Pete

    9 years ago

    Dr. GMDM or “How I learned to stop worrying about the greatest farm system in history, and love the losing”

    Like
    Reply
  8. Martus Kurtz

    9 years ago

    It’s 9 million over TWO YEARS people. Read before you comment.

    Like
    Reply
    • RationalSportsFan

      9 years ago

      It initially did not indicate that it was a two-year deal.  MLBTR quickly edited it.

      Like
      Reply
    • Pete

      9 years ago

      It’s still too much for Bruce Chen.

      Like
      Reply
    • MB923

      9 years ago

      Relax. Originally it did not say TWO YEARS

      Like
      Reply
  9. Matt Manzella

    9 years ago

    Great deal for the Royals. I thought he’d get more to be honest. 

    Like
    Reply
  10. Lunchbox45

    9 years ago

    I am now batting .143

    Like
    Reply
    • MB923

      9 years ago

      You’re catching up to Vernon Wells

      Like
      Reply
      • Lunchbox45

        9 years ago

        my OBP is still higher

        Like
        Reply
      • RiverKKiller999

        9 years ago

        Along with Adam Dunn.

        Like
        Reply
    • CAD_Monkey

      9 years ago

      I’m up to .429, but I won’t win MVP because I have bad teammates :(

      Like
      Reply
      • Lunchbox45

        9 years ago

        your range sucks, but batting .429 you’ll still have a good shot at a gold glove!

        Like
        Reply
        • MB923

          9 years ago

          Cy Young or Manager of the Year award has to be a shoe in

          Like
          Reply
  11. drumzalicious

    9 years ago

    Am I the only one more concerned about the fact that the Royals still are keeping Crow in the pen? They could get more value out of him as a starter.

    Like
    Reply
    • twentyfivemanroster

      9 years ago

      You don’t know that.  In fact, I would think that with his tendencies, he would make for a terrible starter.  He’s been a starter his whole career, yet in 2010 (minors), he got rocked when facing better competition.  
      Last season,he pitched in 18 2/3 innings after the All-Star and opponents had a .313 BAA and a 1.93 WHIP.   Yes, he was effective in the pen, but he was able to go balls out and then it wore on him in the second half.  He will lose too much effectiveness as a starter when he dials it back.
      Besides, they are still talking about giving him a look in ST, but I seriously doubt he’s any more than a nice set-up arm.  Which is sad for a first round draft pick.

      Like
      Reply
  12. Pete

    9 years ago

    You know what a great thing to do is? Bring back 34 year olds with awful peripherals who were on your team that lost 91 games. That will most certainly ensue you lose at least 91 games again.

    Like
    Reply
    • Lunchbox45

      9 years ago

      ya, they should go out and sign cj wilson to a huge contract, that will push them over the top!

      Like
      Reply
    • RationalSportsFan

      9 years ago

      Chen is the exact sort of pitcher that certain peripherals (K/9 and BABIP for example) underrate.  Crafty pitchers who give up more weakly hit balls in play than average are frequently underrated by advanced stats.

      For an example of this (though I am of course not saying Chen is anything close to this guy) check out Tom Glavine’s ERA for his career vs his FIP and xFIP (found on Fangraphs).  Certain advanced stats would have you believe that Greg Maddux was TWICE as good as Tom Glavine for the course of their careers. 

      Like
      Reply
      • Pete

        9 years ago

        I would agree that Maddux was twice as good as Glavine. Maddux was absurd, as was Pedro Martinez, and both of them put up seasons that obliterated Verlanders MVP year, but they didn’t even win the Cy Young because MLB award voters are complete imbeciles.

        Like
        Reply
        • RationalSportsFan

          9 years ago

          Agreed on voters as imbeciles.  Disagree on Maddux vs Glavine.  Maddux significantly better, but 55 WAR over their careers?  No way.

          Like
          Reply
          • Matthew T

            9 years ago

            I would pretty easily call Maddux twice as good as Glavine… Maddux’s ability to avoid walks without giving up a lot of hits was inhuman.

            Advanced statistics may underrate him a bit, but Glavine’s ERAs and FIPs were rarely that far off and as would be expected he had years swing back and forth from being very good and just pretty good/decent.  I think people remember Glavine as better than he was because he pitched on such a great staff and had some excellent years which make the mediocre ones more forgettable.

            Which isn’t at all to say that Glavine wasn’t an excellent pitcher, he just didn’t even come close to the kind of consistant dominance that Maddux had. Also factored into the WAR discrepancy is that Maddux pitched about 3 seasons worth more innings.

            Like
            Reply
            • Pete

              9 years ago

              Isn’t there some ridiculous stat has that Maddux only got to ball 3 on a hitter once every 3 starts or something? Yeah Maddux was one of the very best ever, Glavine was pretty good and should be a borderline HOF, his high WAR season was 5.7, that’s not the mark of a HOFer. 

              Maddux & Pedro really were on a different field to everyone and are still IMO the best 2 pitchers I’ve seen over the last 25 years or so. 

              Like
              Reply
            • Shu13

              9 years ago

              Maddux also had a 20″ wide plate…batters didn’t always swing and miss BUT b/c they knew he would get the call 4″ off the plate they swung(put in play weakly) and kept down his walks….

              Like
              Reply
              • Lunchbox45

                9 years ago

                a lot of great pitchers get that advantage.. as well as average yankee and red sox pitchers

                Like
                Reply
    • twentyfivemanroster

      9 years ago

      Except, he was their best pitcher the last two seasons.  He beat out Greinke on 2010 as the Royals top pitcher.  
      I think it was a good signing.  He’s added a cutter that has been a nice pitch for him.  He’s a crafty lefty.  Sometimes it takes a while for them to figure things out and find success.  Maybe, just maybe Chen has.

      Like
      Reply
      • Pete

        9 years ago

        Being the Royals best pitcher is like having the best diarrhea.

        Also you need to add “in my opinion” when you stuff like “Player A is better than Player B” because fangraphs said Greinke had 5.1 WAR that year, and Chen had 1.2. Greinke essentially was worth 5 more wins than Chen was over a replacement level pitcher. Chen was only slightly better than replacement level himself, while Greinke was all-star level.

        Like
        Reply
        • RationalSportsFan

          9 years ago

          He would have been the 3rd best on the Tigers, the 4th best on the Rangers, and the 3rd or 4th best on the Yankees. 

          In other words, he has been veryeffective these past two years.  It’s not his fault the other Royals’ pitchers sucked.

          Like
          Reply
    • get_on_up

      9 years ago

      Pete, if you are offering action on your position that the Royals lose 91 games next year I am all in.  Where can we settle up at this time next year?

      Like
      Reply
  13. Cory Taylor

    9 years ago

    How often do you see a roster bonus in an MLB deal? What’s that about?

    Like
    Reply
  14. R.D.

    9 years ago

    I’m starting to believe the Royals are going to be competitive next year, their offense is barely below the Yankees so they need a slightly better rotation than Sabathia/Colon/Garcia/Nova/Burnett? I think they can wing it with one more piece with some experience. 

    Come on Moore, you know you wanna overpay for Jurrjens…

    Like
    Reply
    • JacksTigers

      9 years ago

      Not even close to the Yankees. Not that close to the Tigers. Talk to me in a year or two.

      Like
      Reply
  15. rizdak

    9 years ago

    Bruce Chen’s 4.63 SIERA was good for 101st out of 107 SPs who had 150 IP last year. Good job, Royals.

    Like
    Reply

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