The Royals have designated veteran lefty Bruce Chen for assignment, according to a tweet from Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com. Chen, a 37-year-old native of Panama, is playing on a one-year, $4.25MM deal that includes a $5.5MM option for next season ($1MM buyout).
Chen earned that deal with a strong 2013, in which he posted a 3.27 ERA over 121 innings, including 15 starts and 16 relief appearances. But he has not carried that production forward to 2014. Over 48 1/3 frames — again, evenly split between starts (7) and relief appearances (6) — Chen has allowed 7.45 earned runs per nine.
Of course, Chen’s peripherals remain largely in line with his recent marks: he has struck out batters at a 6.7 K/9 rate that matches exactly his career mean, and has walked slightly fewer batters (3.0 per nine) than he has averaged. Chen’s FIP (4.58), xFIP (4.64), and SIERA (4.43) all suggest that he has been as good or better than in years past, and should be in line for some positive regression.
Dodgers should go after him. Even though not as dominant as Colon, Chen is a solid option.
Solid? He was awful last night!
I wouldn’t touch him with a Thirty-nine and a half foot pole.
How about a 40 ft pole?
Well, that wouldn’t be following the lyrics of the Mr. Grinch song. =P
Would love to see Chen in a Ranger uniform would be a nice addition
as a long man, would add depth at a position they need right now, and a option to boot. “Oh Yeah”..
Might be a good option for the Angels. I have a lot more faith in Chen than Wade LeBlanc or Randy Wolf.
Chen seems to always do well v. the Tigers.
Tigers should absolutely bring him it… Would love him to finagle a win v. the Royals.
Better than random minor leaguers that no one has heard of.
I agree. He always confounds the Tigers. Bring in Chen for a revenge start.
I feel like he should be like 45 by now.
I’m surprised no big league club has taken a shot yet at Chen, he’s a fairly reliable 4th/5th/swingman guy to have.