The Mariners released a pair of veterans on minor league contracts, as Shannon Drayer of MyNorthwest.com reports that Carlos Gonzalez and Wei-Yin Chen were both let go from the organization within the last few days. Chen hinted as much in a tweet on his personal account on Saturday, while Gonzalez’s name was initially reported as being one of over 50 Seattle minor league releases in May, before later reports confirmed that CarGo was still with the team.
Gonzalez signed his minors deal in February, and didn’t seem likely to make Seattle’s Opening Day roster prior to the league shutdown. The 34-year-old hit only .200/.289/.283 over 166 PA with the Indians and Cubs in 2019, marking new career lows in both batting performance and playing time. While Gonzalez has posted some excellent numbers over his 12 big league seasons, he hasn’t delivered an above-average season (by wRC+ or OPS+) since 2016, and it could be difficult for the veteran to catch on with another team even with the 2020 season’s expanded rosters.
Chen joined the Mariners in January on a minor league deal, while still collecting the $22MM owed by the Marlins in the final year of his five-year, $80MM free agent deal from the 2015-16 offseason. Injuries and inconsistency resulted in a 5.10 ERA for Chen during his 358 innings with Miami, and the Fish finally parted ways with the southpaw last November.
Between this lack of performance and his age (35 in July), Chen may also have trouble catching on with another Major League organization. Indeed, there have already been reports out of Chen’s native Taiwan suggesting that the left-hander could catch on with a team in Japan. Chen began his career with the Chunichi Dragons back in 2005, and posted an impressive 2.59 ERA over 650 2/3 frames in Nippon Professional Baseball.
Not a surprise. Seattle apparently wants to utilize the space for prospects.
I could see Chen going back to Baltimore. He’s cheap, has had success there before, and Orioles are very thin in the rotation.
If Dan Duquette were still there, maybe. But Elias has no ties to Chen, nor does anyone on the coaching staff. My guess is he goes to Japan
As a Marlins fan, I can tell you that Chen looks done at the MLB level. He probably needs to go back to Japan, especially with COVID so he can stay with family, which staying as close to home makes sense for all players worldwide.
Yea Chen is done
Can Chen sign in Japan without forfeiting all that money the Marlins still owe him?
yes.
the marlins released him, and as such, he is not required to sign with any mlb team in order to keep getting paid (and as an added bonus, because the marlins released him, he is one of the few players this year that will get a full paycheck. so it looks like chen will end up the highest paid player in mlb this season, without actually playing a game)..
That title actually belongs to Prince Fielder
Where does Bobby Bonilla rank?
Sad that Chen’s arm fell off. We were feeling good after signing Chen to be the #2 after Fernandez. So many unexpected and unfortunate things that destroyed our pitching staff.
Is this the last time we’ll watch the car go?
Car going, going, gone!
Too bad, I always liked him but he had a great career and should be all set for life. Wish him nothing but the best.
Are you sure it is not Bobby Bonilla from the mets or albert belle from the orioles? I know belle is finally off the books but your comment reminded me how much i hated that belle contract.
Deferred money is always good for the franchise. That way they can keep the millions as long as possible and earn interest on that money. So no on bb
The bell thing is comical. It was just 24 years ago he signed the richest deal ever and it was for 5yr/55 million. Today many closers make more than that. As terrible as it was in the moment; it’s a drop in the bucket today
Ahhh Belle. I forget. Did he officially retire three or four years after he played his last game?
5. He got all that loot. The contract was insured to my understanding so it actually cost the Os very little of the total 55 million and the rest of the contract was paid by whomever insured him to be healthy.
And a couple years prior to that Wesley snipes starred in that baseball movie where his kid was kidnapped after signing a “yuge” contract. That one was like 20/25 mil I think. Lol, how quickly things change
Lol love the movie references bro, I do it all the time. I used that corny Steven segal movie the other day, the one where he goes after the Jamaican druglords. The one with screw face in it. Can’t think of the name, man the 90s made so many corny great cheese ball movies. I loved it…… still go on that segal and van damme binge every so often. Snipes had some good ones too.
NOOOOO!!! Not Chen …… the Chenster. Chen-isi. Chen man. You get the point! Used to love him back in the day. I’m from Baltimore( I know it’s rough times )….. and he was one of the only guys to pitch pretty solid here.
His arm fell off in Miami. I was so happy when we signed him, but the last big injury finished him.
No doubt, just from a Baltimore standpoint though he was solid for us. Sorry it didn’t work the same for you guys.
So starting in 2022 the Nationals will pay max 15 million a year for seven years and Strasberg gets 26 per year when his deal is done for three years. I didn’t even bother to look up Corbin and his deferrals.
So while I agree that it is usually a good idea. I don’t think it is for Washington. That’s a lot to pay for guys a guy who won’t be able to make an impact on your team when they could have used that money on someone who could. I fully understand that it won them a series and was worth it in the short term.
But let’s not act like they are the Yankees and will spend 200+ a season, once the deferrals hit them they won’t be having 200 million plus payrolls AND pay them guys the deferral money. Also one of the guys, I forget who, does make interest on the deferral. It’s a 3+ million dollar payment on the last year of their deal.
Guess they were baking on that masn money. Same guys that agreed to a deal and then sued over that same deal. Bottom line is a liquor store can’t open right next to another liquor store, you can sue. If they did t like that or like the deal they shouldn’t have signed it. Not trying to fire anyone up or cause an argument, this tactic of deferrals won them a series so it was worth it….. short term.
WS victories aren’t just something that looks good in the short term. Flags fly forever.
That is true and as I said before it was worth it to them apparently. But have fun not competing down the road
Wish CarGo would go to the Cardinals!!
Only if he comes with a time machine to go back to 2016. He’s useless now.
i would like to see Chen get a look in Philly. I know he hasnt looked good recently but a change of scenery could help.
I’m a hard no on that. Howard and Saurez should be first in line to get looks in the Phillies rotation.
as much as i would wish to see VV and Pivetya released, I like the SP depth with Suarez, Jones, Rosso, EDLS, and eventually Howard, (who id rather see get some reps in taxi squad games before he comes up) but its always good to have more SP depth. ideally it would be good to have at least one usable veteran SP in the reserve pool. also a lot of former O’s staff in the front office, so its possible they have interest.
Both these guys had pretty good MLB careers.
Gonzalez: 3 All Star selections, 3 Gold Gloves, 24 WAR, & $83MM.
Chen had some solid years in Baltimore. He’s made $95MM to date. Looks like he may be able to still collect some checks playing in Asia.
Best of luck, fellas.
I really think this 2020 Season with the COVID issue has really helped the Mariners out financially. 2020 was a sunk and lost year anyways with a $101M payroll “waiting” until 2021 for additional salary relief. Seattle now only has to pay Seager $7M instead of $19M, $5M for Gordon instead of $13.5M. Granted they won’t have the attendance money this year, BUT Gordon’s contract is gone after this year, and we only have 2021 Guarantee salary for Seager of $18.5M and Kikuchi @ $16m. So this coming Winter offseason our 2021 payroll on committed contracts will drop down to $51m, and $25m for 2022.
The ONLY thing I don’t like about 2020 being a wasted year for our team is the prospect development that hasn’t been going on, and Seattle really needed prospects playing as much as possible this year! Ugh.
However you want to look at 2020…for the Seattle Mariners baseball club it actually turned out for the best financially for them, and getting a lot of money off the books, considering 2020 was a lost year waiting for contracts to come off the books. Hopefully our prospects will get ample playing time this year