Wei-Yin Chen has hired super agent Scott Boras to represent him according to a tweet from Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. The O’s lefty signed a three year, $11.388 million deal with Baltimore prior to the 2012 season and has impressed in his first 38 big league starts.
Chen finished 2012 with a 12-11 record, a 4.02 ERA over 192 2/3 innings, a 7.2 K/9, and 2.70 K/BB. He finished fourth in the American League Rookie of the Year voting. This season, Chen is 2-3 with a 3.50 ERA in 36 innings over six starts with a 5.5 K/9 and 1.83 K/BB.
Fans seemed to panic when they read the news about Chen switching to Boras. Zach Britton made a similar change in 2010 after being named the Orioles Minor League Pitcher of the Year. As the old cliche goes, baseball is a business — and Boras seems to get the most money for his clients. At 27 years old, Chen should be looking for a nice payday when he hits free agency.
No need to worry though, he’s locked up through 2014 with a team option for 2015. By the time Chen is a free agent, Dan Duquette and the Orioles should have plenty of experience bargaining with Boras after hopefully securing a nice contract extension for Matt Wieters.
