Chen return still in the mix

For lefty, rehab assignment on the horizon

MIAMI — Their rotation in tatters, the Miami Marlins have not given up hope that left-hander Wei-Yin Chen will pitch again this year.

Chen said he has been throwing bullpens for more than two weeks — five or six total sessions, including on Wednesday, usually with two days of rest in between. He is up to 35 pitches and mixing in his offspeed offerings more and more.

Manager Don Mattingly said Chen will throw another bullpen Saturday, and by next week live batting practice. Soon, if all goes well, could be a minor league rehabilitation assignment.

“We hope to get him back out there, honestly,” Mattingly said. “We’re still talking a little ways, but I think we’re also getting to the point where we can say he’s progressing to the point where at least it’s on the radar.”

But Chen pitching the majors this year is still just a hope — hardly a full-blown expectation or guarantee — and Chen seemed to hedge more than Mattingly that he will accomplish that.

Chen, through interpreter Louis Chao, said he is no longer experiencing pain, but the situation with his left elbow and the partially torn ulnar collateral ligament inside it is fluid.

“So far I feel fine, but every day you feel different,” Chen said. “We have to see how I feel today, how I feel tomorrow and see how things go.”

Such is the nature of Chen’s injury. Initially placed on the disabled list May 5 with left arm fatigue, the Marlins thought he would miss just one start. It turned into a much more long-term issue, related to the one that cost him two months last season.

Chen’s absence was one in a series of blows to the Marlins’ rotation. Of their Opening Day starting five, Chen has made only five starts, Edinson Volquez is out for the rest of this year and at least most of 2018 because of Tommy John surgery, and an ineffective Tom Koehler is in the minors. Adam Conley also spent time with Triple-A New Orleans.

For Chen, who at $15.5 million is the highest-paid player on the Marlins this year, this prolonged process has been a frustrating one.

“As a player, you don’t feel good when you sit out so long,” Chen said. “I wouldn’t say pressure, but of course when you have a contract, you want to pitch as good as you can. But I try not to think about it too much.”

Chen hesitated in saying anything concrete about the rest of his 2017.

“Personally, I definitely hope [to pitch again],” he said. “But there’s nothing you can say for sure.” setup role, has pitched exclusively out of the bullpen for about a year, and the organization has signaled that his future is in relief.

But with the club’s starting-pitching depth — or lack thereof — being what it is, Mattingly said not to rule out a return to the rotation for Garcia.

“I think it’s something that you at least think about,” Mattingly said. “But I don’t know if anyone has necessarily talked to Jarlin or the organization has really gotten that far.

“A lot of teams in the past have brought guys up to be bullpen guys to get comfortable and then continue to start. I don’t know what the organization has planned for that. I’m sure

the president of baseball operations,] is thinking about it, with where our starting rotation is right now.”

[Hill, Michael

MARK BROWN/GETTY IMAGES Wei-Yin Chen has been throwing bullpen sessions recently, mixing in more breaking pitches as he goes.