Wei-Yin Chen set to return from disabled list as reliever
MIAMI — Left-hander Wei-Yin Chen, the highestpaid player on the 2017 Miami Marlins, is expected to return from the disabled list in the coming days. As a reliever.
Chen pitched two scoreless innings Friday during a rehabilitation assignment with High-A Jupiter, his first appearance out of the bullpen since 2011, when he was 25 and playing in Japan.
Now, with his return imminent, Chen’s immediate future is in the Marlins’ bullpen. Manager Don Mattingly said he, Chen, president of baseball operations Michael Hill and head athletic trainer Dustin Luepker will have to “put a plan together” to determine what Chen as a reliever will actually look like.
“How much time he needs to warm up dictates how I’m going to use him,” Mattingly said. “Starters are usually throwing long toss, getting prepped before the game, doing all this stuff before they throw, throw so many in the bullpen. Obviously, in the bullpen, you don’t have that kind of time.”
The Marlins will be careful with Chen, who hasn’t pitched for them since May 1. He complained of a tired arm after that start, was placed on the DL with what the team called left arm fatigue on May 5, and eventually — for the second summer in a row — received a platelet-rich plasma injection to promote healing of the partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow.
Chen — who is making $15.5 million this year, the second of his five-year, $80 million contract — has played in three rehab games, allowing no runs in 4
2⁄3 innings. He has no more scheduled. He said through interpreter Louis Chao that his arm has felt good and on Friday specifically his breaking ball and control were sharp.
Chen and Mattingly said the expectation remains that Chen will be a starter in 2018. For now, though, Chen is open to his bullpen fate.
“It was a minor league game [Friday], so it’s easier to prepare to pitch out of the bullpen,” Chen said. “But in the big leagues you may need to face a lot of different situations, so I guess I’ll learn much more when I actually do it. But I’ll be ready for it.”
Chen also didn’t rule out the possibility of, depending on his pitch counts in the coming weeks, making a start by season’s end.
“I have been pitching in relief back in the days when I was in Japan, so it’s not brand new to me,” said Chen, who hasn’t made more than two relief appearances in a season since 2008. “I also think it will help to keep my arm healthy. Another thing is that as a reliever I used to learn how to focus on every atbat, so it might be a chance for me [to have] a fresh start.”