Southpaw Wei-Yin Chen has agreed to join the Hanshin Tigers for 2021, per MLB Insider Jon Heyman (via Twitter). The terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed.
Chen’s MLB career began when the Taiwanese lefty signed a three-year guarantee worth $11.3MM with the Baltimore Orioles before the 2012 season. At that time, he was coming off five seasons starring for the Chunichi Dragons in Japan, where he posted with a 2.48 ERA. He returned to Japan in 2020 with 26 innings of 2.42 ERA baseball for the NPB’s Chiba Lotte Marines.
In between, he made his debut for Baltimore as a 26-year-old in 2012, posting a strong 4.02 ERA/4.42 FIP over 192 2/3 innings. He remained a member of Baltimore’s rotation for four seasons, finishing his tenure there with a 3.72 ERA/4.14 FIP across 117 starts totaling 706 2/3 innings. Those numbers were good for 9.4 bWAR, or 2.6 bWAR per 200 innings. While he was never a frontline starter for the O’s, he put together solid seasons in the middle of the rotation for a contender under manager Buck Showalter.
His four seasons with the Marlins were less efficient. He signed a five-year $80MM contract, but injuries marred his time in Miami. He was released prior to the final season of the deal in 2020. In the four years prior, he amassed a 5.10 ERA/4.54 FIP across 358 innings.