Class: Comm 319

SCOTT WALSH
Date: 7 December 2015
HEADLINE: Column Writing
BYLINE: Jenny Chang

Coming after the season until July 31 is the trading window for Major League Baseball.
Pitchers are hot issues this year for many of them are back to the free-agent market.
Baltimore Orioles left-handed starter Wei-Yin Chen is one of the most popular players that
more than 10 teams are interested in signing him, and where he will go has been discussed for
a while.
The Orioles expressed their interest by providing $15.8M qualifying offer, but Chen
decided to decline the offer and test the free-agent market. Right after he turned Baltimore
down, The Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Miami
Marlins, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates, Saint Louis Cardinals,
San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants and Toronto Blue Jays started to claim that they
would like to sign Chen on their team.
Since the Red Sox got Blue Jays left-handed pitcher David Price, and the Giants signed
Jeff Samardzija with a five-year, $90M contract, these two teams seem highly possible to
resign from the battle trying to win Chen. However, even though the Cubs got John Lackey;
they still want Chen if possible.
Chens performance against righty batters isnt ideal, but Chicagos pitching coach Chris
Bosio helped Samardzija to improve his forkball. Maybe Bosio has some secrets to help Chen
as well.
On the other hand, even though the Dodgers have Hyun-jin Ryu, Ryus suffering from his
shoulder pain might influence Los Angeles decision on getting a new pitcher. His season
ended because of having left shoulder labrum surgery on May 21. Whether hes able to come
back for the new season or not will be pivotal to Dodgers position trying to sign Chen.
The Marlins have more consideration on their signing plan. If they can get Chen on the
team, hell complete their pitching rotation while the Yankees still express interest simply
because they cant get Price, Samardzija or Zack Greinke. Chens performance and price are
decent, and his left-handed characteristic is especially suitable for Yankee Stadium.

So far, it seems that signing a contract with the Blue Jays would be the best option for
Chen. He started 31 games this season, logged 191 innings with a 3.34 ERA and an 11-8
record. Losing Price and Mark Buehrle, Toronto is urging to find new pitchers for the new
season.
If going to the Blue Jays, Chen will be the only left-handed pitcher on the team which
means more responsibility and more starting opportunities. Besides, Asian population is big
in Toronto; having Chen on the team might draw more box office for Torontos home games.
There are still some great pitchers waiting in the free-agent market, so the war fighting for
awesome players are still on. No matter which team Chen ended up going, its optimistic to
anticipate him getting a 4-5 year contract with $18M per year or more.