The Miami Marlins got some bad news on Saturday when it was announced that lefty Wei-Yin Chen will be out indefinitely with elbow discomfort.
The Miami Marlins were hoping that Wei-Yin Chen would return to action soon, but it doesn’t look like that will be happening. The news broke after an unsuccessful bullpen session, per Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald.
Chen has been on the disabled list since May 1 with “left arm fatigue,” and it appears that the time off hasn’t helped. Manager Don Mattingly had some discouraging words when asked about the status of the lefty starter:
"“At this point, you feel like you really can’t count on him in the near future when it happens like this.” – Mattingly in the Miami Herald article"
This is exactly what the Marlins did not want to hear. By most pitching standards, Miami has the 3rd worst rotation in baseball. Chen was signed during the ’15-’16 offseason to solidify the middle of a rotation led by young ace Jose Fernandez. The landscape of the Marlins rotation has changed drastically following Fernandez’s untimely death last summer. Now, Chen is the most experienced starter on the team with the best track record. In other words, losing him for more time is a big hit to the Marlins.
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Over his career, Wei-Yin Chen has been a productive, yet unreliable pitcher. He’s never thrown more than 192.2 innings in a season, reaching the 180 mark in 3 out of his 5 full years in the Majors. Chen is in the second season of a 5-year, $80M deal with the Marlins, and is yet to live up to expectations in Miami. Last season he recorded a 4.96 ERA in 123.1 innings over 22 starts.
This injury is nothing new, as he lost two months of the 2016 season due to a left elbow sprain. Unfortunately, that issue is still haunting Chen and his new team. The team will need a regular starter to occupy their rotation, and it’s too early to be talking about trades.
Of all their in-house options, Justin Nicolino is the most likely to be called up. In 153.1 career innings, the 25 year old Nicolino has accumulated a 4.52 ERA with just 60 strikeouts. Things aren’t looking all that great for the Marlins, who are the worst team in the NL East. They’re just 13-22 on the season, which isn’t very promising. Still, the team is determined to stay focused, and there’s a lot of baseball left to go.