Although the club hasn't made any sort of official announcement, some blabbermouth close to team negotiations spilled the beans. Chen is supposed to make $4.5 million in each of the next two seasons, but could earn an extra $500,000 per year in roster bonuses and another $1 million a season in performance bonuses. We'll see how that goes for him.
It's not that Chen sucks or anything. In fact, he was rather solid last season for the Royals, polishing off the year with a 12-8 record and 3.77 ERA. He's really much better now than he ever has been... we just don't trust the guy. Kind of a late bloomer, maybe. In 13 big league seasons with 10 different organizations, Chen enjoyed his best year with the Altanta Braves back in 2000 when he went 4-0 with a 2.50 ERA in 22 relief appearances. It was all downhill from there, but he seems to be getting a grip on his life in recent years with Kansas City.
However, just to be perfectly clear, we're gonna go on record that we think $9 million is a ridiculously stupid amount of money to give a guy like Bruce Chen. For crying out loud, Dayton Moore.
Jonathan Sanchez high-tailed it out of San Francisco two weeks ago to join the Royals rotation in exchange for outfielder Melky Cabrera. Only the 2012 season can be the judge of who came out unscathed in that trade, but it looks like the Royals are out ahead with hot shot prospect Lorenzo Cain finally getting the chance to play center field in KC.
Fellow lefty Danny Duffy will try not to walk so many batters next season if he joins Chen and Sanchez, along with Luke Hochevar and Felipe Paulino to round out the starting five.
Chen, at the tender age of 35, will once again likely be looked to as the Panamanian grandpa of the team, considering most of these guys are in their 20's. Best of luck, big guy.
[Kansas City Star]
1 comment:
HaHAHAHAHA! Wow. Wait... this is real?
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