Yankees interested in pitcher from Japan (no, not that one)

By On November 9, 2011 · 7 Comments · In Hot Stove

Presumably the Yankees are still considering a bid on Yu Darvish should the Nippon Ham Fighters post him (as expected), but in this post I’m going to look at a guy in the Japanese League who is a bit more under the radar, and won’t require a large posting fee. Wei-Ying Chen is a 26 year-old, 6’0″ 176 pound left-handed pitcher for the Chiunchi Dragons.  Chen is actually Taiwanese, but signed as an amateur free agent in Japan out of high school.  Unlike Darvish, Chen will be a free agent this offseason, allowing him to sign with a big league team without going through the posting process.  This gives him the ability to pick the team he wants, and also allows teams to bid for his services without paying a posting fee.  Chen has apparently been interested in going to America for several years, but the team has not posted him.

A lot of the information about Chen, and the Yankees’ interest in him, came courtesy of David P of Yankee Source (@yankeesource on Twitter), who was kind enough to share his thoughts on Chen with me via Twitter (and if you remember, wrote this great guest post on Darvish for us recently).  Per David, Chen can bring the heat, throwing a fastball in the low-90′s (topping out at 95), and complementing it with a slider (his best secondary offering), a curve, and a forkball.  His velocity was down a little this year due to a leg injury (topping out around 91), but it did not seem to affect him, as his level of performance was similar to previous seasons.

In Chen’s career with the Dragons, he has gone 36-30 with a 2.59 ERA, 7.2 k/9, and 2.2 bb/9.  His best season was in 2009, when he led the league in ERA with a gaudy 1.54 (league average was 3.55)  By those stats he has been able to miss bats, but is not a major strikeout pitcher (though his control is very good).  Unlike some other pitchers in the Japanese League (such as Darvish), Chen has not had incredibly high workloads, with his highest inning total 188 in 2010.

You can see video of Chen pitching here (courtesy of Patrick of Fangraphs), which is a 2-hour clip from a Dragons-Yomiuri Giants game.  I am no expert on mechanics, but from the few minutes I watched Chen’s delivery it looks pretty clean and smooth, and he doesn’t seem to rely too much on deception.  He uses a three-quarters arm angle, which could help make him tough on lefties.   Chen is somewhat of a flyball pitcher, however, which may not work so well in Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees reportedly have interest in Chen as a reliever (I imagine his fastball would play up nicely in the ‘pen), though thus far it is unclear whether Chen views himself as a starter in the bigs (and more importantly, whether any other big league teams view him as one).  I have no idea of Chen’s contract demands, but I assume he would be a fairly affordable signing.  I wouldn’t support guaranteeing Chen a rotation spot (since we saw how well that worked with Kei Igawa), but if the Yankees think he can start, I would be happy to have him compete for the 5th starter spot (provided he is willing to go to AAA or the bullpen if he doesn’t win the job).

Chen is no Darvish as far as talent goes, but the fact that the Yankees are looking at him has piqued my interest.  They may just be doing their homework on him as they would with a typical international free agent, or there may be a deeper interest there.  It’s unclear whether that interest is mutual, though the Yankees remain popular in Japan, which could help them bring in Chen.  The contract Chen ends up with will likely depend on whether he is viewed as a starter or reliever.  Either way, the Yankees can afford him, but as always, the question will be whether he is worth the money.  The velocity drop is a bit of a red flag (though I would imagine that even when healthy he was never hitting 95 consistently), but I’m sure the Yankees take all of this into account.

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7 Responses to Yankees interested in pitcher from Japan (no, not that one)

  1. earlseymour says:
    November 9, 2011 at 2:42 pm

    we do need some darngood pitching someone who is unhittable in the yankees rotation

    Reply
  2. T.O. Chris says:
    November 9, 2011 at 7:53 pm

    Is he viewed as a lefty specialist for the pen? Or is this someone who they view with possible closer ambitions? Because depending on the contract I just don’t see a huge need in the pen for this guy.

    Reply
    • Eric Schultz says:
      November 9, 2011 at 11:52 pm

      Unclear at the moment. Not sure if he has the strikeout arsenal to be a future closer, but I haven’t heard much speculation about his future role beyond the little I’ve read. It’s very possible that teams (Yankees included) still view him as a starter.

      Reply
      • T.O. Chris says:
        November 10, 2011 at 3:17 am

        I guess there is certainly no harm in bringing someone in, especially when it jsut costs money. I’d certainly love to know more if/when you learn anything else about the guy.

        I know this is totally unfair, but I just can’t help make the connection. The last time we picked up a lefty starter out of Japan that threw in the low 90′s and was a fastball/slider guy things didn’t work out so well. Obviously it’s a stupid connection to make, but one the irrational mental side still goes too.

        Reply
        • Eric Schultz says:
          November 10, 2011 at 8:18 am

          Chen throws harder than Igawa did (topping out at 95, whereas Igawa topped out in the low-90′s), but I agree that guaranteeing a rotation spot for Chen (as they basically did for Igawa) wouldn’t be the best decision.

          Reply
          • T.O. Chris says:
            November 10, 2011 at 10:44 am

            Until we see him actually put up numbers on a radar gun I’ll be skeptical of any numbers, if for no other reason than what does “topping out” really mean. It could mean almost anything you want it to really. If someone hits 95 once in a season they quite literally topped out at 95. Plus you mentioned he didn’t throw that hard this year, for one reason or another.

            Like I said it’s not fair to anyone to judge them based on someone elses results. But I wouldn’t blame someone for making the connection, because as silly as I know it is I still had the thought. Even if it was only in passing.

            Reply

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