The Baltimore Orioles will count on left handed pitcher Wei-Yin Chen to be a big part of their rotation next season.
Chen’s $4.75 million option for 2015 has been picked up after the 29-year-old made 31 starts in 2014 going 16-6 with a 3.54 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP.
This was a no-brainer for the Orioles as Chen will be one of the better bargains in all of baseball next season.
One player the Orioles declined the option of was outfielder Nick Markakis.
Again this was not a tough call. Markakis would have made an eye-popping $17.5 million in 2015 had the option been picked up. Ideally the Orioles would re-sign Markakis to a long-term deal at a much lower annual cost.
Markakis finished this year hitting .276/.342/.386 with 14 homers.
