Wei-Yin Chen is a lefthander from Taiwan who has pitched the last four years for the Baltimore Orioles. In 2015, he made 31 starts (same as in 2014), went 11-8 (after a 16-win 2014) and had career bests in ERA (3.34) and WHIP (1.218).
All of that produced 3.8 bWAR, which was ninth in the American League in 2015. (He had 2.8 fWAR, 14th in the A.L.)
What's not to like about this sort of production? Well... nothing, really. I can't see any reason Chen isn't being considered in the same breath as guys like Scott Kazmir and Mike Leake, two pitchers I've already written about in this series. Plus, Chen is lefthanded, and heaven knows teams can't get enough good lefty starters.
Oh. Scott Boras is his agent, you say? Well... that isn't necessarily a problem, but you can bet Boras will be looking for a big pay increase over the $4.75 million Chen made in 2015. Given Chen's performance that could be close to tripling it over, say, a three-year contract.
Would you give Chen a contract calling for 3/40? Would you be able to sign him for that? He would cost a draft pick, as the O's gave him a qualifying offer. But the Cubs have had good luck with former Orioles pitchers in the past. Maybe this is a guy they should look into signing.