Wei-Yin Chen and Darren O’Day are staying in Baltimore

In an offseason that requires some tough decisions to be made, the Baltimore Orioles do not have to worry about losing Wei-Yin Chen or Darren O’Day to free agency. The reason being because on Thursday, October 30th, the Orioles exercised options on the contracts of both Wei-Yin Chen and Darren O’Day.

Chen’s option is worth $4.75 million, while O’Day’s is worth $4.25 million.

In 2014, Chen, the left-handed starter, led the team with sixteen wins. He also posted a 3.54 ERA with 136 strikeouts and a 1.23 WHIP. Being that Chen was the only left-handed starter on the Orioles’ roster this past season, it will be a coup for manager Buck Showalter and the rest of the team as well.

Despite an unimpressive Postseason (9.00 ERA in ALDS and 16.20 ERA in ALCS), O’Day did, in fact, have a successful season in 2014. O’Day’s sidearm approach on the mound left batters dazed and confused all year long. His 1.70 ERA, 73 strikeouts and 0.888 WHIP are evidence of that fact.

Now although they did exercise the options on these two’s contracts, they declined the options of right fielder, Nick Markakis and catcher, Nick Hundley making them both free agents for next season. Markakis’s option was worth $17.5 million and Hundley’s was worth $5 million.

Hundley’s days in Baltimore may be over with as Matt Wieters returns next season as the starting catcher and Caleb Joseph‘s defense will most likely earn him the backup catcher role. Reports have shown that the Orioles and Markakis are in negotiation talks for a long-term deal.

And even though Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations, Dan Duquette has much more work to do in preparation for the beginning of spring training, the news of O’Day and Chen staying in Baltimore is a good start.