Baltimore Orioles Raise Some Brows with Chen Demotion

So how about stashing a pitcher in the minor leagues after he had tossed eight shutout innings for the Baltimore Orioles Monday night?

Is stashing a cynical word, or is it pretty much what happened? Wei-Yin Chen improved (a possible misnomer) his record to 3-4, and lowered his ERA to 2.89 by allowing the Phillies 4 hits over eight innings in a 4-0 win Monday. Then the Orioles, in a roster crunch, needing to do something with Chris Parmelee before his opt-out deadline, brought him up from Norfolk and used one of Chen’s options to send him down for 10 days. 

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He’ll pitch part of a minor league game in a few days at Single A Frederick before coming back up, but conveniently enough, will miss the Orioles’ series in Toronto this weekend. The unfriendly confines of Rogers Centre feature a mostly righthanded hitting lineup, including the especially unfriendly bats of Jose Batista and Edwin Encarnacion. The New York Mets ended the Jays’ 11-game winning streak Monday night.

Manager Buck Showalter said Chen had complain of “overall body fatigue” in his previous start, reported by MASNSports.com. This has plausibility as a reason to rest him and is within the rules as a piece of roster manipulation. One can’t really complain about the results, with Parmelee going 4 for 6, with two home runs in his Oriole debut.

Then last night, Chen tweeted (and we all know the power of tweeting) his disappointment with, first:

“I am disappointed my routine is being interrupted. I will continue to work hard and do my best to perform. Thank you for all the support!” And then: “I am in excellent physical shape. I feel great and I am ready for my next start. I just pitched 8 innings of shutout baseball.

Whether this sounds miffed is open to anyone’s interpretation, as is the question of any effect it has on Chen’s contract talks next offseason. Showalter responded after the game by saying the team, and Chen’s health, are the priorities, and not what happens in the offseason. We’re not here to put words in anybody’s mouth, but if that was a subtle message to Chen’s agent, well, that is also open to interpretation.

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In the interest of equal time, that agent, one Scott Boras, was reached for comment by The Baltimore Sun, and called the demotion, “grossly irregular.”

Nothing about a 4-for-6 night with two homers is open to interpretation, though, and the Orioles used that nice surprise to whack the Phillies, 19-3, last night, with a franchise record eight home runs. The team moved to two games over .500 heading into a pair of games at Philadelphia, whose team is a major league-worst 22-45.

Ubaldo Jimenez starts tonight’s game at Citizens Bank Park. His stats are ugly against the Phillies. The good news is the David Lough, who homered against the Yankees Friday night and hit a 3-run homer last night, is 7 for 11 against Phillies starter Kevin Correia.

There is no word on whether Adam Jones will suit up again, after being rested Tuesday with an assortment of bumps and bruises, having turned his left ankle last week and then fouled some pitches off that foot since then. He also bruised his right shoulder on a diving catch Monday, but the MRI reportedly turned up no damage.

Next: Baltimore Orioles: Adam Jones, other Deserving Players Being Left Out

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