Wei-Yin Chen is not the enemy here. That’s where I’d like to begin: by making it clear that professional athletes who use free agency to secure the best possible deals for themselves and their families are just doing what any of us would do under the same circumstances.
Fresh off a 3.34 earned run average and 19.3 percent strikeout rate—both career bests—in the Baltimore Orioles rotation, Chen hit the open market following the 2015 season. The Marlins figured he would continue as a durable, slightly above-average starter, moving them one step closer to building a complete team around a core of star-studded position players.