Kansas City Royals 2014 Plethora of Back-end Rotation Options
Kansas City Royals pitcher Bruce Chen (52) Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
- Bruce Chen, LHP
The newest name to this list, yet definitely not a stranger to the Royals organization, the crafty left-handed veteran, Bruce Chen. Just last week, the Royals signed Chen to a 1 yr/ $4.25m deal. Chen has not been short of success in his Royals career.
Obviously, he has never been a top of the rotation kind-of guy. The Royals have never tried to use him in that role. For most of his time in Kansas City, he has been a long reliever or a long-term fill-in starter. He has started 106 times of the 143 times he has appeared in games with a Royals uniform on.
Chen has amounted to a grand total of 6.3 WAR in his 4.5-year Royals career, if those saber metric numbers mean anything to you. In my opinion, Chen has been good for one thing in Kansas City; remaining a consistently average pitcher in an era of consistently bad rotations for the Royals.
For a guy who turns 37 years-old in June, don’t expect any career numbers from him, but expect a guy who will go out there every fifth day and get his job done. That is why he will be our #4 pitcher when the season rolls around.