Marlins Place Wei-Yin Chen On 10-Day DL With Tired Arm

The Marlins have placed left-hander Wei-Yin Chen on the 10-day DL with what the club is describing as a tired arm, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Tim Healey and others reported.  Chen is expected to miss just one start (his scheduled outing today), as an MRI didn’t reveal anything serious.  Righty Odrisamer Despaigne has been called up from Triple-A in a corresponding move in order to start today’s game.

[Updated Marlins depth chart at Roster Resource]

As Healey reported two weeks ago, Chen has been pitching through a slight UCL tear, so the uneventful MRI is certainly a good sign for both the pitcher and the team.  The downside, of course, is that the Marlins are suddenly facing an even larger short-term rotation deficit, as Edinson Volquez was placed on the DL earlier this week due to a blister issue.  Both Chen and Volquez aren’t expected to miss much time, though manager Don Mattingly said that rehabbing southpaw Jeff Locke will be stretched out to give Miami more rotation depth.

Chen has a 4.33 ERA, 6.7 K/9 and 2.22 K/BB rate over 27 innings for the Fish this season.  The lefty is looking to rebound from an injury-shortened first season in Miami (his first year of a five-year, $80MM contract) that saw him post a 4.96 ERA over 123 1/3 innings.  Chen can opt out of his contract this winter, though he’d be leaving $52MM of his guaranteed on the table, which could be a risky proposition for a pitcher already dealing with some UCL damage.