Orioles pitcher Wei-Yin Chen undergoes knee surgery

It doesn’t look like he’ll miss any regular season action, but it’s never a good thing when an organization sees one of their starting pitchers go under the knife in the off-season.

That is exactly the position where the Baltimore Orioles find themselves with Wei-Yin Chen, as the team announced on Friday that he had surgery to remove bone spurs in his right knee. For the exact wording from the organization, here’s the statement from GM Dan Duquette:

"“Wei-Yin had a procedure done on his right knee that should prevent him from future discomfort in the knee. The recovery period is three to four months, so we do not expect him to miss any time during Spring Training.”"

Obviously, the last sentence is incredibly crucial, as Chen figures prominently into the plans for the Orioles in 2014. This season, Chen was worth 2.0 WAR (via FanGraphs) despite only throwing 137 innings due to various ailments. Staying healthy (and consequently, on the mound) has been an issue for Chen, but even with his banged-up history, he’s been worth every penny of the 3-year, $11.4 million contract he signed.

It’ll be crucial for the organization (and fantasy owners) to keep an eye on Chen in the Spring, as he must use his right leg for power. If he’s got his full “stuff”, he could be a big-time pitching sleeper in 2014.