Zach Britton on Wei-Yin Chen: "A great teammate"

Wei-Yin Chen's former teammates and coaches made sure to text or call him following the news on Tuesday that he agreed to a five-year contract with the Marlins, officially ending his tenure as an Oriole.

Chen spent four years in Baltimore. He could make it through six in Miami, including a vesting option that brings the total value of the contract to $96 million.

Of course, the Marlins have been known to trade players shortly after handing out extravagant contracts. They gave Chen an opt-out clause after two years.

The Orioles gave him some playful ribbing, asking for loans now that he's making so much money.

"I didn't think that we would give him what he was probably going to get on the open market," said closer Zach Britton. "Once you get to free agency, especially a guy ... He's been pretty consistent and under the radar, but very consistent for us in a tough league. A lefty starter in the American League East facing those lineups is a challenge, and he's done pretty well since we got him."

Britton clearly was disappointed to lose Chen despite assuming all along that his friend would sign with another organization.

"I think it's just another area that we've got to fill, a veteran guy," said Britton, who, like Chen, is represented by Scott Boras. "I thought he was getting better as he got more experience, getting a little more comfortable with everybody. And he was a great teammate, too. That's the biggest thing. A great teammate. But at the same time, I'm happy for him.

"I always thought he was underappreciated for what he brought to the team, so I'm excited that he got a nice contract in Miami."

The Marlins seemed to come out of nowhere to emerge as favorites before the deal became official.

"Very surprised it's the Marlins. Yeah, absolutely," said Britton, who thought Chen might sign with the Mariners.

"I knew that he wanted to be a little closer to Taiwan at first, but I don't know if you can turn that down. That's a pretty good offer for him, especially with the opt-out."

Pitching coach Dave Wallace also is happy for Chen despite the hole his departure created in the rotation. One that won't easily be filled.

"Good for him," Wallace said. "Does he have an opt-out after two years and an option for a sixth? Wow. I know one thing, I know (Marlins pitching coach) Juan Nieves pretty good and he always liked him. The National League, in that park ..."

Chen doesn't like to hit, a necessary evil in the National League. He won't embrace the chance to have four at-bats in a game.

"The idea is to get four at-bats," Wallace said, grinning.

Chen and outfielder Gerardo Parra found new teams on Tuesday while the Orioles continued to search for a left-handed bat and starting pitcher. They began the offseason with a flurry of moves, including the additions of Vance Worley, L.J. Hoes, Mark Trumbo, Hyun Soo Kim, C.J. Riefenhauser and Rule 5 pick Joey Rickard. They kept two of their free agents, catcher Matt Wieters and reliever Darren O'Day, and put a seven-year, $150 million offer on the table to first baseman Chris Davis.

Now we continue to wait while players come off the free agent market and the options keep dwindling.

"I think you'd like to have your team becoming a little bit more set at this point, but a couple years ago, we signed Nelson (Cruz) and Ubaldo (Jimenez) in spring training, so it's not out of the norm for us to add some guys in the spring," Britton said. "But if we don't get Chris and he decides to go somewhere else, I think what we do with those resources will be interesting, to see whether we add a pitcher, a bat or both or whatever we decide to do.

"I think that will be the biggest thing to watch. For me as a player, that's the biggest thing I'm going to be looking at."