(Caution: Examining the following employee evaluation form requires fluency in both English and Corporatese.)
Overall Overview of Minor League Situation of Aggravation and Exasperation Pursuant to Major League Inclination Toward Promotion and Demotion In a Manner of Repetitious Regurgitation Consistently Resulting in Player Performance Inconsistency Especially in Regard to One Unlucky Bastard:
Bleed that Dodger blue. Cry those Dodger blues.
One woeful refrain, Vegas jockstrappers. Bleed blue, cry blues. Bleed blue, cry blues. Bleed blue, cry blues.
Baseball's a bitch in this Triple-A town, this body-parts peddler to the famed LA franchise, where minor-leaguers fantasizing a major-league life hope there must be 51 ways to leave Las Vegas. And every so often, the call comes for some Tom, Dick or Chin-Feng to, as a pop poet put it, hop on the bus, Gus, and set himself free. Right up to the Bigs ... Then right down again to the Not-So-Bigs.
Back to occasionally supplying the Big Dogs with the odd set of relatively undamaged catcher's knees for a month, the shotgun outfield arm for a couple of weeks, the fleet feet that advance from first to third on a single to right for a weekend series, the pitching rifle to shoot down an opponent's late-game rally for maybe a night, and don't bother us about your fate come morning.
Bye-bye, now. See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!
Yep, baseball's a bitch. And this is the performance evaluation of ... one unlucky bastard.
To: Las Vegas 51s Vice President in Command of Resourcing Human Inventory for Increasing Organizational Productivity and Filing Files Pursuant to Said Productivity (i.e., Personnel Dude)
From: Chairman, Executive Committee of Evaluation, Assessment and Critical Whining for the Alleged Advancement of Employee Performance, Imaginary Uplift of Employee Morale and Overall Ongoing Job Rearrangement Regarding Restructuring of Organization's Table of Organization (i.e., Supervisor)
Re: Performance History Evaluation of: First Baseman/Outfielder-Minor-Leaguer-to-Major-Leaguer-to-Minor-Leaguer-Etcetera-Ad-Nauseum, Chin-Feng Chen (i.e., Employee)
Thumbnail Biographical Background Details of Employee/Evaluee Chin-Feng Chen's History Up To and Including Present Distressful Situation:
• Shy, silent, solitude-seeking son of Tainan City, Taiwan—near-literally a sphinx in a ball cap—who matures into a baseball slugger nonpareil with a blindingly bright future destined to garner international headlines, a niche in global sports history—and professional heartache.
• A peewee terror with Taiwan's 1990 Championship Little League team whose skills and prestige run rampant until he is a standout with both the Taiwanese squad in the World Championship Games, and later, a baseball Olympian for his nation.
• Amid widespread whoop-de-do, signs with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, making him only the second Taiwanese import to professionally play America's game in ... America.
• Treats minor-league baseball records like cheap trinkets, obliterating them along his ascent up the Dodger farm system, most notably at Triple-A Las Vegas, where he arrives at age 24. Fearsome bat bludgeons old franchise highs, setting new standards for Sin City batsmen.
• But the shining star spurns the spotlight, redefining the notion of self-effacement. Stares suspiciously at inquiring Committee Chairman's pen and notepad during a debriefing. Chen speaks with his chin tucked tightly into his chest, mumbly, broken English disappearing into his ballplayer's physique. "I like play baseball. When play baseball, I want to play in major leagues, so keep learning."
• And so he does, walking into history when he's called up to the Dodgers in 2002—becoming the first Taiwanese player to knock the mud out of his spikes in a major-league batter's box, crack open Major League Baseball to an entirely new race of players and send his native countrymen into euphoric flights of national pride.
• Then ... a dispiriting, downward cycle. Big-league prospects stagnate and stall.
• If you turned Kevin Costner Taiwanese, renamed him Chin-Feng Chen and gave him a yen for Susan Sarandon, you'd have an international Bull Durham, the story of a minor who can't stay a major. Over nearly four seasons, press and fans follow the bouncing ballplayer, a chronic passenger aboard the 51s-Dodgers Express—a nonstop shuttle between Somewhere and Nowhere, the City of Angels' welcome mat depressingly familiar: briefly stay, scarcely play, go away.
• "What's working against him is that the Dodgers, understandably, between the front office, the fans and the media, are an impatient bunch," observes K-BAD Radio's Voice of the 51s, Russ Langer, in an evaluation debriefing.
"It's a large-market team that hasn't won a post-season series since 1988. Last year was the first time they even won a post-season game since 1988. So they're less apt to go with a younger player as far as a regular role. This year there have been a staggering number of injuries leading to a number of calls, Chen being one. But it's difficult to envision any of those players getting regular roles unless they excel so incredibly in their part-time roles that management is forced to give them a front-line position."
• Up once and back. Up twice and back. Up thrice and back. Totals: Eight games, 14 at-bats, zero hits. Big buzz downgraded to dull hum.
• Chen hit for the cycle of futility earlier this month when the papa club yanked employee's well-traveled ass up again to replace injured Dodger outfielder J.D. Drew on the roster.
• "Part of the problem is he doesn't get persistent opportunities in the major leagues," says Nick Christensen, 51s beat reporter for the Las Vegas Sun, in testimony to the evaluation committee. "He'll be hitting the smoke out of the ball down here, get up there and get one at bat in two or three days, he just completely loses his rhythm. I guess I don't think that till August he'll still be in a Dodger uniform."
• Finally nails his first hit in the Bigs on July 4—IndeCHENdence Day!—then collects enough bench splinters to build a den onto the dugout where he can idle away all those at-bats he's still not getting in the Bigs. But he was pinch-running (baseball's equivalent of making it to the prom and dancing with your sister's dorky best friend with the wraparound braces).
• Career clock ticks ... louder ... Louder ... LOUDER ... Odds on employee-evaluee's fifth LA/LV yo-yo trip? Monumental. Let's not even contemplate the sixth, the seventh, the 17th.
• Why can't this frighteningly gifted kid (who's creeping up on elder-rookie status), this baseball Olympian, this hero to his homeland and hope to two cities, catch a ... or capitalize on a ... or just make his own ... break?
• Onetime prodigy should be straddling a career rocket-ride as swift and sure as the balls that explode off his lightning-like bat and settle beyond what the ballpark can hold.
• Nevertheless, time passes, and not how he'd like, or where he'd like. And—no offense, Vegas—it ain't here hangin' with us.
Evaluation Committee Conclusion: Once kinetic career now questionable—and heartburn-inducing, forcing outlay of cash payouts for gross of 14-day Prilosec tablets for stricken Evaluation Committee members.
Attachment (A): National Media Commentary on Career Trajectory of Employee/Evaluee:
• "Chen has proven himself the perfect balance between speed and power. Scouts are noticing his significant talent and unique style."—Eric Larson, The Baseball Report, April 5, 2002
• "Once a decent power prospect, Chen is stuck in Quadruple-A—baseball's fantasy purgatory (too good for the minors, not good enough for the majors). Ignore him indefinitely."—CBS.Sportsline.com, March 27, 2005
Overall Overview Appraisal/Conclusion of Chin-Feng Chen's Situation of Aggravation and Exasperation Pursuant to Dodgers' Inclination Toward Promotion and Demotion In a Manner of Repetitious Regurgitation Consistently Resulting in Chin-Feng Chen Career Inconsistency and Diminished National Press Expectations:
How the mightily hyped hath fallen.
Personality Profile Of Elusive, Mysterious and Often Mum's-the-Word Employee/Evaluee, Stumping Even The Organization's Highly Trained Behavioral Therapeutic Specialists, But Understood By His Cohorts:
Employee/Evaluee is a riddle wrapped in a steel-encased enigma reinforced with three padlocks and two armed guards with orders to fire at will. Marketing chief Jim Gemma insists that employee/evaluee is press-shy due to tentative grasp of American language—distinctly different from English—but not unfriendly.
Excerpted from a 2002 Sun story (clip to permanent file): "Before games when he was at class-A San Bernardino, ... Chen would sit in silence in front of his locker, with his bat between his legs and his forehead touching the knob. ... Back then, Chen kept to himself—not only because he didn't speak English, but because he preferred the solitude.
"Now he puts up an invisible glass wall, it seems, to shield himself from the pressures and expectations that go along with being one of the Los Angeles Dodgers' top prospects. Only his teammates and coaches are allowed inside while everyone else is kept at arm's length."
But beat reporter Christensen tells the Evaluation Committee: "I know he speaks perfect English. Last year, I looked down at his iPod and he was listening to Ludacris. I thought, 'The jig's up, Chen.'" (Evaluation Committee considers demerits re: Ludacris fandom, but goes home to listen to Steve & Eydie records.)
Ex-big-leaguer (New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox) and 51s Manager Jerry Royster testifies before the Committee, further disputing mistaken impression given by employee: "It's really neat to see how he has evolved here in America, especially last year. It got to where his communication skills were great. I hesitate at times to say things to him because I think it would get lost in translation, but he comes up to me with those exact thoughts. It totally surprised me that he understood something he had done wrong, and actually articulated it."
Thirding that emotion to the Committee is teammate/ex-roommate Joe Thurston: "He's quiet around people he doesn't know because he doesn't have a reason to talk to you. He might understand what someone is saying, but they won't understand what he's trying to get out, so he'd rather not talk to them. But there's not one guy on the team he doesn't talk to or joke with.
"When we were roommates, we watched comedy movies all the time. The biggest thing that surprised me was him getting married. When I first met him, he had a girlfriend from Taiwan, then a couple of years later, he says, 'I'm not with that girl anymore.' Then the next year, he said he got married. I didn't even know."
Conclusion: So he doesn't want to share himself with the world. Click on any TV reality show, then fall to your knees, grateful that such a man still exists.
Employee Signing Procedure Resulting in Career Prospectus of Prospective Prospect for Whom Dodger Organization Was, Coincidentally, Prospecting
Employee/Evaluee inked to a Dodger contract as an amateur free agent on January 4, 1999, by talent-savvy scout Jack Zduriencik, now director of scouting for the Milwaukee Brewers. Following is Zduriencik's recollection to the Evaluation Committee, via sworn affidavit— and of course, Scout's honor—of the historic progression of events culminating in employee's, um, employment:
"The Dodgers had a lot of goodwill in Taiwan. That year, the Asian Games were played in Bangkok. Myself and (Director of Asian Operations) Acey Kohrogi went over to Tainan, Taiwan, and they had these prelim games with the Japanese, so I was fortunate enough to see him for three or four games. I said to Acey, 'This kid's a pretty good-looking hitter.' Then we went to watch him play in the Asian Games (where Chen bats a blistering .444 with three homers). At that point, he was still in (mandatory) military service so we had to wait until he got out, then we signed him as soon as he rolled out.
"At the time, it was huge, huge news because in that country. It was like, 'What the heck's going on here?' Believe me, it was an interesting several days. (Government officials) were irate because one of their players was signed away to come to America. But we met all their requirements—he was out of the military, and wasn't bound to any ball club there.
"We had a big press conference over there. By and large, people thought it was a wonderful thing that he had an opportunity to go beyond their borders. We met with his family and they were wonderful, very gracious, very courteous. They gave us gifts and were very appreciative of the opportunity for him. Then he went out and did what he did for us in the California League. Nobody expected that kind of instant response from him. When we brought him to the United States, he was so well-received. The Asian population in Los Angeles was so pleased."
Evaluation of Employee/Evaluee Pre-and-Post-Signing, Career-Commencing Statistical and Chronological Flotsam and Jetsam:
Strapping fella, 6-foot-1, 189 pounds, now 27 years old, bats and throws from the right side, steals bases. Racked up a .425 batting average with 40 homers and 115 RBIs in eight international amateur tournaments from '96-'98 (showoff!), and blasted four four-baggers in four consecutive games for Taiwanese national team in the '98 World Championship Games.
Then ... the States. Taiwanese adoration. American expectations. Of all the media fuss 'n' feathers, Chen tells the Evaluation Committee: "That not my thing. For some people, yeah. I just go play baseball."
We have liftoff through layers of Dodgerdom. Named California League Player of the Year and Dodgers Minor League Player of the Year at Single-A San Bernardino in '99, batting .316 with 31 home runs and 123 ribbies (both smashing single-season club records) and 31 stolen bases in 131 games. Club—three leagues under the Bigs—retires his uniform No. 43 (an honor earlier accorded Ken Griffey Jr.), undoubtedly making him feel like The Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth.
Continues climbing rungs on LA minor-league ladder, through Vero Beach, San Antonio, Jacksonville, and in 2002, up to Vegas—surely a dream realized for a boy who must have grown up in Taiwan yearning to visit Little Darlings. He eventually sets franchise records for home runs (82 before his latest trip to LA), RBIs (282) and total bases (800)—Sin City showoff!—and becomes the first player in club history to launch 20 or more homers in three straight seasons. But defensively, a management-mandated switch in '02 from employee/evaluee's natural outfield position to first base proves problematic.
Attachment (B): Career Point-by-Point Breakdown via Abbreviated Annual Local Media Reports and Assessments, Las Vegas Sun Archives, Retroactive to Employee/Prospect's Promising 51s Debut Season, 2002:
4/4/02: "... Taiwanese import Chin-Feng Chen ... will be counted on to help bring some excitement and respectability to a team that finished 68-76 ..."
4/5/02: "... Playing his first pro regular season game at first base, Chen committed an error but went 2-for-4 with three runs scored ..."
4/9/02: "... Chen's three-run blast to left field in the seventh inning helped the 51s rally for an 8-5 victory over Edmonton ..."
4/12/02: "... Only eight games into the season, interest in Taiwanese sensation Chin-Feng Chen has dramatically increased visits to the Las Vegas 51s website ..."
5/6/02: "... Former Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Wes Parker ... will wrap up his four-day tutorial in Las Vegas tonight. Before each game, Parker has spent half an hour teaching Chen the finer points of playing the position. ..."
6/4/02: "... Chen is under enough pressure as one of the Dodgers' best prospects and a neophyte first baseman ..."
7/12/02: "... Chen hit his 19th homer and doubled to highlight his 2-for-4 night ..."
9/3/02: "... Chen, batting .284 with a team-leading 26 home runs, will be the designated hitter ..."
9/10/02: "... The Los Angeles Dodgers promoted Chin-Feng Chen to the major-league roster Monday, making the 24-year-old first baseman-outfielder the first Taiwanese player on a major-league roster. ..."
Seasonal 2002 Evaluation:
Defensively: Bumpy transition but not Buckner/'86-catastrophic. Offensively: Bats like a sonofabitch. Publicity: Knack for putting Vegas asses in Cashman seats—unprecedented.
Conclusion: "Sonofabitch" is a good thing.
Historical Review of Employee/Evaluee's History-Making Night With Historically Significant Major-League Appearance:
Employee/Evaluee stirs Taiwanese pride by donning Dodger blues against the Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants.
With his parents and Taiwanese government officials in attendance (apparently no longer pissy about it) and congratulatory letters from the country's president and vice president in hand, Chen walks and scores a run, but doesn't manage a hit. More than a hundred Taiwanese-American fans turn out to support their star.
Chen tells the Evaluation Committee: "Even with noise, I tune it out and concentrate on the ball, not people."
Defector/turncoat Zduriencik informs Evaluation Committee: "The kid, he's a pretty composed, let-his-talent-do-it kind of guy."
Sheng-Lu Yu, a reporter with Taiwan's Apple Daily, remarks to the Sun in '93 in a comment stapled to employee/evaluee's record:
"When he got called up to the majors, we watched the game on ESPN Asia. Everybody got up early, the night game is early morning in Taiwan, to watch the game. ... The baseball fans are just crazy about him."
Attachment (C): Career Point-by-Point Breakdown via Abbreviated Local Media Reports and Assessments, Las Vegas Sun Archives, 2003:
4/3/03: "... Outfielders Chin-Feng Chen, Wilkin Ruan and Bubba Crosby, catchers David Ross and Ryan Kellner and infielder Chris Clapinski return to Las Vegas ..."
5/14/03: "... The 51s could not muster a hit out of the infield Tuesday until Chen's seventh-inning home run, their only score ..."
6/17/03: "... Chen was a single away from hitting for the cycle Monday ..."
6/20/03: "... Chen has been pounding the ball at a .462 clip (18-for-39) ..."
6/30/03: "... Chen had a pinch-hit single in the seventh to break up the no-hitter. ..."
7/1/03: "... The pressure is off Chen. Gone are the expectations of becoming the Dodgers' first baseman of the future. ..."
7/9/03: "... The game featured five home runs, including Chen's 400-plus-footer ..."
7/31/03: "... Chen was 0-for-0 with four walks ..."
8/7/03: "It's hard to believe that a player hitting .284 would be a team's MVP when seven of his teammates are hitting better than .300. But Chen isn't an ordinary player, and if the MVP voting was done online only, he'd be the runaway favorite. Chen ... has received about 93 percent of the more than 60,000 votes on the 51s' website MVP poll. ..."
8/25/03: "... Chen accounted for Las Vegas' only run with a solo home run ..."
Seasonal 2003 Evaluation:
Defensively: Back in outfield, improves proportionally to his distance from first base. Offensively: "400-plus-footer"? Committee members couldn't hit it 4 feet in a T-ball tournament. Publicity: "93 percent"? Members wish they could score that well with chicks.
Conclusion: Dodger brass has head up ass.
Performance Observations, Points of Interest and Professional Insights Regarding Employee-Evaluee Evaluation (i.e., Evaluation Committee Chairman probed mainstays of the 51s scene about employee-evaluee, bribing them with Little Darlings performers; Chairman lures said performers by promising G-String Night at Cashman):
• Nick Christensen, Sun reporter, provides his press-box perspective: "The first year here, there was a lot of hype around him, not only from local fans but from the Taiwanese media that would continue to come and report on him. But he's not news anymore, he's not one of the hot prospects. He's still a good player, but when you lose that title of prospect, a lot of the hype surrounding you goes away."
• Jerry Royster, 51s manager, offers his dugout perspective: "As long as (Chen) has the body that he has and as long as he maintains his skills, he's fine, he's not running out of time, but you'd just like to see him get a real opportunity because he has a lot to offer right now.
"His skills are good enough to get him to the Major Leagues without hitting. He does other things a lot better than most: play defense, throw, run the bases, things that win ball games. Things Major League teams count on you to do. Think about it: It takes those guys awhile to learn how to hit up there. Usually when they come from here, they're hitting seventh and eighth. Rarely do you go up there and go lights-out. You may start that way, but after a hundred at-bats, you're probably going to be struggling."
• Broadcaster Russ Langer chimes in with his behind-the-mic perspective: "Defensively, he needed a lot of improvement when he arrived in Triple-A, but he worked very hard to make himself a good outfielder. And he's a more disciplined hitter. When he came up from the lower minors, he was much more prone to striking out, chasing pitches outside the strike zone, then getting behind in the count. But his strikeouts have gone down. One thing that's remained consistent is that he's a pretty streaky hitter. On any given week, he'll be hitting anywhere from .150 to .550. But at the end of the day, his numbers are going to be very, very positive."
• Second baseman Joe Thurston explains his on-field perspective: "It's tough because it's baseball and the guys who play it don't have any control over those decisions (to send players up to and down from the Bigs). It's always guys who aren't playing the game making the decisions. (Ooooh! Fight! Fight!) He gets frustrated like we all do, but he comes out every day and does what he needs to do. He doesn't complain, doesn't show it. I can tell because I know him, when he gets frustrated, because he's good enough to play in the majors, but the opportunity hasn't come yet. It's just baseball."
Conclusion: Toils among Vegas friends. Would prefer playing among LA strangers.
(Committee Chairman's Memo-Shhh/Top-Secret Directive to Office Assistant: Pull Thurston Employee Evaluation Form From File for Reassessment Following Mildly Anti-Corporate Allusions to Our Non-Playing-But-Almighty-Power-Brokering-Decision-Making)
Attachment (D): Career Point-by-Point Breakdown via Abbreviated Local Media Reports and Assessments, Las Vegas Sun Archives, 2004:
4/8/04: "... For the second year, Chen anchors the outfield after his failed experiment as a first baseman ..."
4/12/04: "... Thurston and Chen are steadily climbing the franchise leaders' lists in a few categories ..."
4/13/2004: "... Maybe Chen won't break all those franchise records after all. Chen, a 51s outfielder and power hitter for parts of the last two seasons, got the call after Monday's 6-4 loss to the Tacoma Rainiers that he had been called up to Los Angeles to fill in for reserve outfielder Jayson Werth. ..."
4/26/04: "... Chen was sent down from the Dodgers after pitcher Brian Falkenborg was activated from his rehab assignment at Las Vegas ..."
5/13/04: "... Chen passed Joe Lansford for second place on the all-time Las Vegas franchise strikeouts list ..."
5/27/04: "... Jackson's start ... was highlighted by six 51s home runs, two by Chen ..."
7/1/04: "... Chen tied Phil Hiatt's franchise record of 67 home runs during the road trip ..."
7/9/04: "... Chen hit his franchise record 68th and 69th home runs, passing Phil Hiatt ..."
7/12/04: "... Chen, who was leading the 51s in batting with a .306 average, was called up to the Los Angeles Dodgers ..."
7/26/04: "... Chen, just back from a backup stint with the Dodgers, leaves tonight to play for Taiwan in next month's Olympics ..."
Seasonal 2004 Evaluation
Defensively: Back in the outfield chasing other players' balls; Offensively: Employee never met a club record he didn't want to smash. But every time he does, someone has to clean it up. Publicity: With record-shattering and Dodger-visiting, employee keeps the ink flowing.
C
onclusion: Dodgers, Olympics, 51s, record-breaking—give the dude his due and buy him a brew.
Background B-Matter and Difficult-to-Find Informational Nuggets of Fact As They Pertain and/or Apply to Employee/Evaluee:
Details dispensed with an eyedropper, yanked out with a crowbar, retrievable only by the Jaws of Life.
Employee learned B-ball at age 11 by watching older brother Lien-Hong. As Chen tells the Evaluation Committee: "I play only baseball. I like to play baseball."
He enrolled in an introductory English language course before astounding first season at San-Bernardino. He was friends initially with his only Taiwanese teammate, pitcher Hong-Chi Kuo (who joined the team later) and translator Vincent Liao. Digs sushi and beef, from Kobe steak to McDonald's and Burger King (employee is front-runner to be the new voice of the "Beef—it's what's for dinner!" commercials as soon as he can mimic Robert Mitchum).
Favors new-age performer Enya (Evaluation Committee is again tempted to assign demerits, but defers, afraid they'll seem more like elitist snobs than they already do) and Tom &Jerry cartoons. Met his wife, You-Hsuan, in America.
Evaluation Committee Chairman's Personal Addendum:
At a home game against the Fresno Grizzlies, I discuss Chen's travails and why he can't hang on with the Dodgers when an eavesdropping fan sitting directly in front notes: "Simple. He can't hit major-league pitching." I am tempted to suggest that the fan probably couldn't hit Little League pitching, but if he actually could extend his bat beyond his belly, he couldn't waddle to first base without an oxygen tank. In the interest of professionalism, I decide against it.
Attachment (E): Career Point-by-Point Breakdown via Abbreviated Local Media Reports and Assessments, Las Vegas Sun Archives, 2005 To Date:
2/15/05: "... After three years in Las Vegas, one might think Thurston and Chen would be looking for a change of scenery ..."
4/7/05: "... For Thurston, (Jose) Flores and Chen, who is also beginning his fourth season in Las Vegas, there's pressure that hasn't been there in years. The once-depleted Dodgers farm is now showing signs of life. ..."
4/19/05: "... Chen is hitting .394 (15-for-38) with 11 RBIs ..."
4/20/05: "... Chen hit a 3-1 pitch at least 450 feet down the left-field power alley ..."
5/4/05: "... Chen, nursing a pulled leg muscle, entered the game in the seventh inning and had an RBI double to center in the eighth ..."
6/2/05: "... Chen was hit on the wrist by a pitch and was scheduled for X-rays today ..."
6/28/05: "... Chen belted a three-run home run in the third and finished with four RBIs on 2-for-5 hitting ..."
6/30/05: "... Chen leads the 51s in RBIs (46) despite hitting only 10 home runs this year ..."
7/5/05: "... Chen was called up to the Dodgers when J.D. Drew went on the disabled list with a broken wrist ..."
Seasonal 2005 Evaluation To Date:
Defensively: Defends himself quite nicely against the press. Offensively: Avoids offending anyone with what he doesn't say in the press. Publicity: See above and do the math.
Conclusion: Could star in remake of Mute-iny on the Bounty, but on the field, he's still Brando with a bat, making Dodgers an offer they can't refuse ... for awhile.
Attachment (F): Miscellaneous Observations, Pre-2005 Call-Up, Applied to Employee/Evaluee Regarding Evaluation of Employee:
• "The prospect-y sheen is gone and he's unlikely to ever be a starter in the major leagues. On the other hand ... he's still a pretty decent AAA outfielder who wouldn't embarrass himself on a big-league bench as a designated lefty masher. (But) his AAA stats are greatly enhanced by Cashman Field and he's not a particularly good fielder. I could see him turning into a poor man's Jose Guillen.
"So where did he go wrong? He just never advanced. He's the same player he was three or four years ago. ... Stagnation is a curse. Chen never turned into the player we thought he would simply because what we saw at 24 years old was just about the best he had to offer." (Posted by John Barten, tilyoureblueintheface.blogspot.com, April 16, 2005)
• "There's talk that Chen strikes out too much and that he's a poor outfielder, but it's hard to tell if that's true. Until he gets a chance, no one will know for sure if Chin-Feng Chen can hit major-league pitching." (Nick Roman on publicradio.org., June 23, 2005)
Attachment (G): Miscellaneous Observations, Post-2005 Call-Up, Culled by Evaluation Committee and Applied to Employee/Evaluee Regarding Evaluation of Employee:
• "Congrats to Chin-Feng Chen on that long-awaited first major-league hit—nearly 34 months after his major-league debut." (Anonymous online posting, July 6, 2005 ...
• "It took him four years, but Chin-Feng Chen finally got his first major-league hit on July 4. He's hardly played since." (Nick Christensen, Las Vegas Sun, July 18, 2005)
• "Time is not really his ally anymore as it was when he got to Triple-A, but it may be more a case of perception than reality. There have been cases of players who have excelled in the major leagues at that age or older because they got the opportunity. (San Diego Padre) Phil Nevin (now 34) was a notoriously late-bloomer. But as every day and every week and every game goes by, the odds aren't in his favor and they don't turn in his favor anymore." (Broadcaster Russ Langer to Evaluation Committee Chairman, July 21, 2005)
• "Bleed the blue, cry the blues." (Evaluation Committee)
Attachment (H): Employee/Evaluee News Flash:
"Chin-Feng Chen ... was designated for assignment by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday ... The Dodgers now have eight days to trade Chen or offer him free agency. After that, he could opt to stay with the Dodgers and accept a demotion to Triple-A." (Nick Christensen, Las Vegas Sun, July 25, 2005) Conclusion: As sure as a neon night in Vegas, a four-time Dodger becomes a five-time 51.
Attachment (I)
Employee/Evaluee's Dreams of Baseball Fate: Dodger-Blued.
Attachment (J)
Employee/Evaluee's Baseball Fate to Date: Royally Screwed.