"One of the things we spoke to Chen about was moving him to first base. We love his bat. "He had 26 home runs in the minors and he is a great offensive player," said Dodgers manager Dan Evans on Monday.
The Dodgers have another Taiwan player waiting in the wings who was also at Monday's news conference.
Kuo Hong-chih (
Kuo said the move to North America has been good for his baseball career. "The system is much better over here. I get better coaching," said Kuo.
Wild-card race
Brian Jordan belted a grand slam home run to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 7-6 win over the San Francisco Giants that lifted the Dodgers into a tie for the National League (NL) wild card on Monday.
The win also gave them the first game of a crucial four-game series between the two NL West rivals.
Both teams have just 12 games left in the regular season.
Barry Bonds belted a two-run homer for the Giants, his 44th of the season and was walked three times.
The first walk was his 178th of the year, breaking the major league record he set last season.
Jeff Kent and Rich Aurilia also both homered for the Giants, while Tom Goodwin had two hits and drove in a run.
Dodgers starting pitcher Hideo Nomo (15-6) got the win, going six innings and allowing three runs on five hits with six strikeouts and four walks.
Eric Gagne got the last five outs for his 49th save.
San Francisco's Jason Schmidt (11-8) took the loss.
In Miami, Brad Penny led the Florida Marlins past the Atlanta Braves 5-1, ending Kevin Millwood's eight-game winning streak.
Penny (7-6), who also had two hits in the game, allowed one run on four hits with eight strikeouts and two walks on six innings work before Vladimir Nunez and Braden Looper combined to preserve the win.
Millwood (17-7) went five innings, allowing five runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and three walks.
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