You might not know that the highest-paid player in baseball this year will make $22 million, even in this shortened season. But what I bet you definitely don’t know is that that player isn’t Mike Trout, Gerrit Cole or Anthony Rendon. Who is he? Why of course we’re talking about …Wei-Yin Chen!

Wait. What? Wei-Yin Chen is really going to be the highest-paid player in baseball in 2020, you ask? Yes, he is, we answer. Here’s how the heck that happened:

Before the 2016 season, when Chen was picking a fine time to be a free agent, he signed with the Marlins for $80 million over five years — the biggest contract for any pitcher in Marlins history. That went well.

Over the first four years of that deal, Chen went 13-19, with a 5.10 ERA and the worst ERA-Plus (78) of any NL pitcher who pitched as many innings as he did (358). So finally last November, after a year in which the Marlins went 1-23 in the 24 games Chen pitched in after June 25, they’d had enough — and released him. The Mariners then signed him to a minor-league free-agent deal over the winter — but also released him.

So once again, his timing was impeccable. His release meant the Marlins were responsible for paying all $22 million he was owed for the 2020 season. And that didn’t change, even in this pandemic-shortened season.

The rules may say that Trout, Cole, Rendon and all the players who will actually play this year will get only their prorated salaries. But players who got released before this went down will receive every penny. So because of that, the highest-paid players in the game this year will be two guys who are highly unlikely to play a single inning:

1. Wei-Yin Chen: $22 million
2. Jacoby Ellsbury: $21,142,857.15*

(* Ellsbury actually might receive none of that, because the Yankees have filed a grievance, seeking to void the rest of his contract.)