Latest international posting could give Guardians' pitching lab yet another bullpen weapon 

For the past six seasons, Jyun Yue Tseng has been a dangerous weapon for the Fubon Guardians of Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League. But now there’s a chance he could be a dangerous weapon for the Cleveland Guardians. 

On Sunday, the Fubon Guardians officially put Tseng up for grabs via the international posting window, which gives every MLB team a chance to grab him. Tseng may not be on the same level as Teruaki Sato, but he boasts an intriguing profile that would be a perfect fit for a pitching-forward team that loves tinkering under-the-hood. 

Sound familiar? 

The Guardians could throw international reliever Jyun Yue Tseng into their pitching factory

Tseng posted some stellar numbers during his time with Fubon, as he recorded a 2.36 ERA with 91 saves over 287 career appearances with the club. He’s coming off a season where he recorded 65 strikeouts and 25 saves in 48 games on a Dragons team that went 59-61 while being led by former Guardians Yu Chang. 

Normally those kinds of stats would lead to Tseng signing some kind of deal with an MLB team, but his physical profile will likely give some teams pause since he sits at just 5-foot-8. That smaller frame hasn’t stopped him from generating velocity, however, as his fastball has sat around 99 miles per hour earlier in his career and still averages around 96 mph. 

The CPBL is nowhere near as good as MLB (or Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, for that matter), but Tseng’s stats are still impressive. 

He also saw time for Chinese Taipei in the World Baseball Classic, where he recorded two scoreless innings and closed out Chinese Taipei’s win over South Korea in a game that was highlighted by Stuart Fairchild’s go-ahead home run. 

He first filed for international free agency in 2023 but went unclaimed and decided to stay with Fubon, and it’s hard to believe that would happen this season since he could always head to Japan if he goes unclaimed by an MLB team. 

Tseng’s posting has the same kind of cash rules as any other international signing, meaning the team that adds him would have to pay a posting fee to add him to their roster. 

Any team that adds him would have to pay 20% of the first $25 million of  a potential Tseng deal, 17.5% of the next $25 million and 15% of anything past $50 million The fee is also 25% of a player’s signing bonus if they sign a minor league deal. 

The Guardians have become one of MLB’s best at getting the most out of unconventional and unheralded pitchers, which is exactly what Tseng is at this current juncture given his diminutive frame and status in the CPBL. 

That said, it’s still hard to imagine the Guardians signing him given they normally don’t dip into the international posting window and likely wouldn’t want to pay the fee associated with Tseng’s posting fee. But he could be a prime target for them if he comes over to America and ever becomes a free agent. 

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