Chicago Cubs make first significant move of offseason—and it’s an unexpected one

The Chicago Cubs may have made their first significant move of the offseason, but it’s one that absolutely nobody saw coming.

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According to reports out of Taiwan, the Cubs have offered a contract to Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) closer Jyun Yue Tseng of the Fubon Guardians. CPBL columnist Vincent Liao later confirmed the reports to be accurate.

Who is Jyun Yue Tseng?

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Tseng has been absolutely dominant over the course of his 6-year professional run, posting a career 2.15 ERA, with 351 strikeouts and 93 total saves over 245.1 combined innings according to Baseball-Reference. This past season, he was especially lights-out, posting a 1.58 ERA with 65 strikeouts in 51.1 innings against only 13 walks.

On the world stage, Tseng turned heads at this year’s World Baseball Classic, closing out Chinese Taipei’s upset victory over South Korea.

Soon to be 25, he has a fastball that usually sits in the mid-90’s, but can top out at 97-99 mph, despite a diminutive 5-foot-8, 150 lb. frame. He utilizes a splitter and slurve/slider mix that has been highly successful at generating whiffs. He’s also been lauded for his poise under pressure.

For the Cubs, Tseng would be a low-risk/high-reward pickups since, reportedly, he’d be brought over on a minor league contract with an invite to spring training. The righty would become the first Taiwanese player to leave the CPBL for MLB play since the two leagues established a posting agreement in 2019.

Tseng’s role with the Cubs

It’s easy to imagine where the Taiwanese star closer would fit into the Cubs’ plans.

Chicago, among its many other pressing needs this offseason, will be looking to add to the back-end of its bullpen. Last season, the Cubs’ bullpen struggled with inconsistency all year, but it came up especially short in the area of closing out games.

With 2025 closer Daniel Palencia suffering through injury and de facto closer Jacob Webb falling apart late in the season, the Cubs were without anyone who could consistently shut the door late in games. Tseng represents a low-cost gamble to fill that need.

The money aspect is especially important to the 2027 Cubs bottom line as the team will need to bring in a lot of new talent this offseason, most of it via free agency.

The team is facing the tough task of rebuilding almost their entire starting rotation as they have five starters—their entire end-of-season starting rotation—heading off into free agency. The also have to address vacancies in left field, right field, and catcher due to the likely loss of Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, and Carson Kelly via free agency as well.

Although there will be a lot of money coming off the books, the Cubs will also have to spend a lot. That’s why a pickup like Tseng could be a genius move—or, at the very least, a really savvy roll of the dice.

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Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-closer-taiwan-jyun-yue-tseng-signing-2027-bullpen/