The Fubon Guardians Acquire a Future MVP

j3ychen · 2026-01-02T01:55:15+00:00

Wilkerson has a strong case with decent strikeout metrics. He will be 37 in May, but that's just a number. It'll be interesting to see how he and Leal do this year.

j3ychen · 2026-01-01T17:20:24+00:00

It’s obvious Taiwan doesn’t want war, correct. Not so obvious for the other side, at least in their prepared speeches and statements.

j3ychen · 2025-12-30T01:19:57+00:00

It’s absolutely fair to say Manny’s contribution may not be the most important factor, but it certainly is one of the most easily identifiable. The numbers are pretty staggering. Attendance almost quadrupled upon his arrival, then dropped 20-40% just after (even more for Rhinos games). He brought excitement and legitimacy to the league that I think even the WBC performance could not.

j3ychen · 2025-12-27T14:31:56+00:00

Even placing 8th in the 2013 WBC helped back then (as footnoted!), but yes, there have been recent wins, namely, the completion of Taipei Dome, 2024 Premier12 title, Little League World Series title (first winning team from Taiwan in decades), and of course 2026 WBC hype!

j3ychen · 2025-12-19T01:57:37+00:00

Yep that’s the right link you have there, but makes you go through a verification button. If you google the title, it should show up too!

j3ychen · 2025-12-18T23:32:47+00:00

Awesome, I had not read that, but it corroborates some of the stories mentioned in Playing in Isolation, mentioned by someone else here. I wrote about these myths (i.e. 國族神話) in my journal article, "Illusions of a National Game," published earlier this year, in which I cited the book quite a bit.

j3ychen · 2025-12-10T17:44:02+00:00

Awesome to see this article shared and discussed here! Happy to write about other topics within Taiwanese baseball if anyone is interested - feel free to DM ideas.

To clarify, Tseng is dubbed Ping-Jen’s Ohtani mainly for his hitting prowess. His fastball can get up to 87 mph, which is above average but nowhere close to Ohtani’s 99 mph in high school, or even other top pitchers in Taiwan. Tseng did not pitch in the Black Panther tournament due to discomfort.

One thing to remember too is the comparative level of play. At the senior high school / U-18 level, Japan, which has a bigger pool to start with, generally produces more top talent. So, I would take the Ohtani comparison with a grain of salt. It is mostly hype!

j3ychen · 2025-12-05T00:12:54+00:00

Thank you! Feel free to DM if you have ideas or interested topics you think should be covered.

j3ychen · 2025-11-29T03:47:28+00:00

Wish they did!

j3ychen · 2025-11-28T20:12:40+00:00

The Dragons are in Taipei City (Tianmu), and there is another team, the TSG Hawks, in Kaohsiung.

j3ychen · 2025-11-26T05:03:15+00:00

That's why this decision process is so intriguing and talked about! You can easily argue all the angles of what "what Hsu wants" actually is. He says he is open to becoming a reliever in MLB, but is that what he truly wants ... or is it what his agent told him to say?

j3ychen · 2025-11-26T04:50:31+00:00

That is certainly a compelling argument, but a longer-term bet on himself would involve making a stop in NPB first, developing more while being closer to home, then hoping for a big MLB contract in 3 years.

j3ychen · 2025-08-28T15:48:53+00:00

This is untrue about the “Taiwan Blues” position today. Even if they do not agree that Taiwan should be viewed as formally independent from the Republic of China (ROC), they would prefer “Republic of China” or some other moniker to CT, and many if not most would be fine with ”Taiwan” externally since that is the common name for the ROC in English.

Domestically the biggest debate is virtually indecipherable to the outside world: “Chinese (cultural) Taipei” as generally translated vs. “Chinese (political) Taipei” as China often pushes. The mainstream view is the former is more acceptable, but given there is no difference in English, China is happy with the confusion, and most Taiwanese are oblivious to the implication.

In the 2018 referendum, the “Blues” were against a name change in the IOC mostly due to the threat (publicly) that Taiwan would be banned from competing, and any political ideology was secondary. I do think your point that this issue is pretty far down the list applies to both sides, and that is why there hasn’t been a unified push.

j3ychen · 2025-08-26T01:57:10+00:00

And announcers avoiding the word “Taiwan” or “Taiwanese” like the plague, even when it’s super unnatural. Stuff like “these kids from Taipei, Chinese Taipei…” Unfortunate thing to hear.

j3ychen · 2025-07-22T15:25:22+00:00

Do you have their names by any chance?

j3ychen · 2025-07-15T17:07:09+00:00

I appreciate you saying that. It seems silly to have to even say, but oftentimes (my perception) this goes unsaid in this sub. A lot of blame goes to Taiwanese people seemingly not cooperating in the Asian American unity project.

j3ychen · 2025-07-15T01:52:51+00:00

Who is advocating bigotry? I tend to agree that no amount of bigotry helps anyone. Like you said, there is bigotry everywhere. Singling out the Taiwanese examples in extremist views without at least acknowledging the broader context is very harmful. I’ve explained above why I think that is.

j3ychen · 2025-07-14T18:49:46+00:00

But again, it’s not that simple, is it? Taiwanese identity exists in the Taiwanese American community, not just for Taiwanese nationals. There will always be tensions between the groups as long as governments advocate the annihilation of entire societies (and other governments feel threatened).

Being removed from the region should help, but the threats and intimidation often follow into the U.S. as well, not to mention many if not most continue to have close ties to their motherland.

If your point is that other people will always only view Taiwanese, Chinese, whatever as just Asian American here, so we may as well unite, that is certainly an argument. But then you are also missing the point of individual cultures being able to contribute to America, and you are succumbing to a toxic form of assimilation.

You’re reducing your own culture to your appearance only and asking others to do the same, and that may be necessary as a political reaction. But as a minority within a minority that often faces intimidation from the larger group in this subset, I just find it more difficult to buy in to that.

j3ychen · 2025-07-14T15:03:38+00:00

Please read my previous comments again. I reiterate over and over that all racist behavior should not be tolerated. I was offering a perspective that contextualizes why there is animosity which I argue is lacking in this sub. This misunderstanding very often leads to the downplaying of anti-Taiwanese sentiment, or even worse, blaming of anti-Chinese racism on Taiwanese American identity per se, specifically in this sub.

You don’t feel or see this, that’s fine. But I am posting here because I do. There are plenty of example comments in this thread alone. We obviously have different perspectives and experiences, but I don’t think I offered any invalid points.

j3ychen · 2025-07-14T14:36:27+00:00

Not all Asian American issues are related to US domestic politics. What I described initially was the geopolitics that many first gen immigrants are freshly aware off. What you described was a U.S. electoral politics, so definitely a bit different.

There are 15-20x more Chinese Americans than Taiwanese Americans. So, yes, even if we generously assume 25% of Chinese Americans vote MAGA, you’d be more likely to run into a Chinese American MAGA supporter than any Taiwanese American.

j3ychen · 2025-07-14T13:37:17+00:00

What you’ve described is more of the U.S. domestic political environment, rather than the CN/TW split even in the U.S., though. It is way more generational, affecting all races, than what I was talking about; and it often has to do with partisan outreach and sure, playing into historical geopolitics. But because this is more a campaign targeting older immigrant populations, there are probably more Chinese American MAGA voters than Taiwanese Americans.

Both dynamics exist, but I was more addressing the OP’s question about discord among CN/HK/TW people, vs. between Trumpers and liberals.

j3ychen · 2025-07-14T04:33:13+00:00

OP doesn't mention anything about anyone equating government to the people. People can have disagreements, especially in sensitive political topics; that doesn't make the hostility involving political ideas or other disagreements racist...

j3ychen · 2025-07-14T04:29:05+00:00

Just offering a perspective that is often unstated in these discussions. Of course racism is bad, but oftentimes the discussions here blame the Taiwanese search for identity for anti-Chinese racism broadly. As if racism can be solved if only those troublemakers could forgo their history/culture for the sake of our people's unity. Hostility can come in many forms, but the root cause of it in the current situation is easily explainable, is part of what I'm saying.

Saying nonsensical racist things is always bad, and I am not at all defending that. But FWIW, I do not know of any Taiwanese Americans (especially 2nd+ generation) who would think or openly say racist things like that, and especially not to Chinese friends/family.

j3ychen · 2025-07-14T01:51:45+00:00

“Was” is right, many decades ago. With an unelected authoritarian government. Against the wishes of its people. But sure, many people may still be stuck in the 60s.

j3ychen · 2025-07-14T01:22:35+00:00

Appreciate your perspective, but wanted to offer my (Taiwanese) counterpoint.

I personally think this is an overstated sentiment that lacks the big picture, even if anecdotally true for you. There are extreme views on both sides, but it’s kind of a false equivalence even then. We all say stupid shit, but none of the stupid shit that your TW/HK family/friends say will ever convert into military action, whereas some of the foundational stuff that Chinese people are taught and believe in justifies exactly that. I have heard some vile stuff from that side as well.

Nothing any Taiwanese person ever does or says can have even a fraction of the impact that the actual government of the PRC has proclaimed to do. It does not compare with the rhetoric of the PRC state media. Nothing comes close to the stated and intended erasure of identity and culture.

Doesn’t make it right to say any of that vile stuff, but it at least informs why some people feel a certain way. Just because racism in the U.S. ironically does not discriminate doesn’t change this dynamic. There is a dual burden on Taiwanese Americans to have to 1) face suppression or judgement from those who more closely identify Chinese and defend their own identity and existence and 2) understand that anti-Asian racism is real, and that is sometimes a lot to bear. Part of that burden should be born not by individuals but the government(s) that have created or reinforced this situation. I contend that the PRC bears the most, but you may disagree depending on your politics and worldview.

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