In 1989 Pete Rose was banned from Major League Baseball for life for betting on his team while manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

In 2009, exactly 20 years later, Taiwanese right-handed pitcher Chin-hui Tsao was banned from the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) for “match fixing and accepting inappropriate bribes from gamblers and gangsters during his single season playing professionally in Taiwan in 2009″ – a ban that has since been challenged and upheld by the highly respected Australian Baseball League (ABL). Ironically, Tsao had spent four years in the MLB prior to his CPBL ban – including 21 games with the Dodgers in 2007.

But this past March, after being out of the game for five full seasons and with the approval of Major League Baseball, the Dodgers signed Tsao to a minor league contract. It seems that an independent MLB investigation did not turn up any evidence of wrongdoing by the hard-throwing right-hander.

Tsao appeared in six games with the Dodgers this past spring posting a 0-0 record and 6.97 ERA. He allowed eight earned runs on eight hits (one a home run) while striking out nine and walking four in his 10.1 innings of work. And although Tsao consistently hit 93-95-MPH with his fastball, he occasionally struggled a bit with his control.

Even at 34 years of age and after being out of the game for five years, Tsao still hit 95 MPH with his fastball this past spring. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

The 6′-1″ / 210-pound Hualien, Taiwan native began the 2015 season with the Dodgers Double-A affiliate Tulsa Drillers where he went 0-1 with a 7.20 ERA in four appearances. He struck out eight, walked four and allowed one home run in his five innings of work with the Drillers. But in spite of these less-than-stellar numbers, the now 34-year-old Tsao and was promoted to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Tsao has made 21 relief appearances with the OKC Dodgers thus far and has a 2-1 record and 3.86 ERA through 25.2 innings. He has struck out 31 and walked five for a much improved K/BB ratio of 6.20 while allowing only two home runs. And even though these are also not overwhelming numbers, they are apparently good enough for the Dodgers to put Tsao into their ever-popular OKC-to-LAX frequent flyer program.

…or are they?

With four years of MLB service time (albeit only 50 total appearances), Tsao is long out of options. However, although the full details of his minor league contract with the Dodgers are not known, it’s hard to believe that under the rather unique circumstance, there isn’t a clause in his contract that will allow the team to send him up and back as they see fit.

Whether or not Dodger fans will have issues with Tsao’s questionable past is another story altogether. But odds are (pun intended) that if he pitches well, all will be forgiven; but perhaps not so much if he struggles.

But there is one thing for certain – you can bet (ditto) that Pete Rose and his attorneys will be watching this situation very closely.