Otani may not come to majors after all
LOS ANGELES — A conflict in negotiations among multiple parties, notably MLB, the Players Association, Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and Shoehei Otani’s current team imperils the much anticipated arrival this winter of Japan’s best player, The Post has learned.
The MLB-NPB posting agreement expired Tuesday. The sides, though, were close to an agreement to move to a system whereby the Japanese team losing a player to MLB would receive a percentage of the deal the player signed with a MLB club — believed to be between 15-20 percent.
However, Otani’s team, the Nippon Ham Fighters, refused to give its needed vote to the deal unless the righty pitcher was grandfathered into the old deal, whereby the Fighters would receive the maximum $20 million in exchange for posting him prior to his Japanese free agency. The collective bargaining agreement agreed to last offseason made foreign players 25 and older who want to play in the majors unfettered free agents. Those under 25 — like the 23-year-old Otani — are subject to the international pool caps, so the righty thrower is not all that different than, say, a 16-year-old from the Dominican. Thus, he is likely to receive between $300,000 to about $3.5 million and 20 percent of that would be a pittance for the Fighters.
MLB is willing to make an exception for Otani and let him come under the old system.
But MLB cannot enter into any transfer agreement with any country — Japan, Korea, Cuba, Mexico, etc. — without approval from the MLB Players Association as stated in the CBA. And the union, to date, has refused to make an exception for Otani, concerned about the precedent and fairness of the player receiving, say, $300,000 and his former team $20 million.
The union has tried to deal with Otani and his camp directly, but as of Wednesday had been unsuccessful.
Unless all these parties reach common ground no treaty will be in place to allow Otani to come to MLB despite his desires.
Otani, the best pitcher and perhaps also the best hitter in Japan, will not even fall under the union umbrella immediately because he would be signing a minor league deal as an under-25 player subject to the international pools.
The union believes the mechanism to get Otani to the majors would move much quicker if he picked an agent certified by the association.
Because he will sign a minor league deal and not immediately be on a 40- man roster, Otani does not have to select a certified agent, but he has been sorting through possibilities and the expectation is he will pick someone. The strongest industry buzz is Scott Boras is the frontrunner, but at the World Series this week Boras said he has not been officially notified that he was selected.
Otani has been using a Japanese lawyer with whom he was familiar to work through the process for now.
If Otani were to wait two years and stay healthy and desirable, he would be 25 and able to sign a contract for $200 million or more. But Otani seems unconcerned with those riches and wants to come to MLB as soon as possible.