Agent of change
Hiring CAA shows how serious Otani is about playing in MLB ... now
AS of Tuesday afternoon, there had been no significant movement to create a new posting agreement between MLB and its Japanese counterparts, which have been at an impasse as the sides plus the Players Association and Shohei Otani’s current team determine how to handle his attempts to play here. However, multiple parties involved in the discussions believe Otani’s selection Monday of an agency certified by the Players Association — CAA — will reinvigorate negotiations and lead to a settlement that would allow the player considered the best in Japan to come to MLB this offseason. A person involved in the process said the hiring of CAA is the strongest symbol yet that Otani’s “intentions are to play here and play here in 2018.” The feeling among negotiators is that having an agent — Nez Balelo will be the lead man for Otani — fully versed in MLB rules and the year-old collective bargaining agreement was vital to push talks along, especially because the Players Association wanted total comfort that Otani was completely briefed on his options and rights. The posting agreement between MLB and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) expired Oct. 31, so no player still under rights to a team in Japan — as Otani is with the Nippon-Ham Fighters — could sign with an MLB team.
As The Post first reported last week, MLB and NPB were near an accord on a system in which Japanese teams would receive a percentage of the contract signed by a posted player with an MLB team — believed to be between 15 and 20 percent.
However, Nippon-Ham refused to give its necessary vote to ratify that deal unless Otani was made a special case and grandfathered into the now-expired system, which would bring a $20 million posting fee to the Fighters from the MLB team that signs him. That is because under the new CBA, players under 25, like the 23-year-old Otani, are subject to international pool caps, which would mean Otani could only sign a one-year minor league contract between $300,000 and likely limited on the high end to around $4 million. Nippon-Ham saw 15 to 20 percent of that as insufficient for Otani’s talent.
MLB was willing to make a onetime exception for Otani to be posted under the old system. But no transfer agreement with any country such as Japan, Cuba, Korea, etc. can be finalized without approval of the Players Association, via its rights in the CBA. And the union was balking, concerned about a precedent being set and a player receiving a pittance to play here compared to how much his team would receive to let him go.
The union had, as of last week, been unsuccessful trying to deal directly with the Otani camp. The presence of CAA, however, will assure the union that all its concerns are conveyed to the ace/slugger, which is expected to foster both an overall agreement for a new MLBNPB posting accord and for Otani individually.
The belief is Otani will be grandfathered in or that some other avenue will be created to provide Nippon-Ham a larger sum than 15 to 20 percent of what Otani would sign for with an MLB team.
If Otani waited two more years, until he was 25, he would not be restrained by the international caps. But all indications are the money is not as important to Otani as getting a chance to play in the majors as soon as possible. It is believed that once the union is comfortable that that is truly Otani’s desire — which will be easier to learn now with CAA involved — a new posting system will be worked out.