AWAY WE 0H!
Ohtani clears final hurdle to come to USA
After much haggling, officials Tuesday night agreed on the terms that will allow Shohei Ohtani, who some call the Japanese Babe Ruth, to join the majors this season. The pitcher/outfielder is expected to sign before Christmas, with the Yankees one of the favorites.
Shohei Ohtani is going to be quite a Christmas gift for some team.
Officials from the major leagues, Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and the Players Association reached a tentative agreement Tuesday to grandfather in the old posting agreement for this offseason — which will cover Ohtani — and then reached an accord on a three-year deal beginning next offseason whereby Japanese clubs would be paid based on the percentage of a player’s contract.
MLB owners are scheduled to vote on whether to ratify the deal on Dec. 1 and — if as expected — they approve these rules, Ohtani is likely to be posted by the Nippon Ham Fighters either that day or the next.
Under the provisions for just this offseason, he would have just 21 days to make a choice, which means a signing no later than Dec. 21-23.
The short window means Ohtani and his CAA representatives will have to work quickly to familiarize the righty pitcher/ lefty slugger with suitors. They could do that, for example, by following the Kevin Durant model of having many teams come and make a pitch to Ohtani in one location and then perhaps getting a short list of five or six teams for him so he could tour facilities and cities.
The Yankees, Cubs, Dodgers, Rangers and Mariners are often viewed as favorites, though Ohtani has yet to publicly state preferences.
Because the 23-year-old is under 25, he falls within international pool rules, which means he can only collect a bonus for what teams have left in their allocations, which range from $10,000 to just above $3.5 million. The Yankees have the second-most to offer at $3.5 million. But if money were the bottom line for Ohtani, he would have waited two years when he could have come as an unfettered free agent and signed for nine figures.
That Ohtani refused to wait complicated this offseason. The old posting system between MLB and NPB expired Oct. 31. A new agreement was forged between those entities by which the Japanese teams would receive a percentage of a contract signed here, but that the old posting terms would be grandfathered this offseason so that Ohtani’s team would get $20 million — or else the Nippon-Ham Fighters said they would not allow Ohtani to leave.
However, the Players Association had veto power and would not approve the deal for a variety of reasons. A deadline of 8 p.m. was set for Monday to finalize this and was pushed back to Tuesday and a deal was done with a few hours to spare.
The union had set a deadline because it felt the current freeagent market was being frozen, to some degree, by uncertainty over Ohtani, which is why the Players Association also got a concession for a 21-day negotiation. The union wanted to get Ohtani off the board as soon as possible. Ohtani and reliever Kazuhisa Makita are the only players who will be posted this offseason.
Any team willing to put up a $20 million posting fee can negotiate with Ohtani, though he has a choice with whom he speaks. Only the team that signs him has to pay that $20 million to the Ham Fighters. Ohtani has such a high ceiling as a pitcher and a hitter and will sign a minor league contract and play for near the minimum in 2018 that every club will want a chance to sell to him. He has indicated he would like to try to both pitch and hit in MLB.
Beginning Nov. 1, 2018, a three-year posting agreement between MLB and NPB begins. In that agreement, a Japanese team would receive 25 percent of a signing bonus if one of its players agrees to a minor league pact with an MLB club.
If a player signs a major league contract, a Japanese team will receive 20 percent of the total of the contract plus all earned bonuses, buyouts on unexercised options and full amount of option years on guarantees up to $25 million, 17.5 percent of deals between $25 million and $50 million, and 15 percent for any pact over $50 million. Thus, if a player signed a $100 million deal, his Japanese club would receive $15 million. Having a higher percentage for under $25 million — up from 15 percent — was a key compromise to get NPB to agree to this tentative new deal.
In this phase of the accord, players must be posted between Nov. 1 and Dec. 5, and after posting will have a 30-day window to sign.