Yankees Sign Masahiro Tanaka

[Post Count Padder]

FWIW

 

Joel Sherman of the New York Post was told by two executives that they expect the Cubs to be aggressive in the bidding for Japanese right-hander Masahiro Tanaka.

"They are my stealth candidate here to be really aggressive," one executive said. Sherman notes that the Cubs have a handful of high-end positions prospects but lack that kind of talent on the pitching end. They have had extension talks with Jeff Samardzija but might wind up trading him and signing Tanaka instead. The Yankees have long been viewed as the favorites to land the Japanese righty.

[Guest]

MLB negotiators' latest proposal for the posting system would establish a maximum bid and include a provision prioritizing teams with low records, Sponichi reports (Japanese link). Under the plan, multiple teams could submit the maximum bid for a player, with negotiating rights going to the club that had the lowest winning precentage that year. Nippon Professional Baseball was scheduled to discuss the proposal in a meeting with the 12 NPB teams on Tuesday.

[SouthSideRyan]

MLB negotiators' latest proposal for the posting system would establish a maximum bid and include a provision prioritizing teams with low records, Sponichi reports (Japanese link). Under the plan, multiple teams could submit the maximum bid for a player, with negotiating rights going to the club that had the lowest winning precentage that year. Nippon Professional Baseball was scheduled to discuss the proposal in a meeting with the 12 NPB teams on Tuesday.

 

This would be the first rules change to benefit us since Theo came on board.

[WrigleyField 22]

Hmmm can't imagine that flies. Max bids does not seem like something they'd want any part of.

[Splendid Splinter]

Hmmm can't imagine that flies. Max bids does not seem like something they'd want any part of.

 

Depends on where they set the max bids? We could be talking about like 60 mil as the max bid. Has anybody heard what it could be yet?

[Hairyducked Idiot]

MLB supposedly wants the max bid to be $20m.

 

I assume anything low enough to get us truly involved would be low enough for the Astros or White Sox to bid max.

[Guest]

MLB supposedly wants the max bid to be $20m.

 

I assume anything low enough to get us truly involved would be low enough for the Astros or White Sox to bid max.

 

I could see the Astros if the cap was low enough, but I wonder how much the Sox can or will be able to commit to a single player, especially a SP.

 

EDIT: The thing that makes me curious is if multiple players get posted. Could the same team just scoop up everyone posted from NPB each offseason if they wanted, or do you lose that priority after you get a guy?

[Fro]

Yeah, I'd hope that the max bid is high enough to where we'd be willing to pay it but the three clubs below us wouldn't.

 

I can't see the Japanese clubs settling for a $20 million dollar max posting bid unless there's other money coming from somewhere else to supplement that.

[Guest]

I'm so [expletive] sick of Arguello saying "we said this before but" any time something they vaguely alluded to at some point comes up in the news.

[SouthSideRyan]

MLB supposedly wants the max bid to be $20m.

 

I assume anything low enough to get us truly involved would be low enough for the Astros or White Sox to bid max.

 

[expletive], now that I consider motivation behind this, it's totally to allow Reinsdorf a low enough number to still acquire NPB players isn't it

[Guest]

well, that's just the bid. there is still the matter of the contract.

[mul21]

Hopefully there will be language in there that if the team with the worst record can't come to an agreement, the next team gets a shot so that the crappy record teams can't just block deals by max bidding.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Hopefully there will be language in there that if the team with the worst record can't come to an agreement, the next team gets a shot so that the crappy record teams can't just block deals by max bidding.

 

I'm not sure why they would. It should be a no-brainer sign for the elite postings. The player has little leverage and you can still probably get him for a fraction of his open-market value.

[mul21]

Hopefully there will be language in there that if the team with the worst record can't come to an agreement, the next team gets a shot so that the crappy record teams can't just block deals by max bidding.

 

I'm not sure why they would. It should be a no-brainer sign for the elite postings. The player has little leverage and you can still probably get him for a fraction of his open-market value.

 

Right, but consider the scruples of teams like the Marlins and WS and I think it's probably a good clause to have in there. You also risk pissing off the NPB teams if there isn't a deal reached and they don't get their money. I think it's a good CYA move.

[seanimal]

MLB supposedly wants the max bid to be $20m.

 

I assume anything low enough to get us truly involved would be low enough for the Astros or White Sox to bid max.

 

[expletive], now that I consider motivation behind this, it's totally to allow Reinsdorf a low enough number to still acquire NPB players isn't it

 

ding ding ding

[Vinestal]

“@jonmorosi: Source: NPB clubs indicating they will accept maximum bid structure for posting system, now negotiating w/ MLB where that point would be.”

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Yeah, Reinsdorf wouldn't pay $20 mil plus 6/100 or whatever he's going to get.

[Fro]

“@jonmorosi: Source: NPB clubs indicating they will accept maximum bid structure for posting system, now negotiating w/ MLB where that point would be.”

 

Nice... now it just needs to be high enough to price out Houston, Miami, and the White Sox and we may have finally caught a break.

[Guest]

FWIW

 

Joel Sherman of the New York Post was told by two executives that they expect the Cubs to be aggressive in the bidding for Japanese right-hander Masahiro Tanaka.

"They are my stealth candidate here to be really aggressive," one executive said. Sherman notes that the Cubs have a handful of high-end positions prospects but lack that kind of talent on the pitching end. They have had extension talks with Jeff Samardzija but might wind up trading him and signing Tanaka instead. The Yankees have long been viewed as the favorites to land the Japanese righty.

 

Brett linked to this and I didn't see it mentioned, but Wittenmyer of all people seems to be backing this up: http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/24156662-573/posting-rules-could-decide-cubs-chances-at-masahiro-tanaka.html

 

What puts Tanaka in play for the Cubs — who often are forced into mid-market decision-making because of debt-related restrictions — is that the often-exorbitant posting-bid price isn’t subject to restrictions on player spending that have been in place since the Ricketts family’s highly leveraged purchase in 2009, a source said.

[jersey cubs fan]

That doesn't make any sense, because they would still be forced to pay the guy a huge contract.

[Guest]

That doesn't make any sense, because they would still be forced to pay the guy a huge contract.

 

Darvish's deal was a lower AAV than they paid Jackson, so even considering inflation I wouldn't think that would be a huge obstacle.

[TruffleShuffle]

i have no idea why the japanese clubs would agree to something like $20m when darvish just fetched upwards of $50m.

[Cubswin11]

i have no idea why the japanese clubs would agree to something like $20m when darvish just fetched upwards of $50m.

Maybe they also are putting in a floor for the lesser guys? I think the Brewers only paid like a $2 million posting fee for Aoki. Maybe the will make a minimum posting fee of like $5-10 million?

[jersey cubs fan]

i have no idea why the japanese clubs would agree to something like $20m when darvish just fetched upwards of $50m.

Maybe they also are putting in a floor for the lesser guys? I think the Brewers only paid like a $2 million posting fee for Aoki. Maybe the will make a minimum posting fee of like $5-10 million?

 

Or maybe the whole concept of a posting system could be worked around by MLB teams just signing those guys outright without paying NPB clubs any money at all.

[Guest]

but WHY is the posting fee not subject to the restrictions on the Cubs?

 

could there be some language that directly references player salary/player payroll?