Shohei Ohtani Signs with the Angels

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hello here is Shohei Otani murdering a baseball

 

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I love listening to those announcers

[Sammy Sofa]

Otani looks flat out bored in that clip. Dude does, however, need to work on his bat flip-game.

[biittner77]

Plenty of great seats available...

[David]

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is that bad for us?

[David]

is that bad for us?

 

yeah unless he cares so little about money that he signs for a few hundred grand.

[Agony and Ivy]

is that bad for us?

 

yeah unless he cares so little about money that he signs for a few hundred grand.

 

Well he is giving up Between $190 and $200m by coming over next year instead of 2019.

[Bobson Dugnutt]

It really makes no sense the new rule wasn't grandfathered in. Ya think teams would've altered their IFA strategies and signed less 16 year olds if they knew going over would preclude them from a chance at Shohei horsefeathering Otani?

[Liam Neeson]

Otani out for 6 weeks due to leg injury.

 

https://fan-interference.com/2017/04/08/shohei-otani-out-for-4-weeks-due-to-leg-injury/

 

(Phil Coke 7 shutout innings!!!)

 

Even bigger news:

 

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Athletics, Astros, Braves, Cardinals, Cubs, Dodgers, Giants, Nationals, Padres, Reds, and Royals will all still be dealing with the penalties from their recent international spending sprees. They can’t offer Otani more than $300,000.

 

The Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Tigers, Mariners, and Rangers will be the only traditional big market clubs not subject to the $300,000 limit.

 

Source: http://riveraveblues.com/2016/12/shohei-otani-still-expected-to-be-posted-next-offseason-which-is-great-news-for-the-yankees-147990/

[Tryptamine]

I swear to god they make up these [expletive] rules to screw with Theo. He comes to the Cubs and suddenly the slotting system takes over making it so he can't grab throws wads of money at high ceiling prospects that other teams couldn't afford like he doing in Boston. So he decides he's going to go crazy on the international market instead. A year later all that international pool bonus nonsense starts. Now this stuff with Otani, where they just decide arbitrarily that players have to be 25 now instead of 23.

[David]

I swear to god they make up these [expletive] rules to screw with Theo. He comes to the Cubs and suddenly the slotting system takes over making it so he can't grab throws wads of money at high ceiling prospects that other teams couldn't afford like he doing in Boston. So he decides he's going to go crazy on the international market instead. A year later all that international pool bonus nonsense starts. Now this stuff with Otani, where they just decide arbitrarily that players have to be 25 now instead of 23.

 

the international pool bonus and the draft caps came in the same cba, implemented a few weeks after theo got hired. both came into play summer 2012

[Tryptamine]

I swear to god they make up these [expletive] rules to screw with Theo. He comes to the Cubs and suddenly the slotting system takes over making it so he can't grab throws wads of money at high ceiling prospects that other teams couldn't afford like he doing in Boston. So he decides he's going to go crazy on the international market instead. A year later all that international pool bonus nonsense starts. Now this stuff with Otani, where they just decide arbitrarily that players have to be 25 now instead of 23.

 

the international pool bonus and the draft caps came in the same cba, implemented a few weeks after theo got hired. both came into play summer 2012

 

wasn't it a couple years after that they implimented the rule where you couldn't spend more than 300K on a player for 2 years if you went over budget by a certain amount? Anyways, you get my point.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/sung_minkim/status/851989270457835521[/tweet]

[Banedon]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/sung_minkim/status/851989270457835521[/tweet]

 

Does he have a tiny head or just some bad photoshop?

[weis21]

i'd say bad photoshop. that's a bulky body.

[biittner77]

Is there any sense regarding how much he wants to keep hitting? Would an AL team that could DH him when he's not pitching have an advantage in signing him?

 

if he pitched for an AL team, would you have him bat in that game or have someone else DH for him? If he was in the lineup as a pitcher and also a batter, could he stay in the game to hit if he was taken out as a pitcher?

[Cubswin11]

Is there any sense regarding how much he wants to keep hitting? Would an AL team that could DH him when he's not pitching have an advantage in signing him?

 

if he pitched for an AL team, would you have him bat in that game or have someone else DH for him? If he was in the lineup as a pitcher and also a batter, could he stay in the game to hit if he was taken out as a pitcher?

Being able to stay hitting, whether it's DH or position on non-pitching days apparently is a big deal to him. No team should be stupid enough to offer that, by almost all accounts I've read he's a non-prospect, essentially, as a hitter.

[KingCubsFan]

Is there any sense regarding how much he wants to keep hitting? Would an AL team that could DH him when he's not pitching have an advantage in signing him?

 

if he pitched for an AL team, would you have him bat in that game or have someone else DH for him? If he was in the lineup as a pitcher and also a batter, could he stay in the game to hit if he was taken out as a pitcher?

Being able to stay hitting, whether it's DH or position on non-pitching days apparently is a big deal to him. No team should be stupid enough to offer that, by almost all accounts I've read he's a non-prospect, essentially, as a hitter.

Cubs should offer it. He'll realize it's a bad idea after a year or so.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Is there any sense regarding how much he wants to keep hitting? Would an AL team that could DH him when he's not pitching have an advantage in signing him?

 

if he pitched for an AL team, would you have him bat in that game or have someone else DH for him? If he was in the lineup as a pitcher and also a batter, could he stay in the game to hit if he was taken out as a pitcher?

Being able to stay hitting, whether it's DH or position on non-pitching days apparently is a big deal to him. No team should be stupid enough to offer that, by almost all accounts I've read he's a non-prospect, essentially, as a hitter.

 

He's producing at a pretty high level with the bat, and non-prospect as a hitter is much harsher than I recall, but given the swing and miss and risk to his health as a pitcher, I don't think you'd see him as a 2 way player. It might take him time to realize it, but he would be ideal for this iteration of the Cubs roster, where he can basically help lengthen the pen and shorten the bench by being an early pinch hitter that's better than the Arrietas or Travis Woods of the world.

[Tryptamine]

Is there any sense regarding how much he wants to keep hitting? Would an AL team that could DH him when he's not pitching have an advantage in signing him?

 

if he pitched for an AL team, would you have him bat in that game or have someone else DH for him? If he was in the lineup as a pitcher and also a batter, could he stay in the game to hit if he was taken out as a pitcher?

Being able to stay hitting, whether it's DH or position on non-pitching days apparently is a big deal to him. No team should be stupid enough to offer that, by almost all accounts I've read he's a non-prospect, essentially, as a hitter.

 

He's producing at a pretty high level with the bat, and non-prospect as a hitter is much harsher than I recall, but given the swing and miss and risk to his health as a pitcher, I don't think you'd see him as a 2 way player. It might take him time to realize it, but he would be ideal for this iteration of the Cubs roster, where he can basically help lengthen the pen and shorten the bench by being an early pinch hitter that's better than the Arrietas or Travis Woods of the world.

 

I thought I had read that he was like 25-30%K guy in Japan, if so, he has no business doing anything than hitting on his start days.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Jeff Passan[/url]"]Each wants to answer the same three questions. First: Is Otani coming to MLB after the 2017 season? On this, there is significant skepticism, and it stems from a second question, which might be even more important than the first.

 

Is Shohei Otani really willing to give up $200 million?

 

...

 

Teams are wary still. One GM put it this way: “Does he want to come over here badly enough that he’s essentially going to pay $100 million a year for two years to play?” Theoretically, there are ways to circumvent this. One scout familiar with Otani predicted a “handshake deal” in which the team gives him a contract extension after the first season, though high-ranking sources at MLB said the league expects to be vigilant to ensure the sanctity of the system is not made a mockery by extralegal payments.

 

How they might adjudicate that is tricky. If, say, Otani were to sign a contract extension after his first season, and it weren’t close to in line with previously established market values for players with a year of service time, it would be obvious that some sort of deal had been struck. The Pandora’s box of MLB intervening in contracts, though, is one that it dare not open, not in the name of enforcing a rule as flaccid as the international restrictions may prove to be.

 

All of this is subject to backdoor dealings that have not started in earnest, bringing into question the likelihood of Otani’s move to MLB this winter. If Otani has hired an agent, none of the GMs surveyed know about it, and his silence from across the ocean only compounds the confusion. MLB, according to sources, has sought clarity from Nippon Professional Baseball on Otani’s status as teams prepare to start signing a new international free-agent class July 2. It still has not heard from NPB on the matter, and further complicating the issue is the ever-evolving posting system.

 

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[CaliforniaRaisin]

MLB is trying to scrap the posting system, probably so they can try to criminally underpay Japanese kids straight out of HS. A lack of a posting system this offseason would stop Otani from coming over this year: http://english.kyodonews.net/news/2017/07/0d48f9377523-update1-baseball-posting-system-not-cash-hurdle-for-otani.html

 

Despite the fact that Major League Baseball teams are busily spending up their allotted millions of dollars on international amateurs, don't expect the lack of cash to delay Shohei Otani's move to the majors this year.

 

If there is a holdup, it will be not money but MLB's inclination to scrap the posting system in order to encourage future Japanese stars to bypass Nippon Professional Baseball altogether and sign directly -- and more cheaply -- with MLB teams.

 

With the last posting agreement having been scrapped at MLB's request, NPB and MLB are now negotiating a replacement to the agreement that permits Japanese professionals under contract to move to the majors.

 

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The real threat to Otani's going to the majors next year is not money, as Mike Axisa of cbssports.com wrote Wednesday, but the lack of a posting system that would make that move possible.

 

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"Money is not the issue for Otani," Fighters manager Hideki Kuriyama has said repeatedly the past year. "His decision won't be based on money."

 

What MLB does get is that without a posting system, Japan's next high school superstar may think twice about turning pro in NPB. Without a posting system, most Japanese pros will be nearly 30 before they can file for free agency. That means they will have missed the opportunity Otani currently has: of adjusting to MLB pitching and hitting at a young age.

 

When MLB's new international signing rules were announced in December, a senior MLB executive told Kyodo News he thought the rules would discourage more Japanese amateurs from playing in NPB.

 

It is not a stretch to see MLB jettisoning the chance to bring Otani to the United States now by scrapping the posting system altogether -- if MLB clubs think they can throw open the tap on Japan's amateur market.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

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horsefeathers you, MLB.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Ohtani might be considering the waiting another year to come to MLB (!): http://www.bleachernation.com/2017/08/11/shohei-otani-might-wait-another-year-to-come-to-mlb-which-could-be-huge-for-the-cubs/

[Regular Show]

Ohtani might be considering the waiting another year to come to MLB (!): http://www.bleachernation.com/2017/08/11/shohei-otani-might-wait-another-year-to-come-to-mlb-which-could-be-huge-for-the-cubs/

 

Well, this is GREAT news. I was worried he was going to still try coming over this winter. I don't know what his preference is, but I think we should definitely sign Yu Darvish now. I wanted to sign him this offseason anyway, and now it won't cost a draft pick to sign him.

 

S. Otani is apparently good friends with Darvish and trains with him during the offseason. Plus, we can offer to let him PH and play in the OF occasionally if he really wants to try doing both (pitching and hitting). Hopefully, he decides to wait one more year!