Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball recently agreed to a new posting system, altering the way Major League teams pursue Japanese talent. One of the changes capped posting fees at $20 million, meaning that if multiple teams are willing to pay the fee, the player can negotiate with them all, with only the winner being stuck with actually paying the $20 million.
The effect of the new system has been immediately felt as the Rakuten Golden Eagles, who currently control pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, are now much more hesitant to post their star player, per Patrick Newman on Twitter. Newman also translated a Japanese article on the situation in which a Rakuten executive is quoted as saying, “asking [Tanaka] to stick around will be the priority.”
In the event Tanaka is posted, he would become the most sought-after starting pitcher among those still available, jumping ahead of Bartolo Colon, Matt Garza, Bronson Arroyo, Ervin Santana, A.J. Burnett, and Ubaldo Jimenez.
