Lots of roster moves were made yesterday as teams had an 8:00 p.m. EST deadline to protect certain players from being chosen in the Rule 5 Draft set for Dec. 14. However, a bigger deadline discussed yesterday was in regards to the MLB-NPB posting negotiations.
A decision on Shohei Otani‘s MLB fate was supposed to be determined yesterday. The negotiations over a new posting agreement will be delayed until 8:00 p.m. tonight according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball requested 24 more hours and the MLB Player’s Association agreed.
Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports mentioned that there was optimism on both sides, but also some gaps. The posting window is one of these gaps. The MLBPA originally wanted the current Nov. 1-Feb. 1 window to be shorten to Nov. 15. NPB countered with Dec. 31, MLBPA responded with Dec. 1, and NPB countered again with Dec. 15.
Other MLB News
The Miami Marlins and New York Yankees agreed to a trade yesterday that will send Garrett Cooper and Caleb Smith to south Florida and Michael King to the Bronx. The key point of this trade was the $250,000 of international bonus pool money the Yankees will also receive in the deal.
That gives the Yankees $3.5 million which they will no doubt try and use to lure Othani if he is posted. Only the Texas Rangers have more international bonus pool money at $3.535 million.
Jon Morosi of MLB.com reports that the Milwaukee Brewers are interested in almost every free-agent starting pitcher. Two of those pitchers are Lance Lynn and Jake Arrieta. With Jimmy Nelson out indefinitely after shoulder surgery, the push for a starter is strong in Wisconsin.
Hisashi Iwakuma told reporters in Japan that he has gotten an offer from the Seattle Mariners to re-sign with them for 2018. The Mariners declined his $10 million club option for 2018 and instead bought him out for $1 million. Like Nelson, he too is currently recovering from shoulder surgery.
