MLB/NPB posting agreement is official

MLB and NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball) have officially ratified the new posting agreement between MLB and NPB to governs how NPB clubs will be compensated when a posted player signs with an MLB team. The terms of the agreement can be found here -- basically, instead of a flat posting fee, an NPB club gets a percentage of the contract, based on a sliding scale.

And of course, this means that Shohei Ohtani is, as expected, being posted today. Reports indicate he is in Los Angeles and ready to start meeting with teams, who will have 21 days to woo Ohtani and seek to sign him. Ohtani, considered a legitimate top of the rotation starter who also has been a successful hitter in Japan, is subject to the J-2 signing bonus restrictions, so while the Rangers have the most money to offer him as a bonus — around $3.5 million -- he could have waited for two more years to come to the United States and be free of any restrictions. Thus, there’s some thought that this is the rare instance when money isn’t the primary factor in determining where the player signs.

Texas has been courting Ohtani since he was a teenager, and are considered a legitimate contender for him, but at this point, I don’t think there’s any real way to handicap things. We will have to simply watch, wait, and see what happens.