The Japan Times published an article yesterday about how the new posting system agreement puts Rakuten (Masahiro Tanaka's team) in an unfavorable position. The Eagles were widely expected to post Tanaka this offseason, but the newly agreed upon system, complete with a $20 million cap on posting fees, seems to have the team rethinking things. “First of all, discuss it …
Rakuten President won’t post Masahiro Tanaka?
Following the announced agreement that the maximum bid for a posted Japanase player would be $20 million, it made it less likely that Masahiro Tanaka would be posted. According to this, the team president has said he will not be posted (h/t to RC). Rakuten was the lone NPB team to vote against the agreement and were said to be very angry …
Winter Meetings Roundup
The annual Winter Meetings took place this week and we had you covered here on Obstructed View we were lazy bastards and kept you uninformed. I'd apologize for this. It is the first of the meetings that I have not covered thoroughly in 10 years. I'm just tired of apologizing so let's just get to it. The biggest news is that …
MLB, NPB reach agreement on posting system
It was reported last week, but it's apparently become official now and will go into effect as soon as next week. So, the NPB team sets the posting fee in advance and it can go up as high as $20 million. Then MLB teams submit bids and all teams that bid the value that the NPB team set can negotiate …
More on the potential MLB and NPB posting system
There may or may not be an agreement between Major League Baseball and NPB as far as a new posting system goes. A few days ago it was reported that the two had reached an agreement, but were just waiting to sign the final deal. Berselius wrote about this potential deal a few days ago. Anyway, the big issue is what …
Cubs sign Wesley Wright
Last night the Cubs signed Wesley Wright to a 1-year deal just a couple days after being non-tendered. Wright will be paid $1.425 million in 2014. He’s been quite good the last two seasons and this is a good signing for the Cubs. Wright has struckout around 24% of the batters over the last two seasons and walked just under …
Cubs sign George Kotarras and other notes
The Cubs have signed backup catcher George Kottaras. George Kottaras settles with #cubs. $1.075M plus incentives. — Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) December 3, 2013 The Cubs acquired Kottaras the other day and Myles wrote about him shortly thereafter. When you combine a poor batting average with an a noodle at backstop, you can make the case that Kottaras should linger in …
Cubs re-sign Darnell McDonald, non-tender Daniel Bard
The Cubs re-signed Darnell McDonald to a minor league contract on the non-tender deadline. #Cubs re-sign OF Darnell McDonald to minor league deal. Career .285/.353/.453 vs big league LHPs. Played 25 G for Chicago in 2013. — Matt Eddy (@MattEddyBA) December 2, 2013 This removes McDonald from the 40-man roster and is essentially the Cubs non-tendering him and re-signing him. …
Non-tender deadline is today
The Cubs have 11 arbitration eligible players and today they have to decide which ones to tender a contract to. Those 11, and their projected salaries (Matt Swartz) are below. The service time for each player is in parentheses. Jeff Samardzija (4.028): $4.9MM Nate Schierholtz (5.078): $3.8MM Travis Wood (3.004): $3.6MM Darwin Barney (3.053): $2.1MM Daniel Bard (3.079): $1.8625MM James …
Carl Crawford and Jacoby Ellsbury
Remember to vote for the Hall of Fame here at Obstructed View. Jacoby Ellsbury's agent, Scott Boras, has said that he wants Carl Crawford money for his client. Crawford, who signed with the Red Sox after the 2010 season got $142 million over 7 years (that's the benchmark for Boras for his newest client). Is that a reasonable goal for …