What Theo needs to do in 2018

[TC in Mississippi]

I think it's the Yankees, Dodgers and Cubs as the most likely spot for Ohtani. The Cubs and Dodgers have had a relationship with him, in terms of showing interest in his career, for years. For the Dodgers it's been since he was 13 year old. The Yankees, by most accounts, just started scouting him in 2016. the Yankees can offer him more money than the Cubs or Dodgers as they are not in the penalty but also have the weakest ties. The Rangers go back almost as far as the Dodgers and have the money NY has but probably don't have the market to attract him unless of course they resign Darvish. This is the most fascinating FA case we've ever see. My gut tells me he'll be a Dodger as they need a guy behind Kershaw and with his contract likely being $250 mil plus next year, Ohtani's cost control is attractive. I haven't given up hop he'll land here though.

 

[beckdawg]

I was confused with that 300K number. I thought that was the maximum the cubs could spend to win the chance to offer him a deal, for the posting part to his team in Japan.

The way NPB's agreement works is a bit weird. Typically the IFA rules are meant for latin players because it's rare that asian players come over before they get 5 years(think that's the right number) of pro experience. If I'm not mistaken the rules are 5 years of pro baseball experience or 25+. Might be a combo of both. That's why some cubans can sign as FA's without being tied to IFA money and others can't. Anyways, with regard to NPB the $20 mil you pay doesn't go to the player. It's a posting fee that goes to the team. Because of that MLB doesn't include it in limits. It's sort of similar to how when the cubs went after mexican IFAs they could pay them $1.2 mil but only 1/4th of that went to the player and thus they stayed under $300k because mexican teams take a percentage of their players deals.