Via MLBTR, we learn that NPB (Japanese league) officials are planning to accept the new posting rules for Japanese players coming to MLB.
Among those guidelines is a maximum bid of $20m for a posted player. The LA Times' Bill Shaikin wrote this week that the posted player could choose from teams that met the maximum bid. There has been a conflicting report (now endorsed by Jim Bowden) that the player would automatically go to the team with the lowest winning percentage.
There are clearly still some things to be worked out. But if things go the way they look like they've been going for the last 30 minutes, Masahiro Tanaka-to-Houston is a very real possibility.
Update: Dylan Hernandez makes a special note that Rakuten Golden Eagles did not vote for this new system (of course, because they'd lose out on about $30m). Ultimately, they could decide not to post Tanaka, and the story is over. But that wouldn't make any sense, because if NPB accepts the $20m max bid, that's the most they can allow. It makes sense for the other NPB owners to override Rakuten's owner (who is apparently loaded) in order to limit how much revenue comes in to a rival team. But it'll be interesting to see if Rakuten even posts Tanaka in the first place.
There are so many interested parties/potentially pissed off parties that this story is fascinating.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
