At 9 am on November 22, Beijing time, MLB and MLB Players Union reached an agreement with the Japanese Professional Baseball Baseball to extend the validity period of the original Japanese players entering MLB for one year. Although this agreement needs to be approved by various MLB teams, the agreement has come into effect. The outside world agreed that this paved the way for Japanese player Otani Shohei to go to MLB.
"After meeting with team officials a few days ago and expressing their intentions, my request received positive response and support." Shohei Otani said at a press conference on November 11, "I hope to play my best in the United States starting next year."
24-year-old Shohei Otani is regarded as a baseball genius. In 2016, he also included the best pitcher and best batsman in the Japanese Professional Baseball League, and was the first player in Japanese history to win both awards at the same time.
Shohei Otani expressed his willingness to go to MLB at the press conference.
Starting from middle school, Shohei Otani’s dream is to enter MLB.
After regretfully missing the game with the Jiaziyuan in the summer of 2012, Shohei Otani, who graduated from high school, got interview opportunities for three teams, Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox. Although he personally expressed his desire to enter the MLB directly, the Hokkaido Japanese Ham Fighters forced Shohei Otani to take the first pick in the 2012 draft.
Five years later, Shohei Otani, who brought a Japanese league championship trophy to Hokkaido, finally ushered in a second chance. But this time it was not just the Pacific that blocked him and the United States. The complexity of the
entry system and the tough attitude of the players' union once cast a shadow on Shohei Otani's path to the United States. The MLB Players Union originally set the deadline for reaching a new agreement at 9 a.m. on November 21, but in order to solve Shohei Otani's problem, the union made an exception to extend the deadline by 24 hours. The agreement reached on November 22 is also regarded by many as the special treatment of Shohei Otani by the player union.
In fact, in the fight between MLB, the Player Union and the Japanese Professional Baseball Team, Shohei Otani's voice is the least important. So, how many obstacles did Shohei Otani who realized his dream passed?
Unique entry system
According to existing rules, players who have played in the Japanese Professional Baseball League (NPB) and the Korean Baseball League (KBO) for less than 9 years cannot go to MLB freely. There are two main reasons: First, NPB and KBO are unwilling to lose their star players in vain without economic compensation; second, not all players sent to MLB by NPB and KBO are willing to develop in the United States.
In this context, in 1998, MLB and NPB reached an agreement to determine the benchmark system for Asian players to enter MLB, namely "posting system", which is "entry" in Japanese, that is, bidding. The Korean Baseball League then followed this system.
According to this system, when Japanese and Korean players intend to go to MLB, they need to make requests to their parent team. After the parent team agreed, the MLB president notified the MLB president to jointly determine a "payment" fee of up to $20 million. After the fee is determined, the player has 30 days to negotiate with the MLB team. If an MLB team is willing to sign the player, the entry fee will be converted to a "transfer fee" in addition to the player's contract and will be paid to the NPB or KBO team by the MLB team.
However, the above version of the code registration system has expired on October 31, 2017. According to the new labor-management agreement reached by the Players Union and MLB in 2016, when overseas players transfer, the parent team can only get 15% to 20% of the new player contract in return, but this new system will not take effect until the 2019 season. In other words, during this period of , Asian players entering the MLB are in the system window.
According to the New York Post, unless the entry fee is determined to be US$20 million, the Hokkaido Japanese Ham Fighters will not agree to release the person.
Considering the potential of Shohei Otani, there are many MLB teams that are willing to pay $20 million. MLB also doesn't mind treating Shohei Otani in special terms and allows him to use the invalid system.
encountered a second problem here.Whether Asian players can enter MLB, in addition to the agreement of , in addition to the player himself, Asian parent team, MLB team and MLB, the agreement reached by all parties must be recognized by the MLB Players Union - even if the player has not officially joined the American Players Union. The attitude of the union becomes crucial to whether Shohei can enter the MLB as he wishes.
The most influential trade union among the four major North American leagues
Professional baseball's first players' union was established in August 1887, which is also the first trade union organization in the history of North American professional sports. The most fundamental goal of the establishment of this union called " Brotherhood " is to abolish the employment contract that is equivalent to a sale contract. Although the union was disbanded in 1890, the MLB Players Union, established in 1966, actually continued the original value and pursuit of the "Brothers" through the player salary clauses in labor-management negotiations.
MLB Players' Union is also the most influential of the four major North American leagues. With their efforts, MLB is the only league in the four major North American leagues that does not set a ceiling on players' salaries.
"Baseball has very efficient unions, which gives their players more freedom while negotiating high-priced contracts." JC Bradbery, author of the book "Baseball Economist", commented.
It is precisely for this reason that the huge contracts in the history of world professional sports are basically from MLB, such as the 13-year, $325 million contract signed by Miami Marlins in 2014, or the seven-year, $215 million contract signed by Los Angeles Dodges with Cretton Cosham in 2014.
According to previous reports from the New York Post, before interviewing Shohei Otani and his agent, the MLB Players Union had a negative attitude. The logic of the
MLB Players' Union is actually very simple. Protecting the interests of players to the greatest extent is their fundamental goal. prevents Shohei Otani from becoming a "commodity" sold at high prices, which is the main reason why the players will hesitate on this issue.
More than ten years after the establishment of the credit registration system, MLB and NPB did not set the upper limit of credit registration fees. In order to compete for outstanding players, the MLB team has to pay a huge price. The Japanese parent team became the biggest beneficiary, while the players' personal income was greatly reduced. This is the reason why all parties were criticized in the early stage of the implementation of the fiat system.
Suzuki Ichiro 's initial annual salary is only one-quarter of the payment fee.
Suzuki Ichiro and Ishii Ichihisa who first entered the MLB through the Entry System were affected. In 2000, when Seattle Mariners used the entry system to bid for Suzuki Ichiro from the Orix Blue Waves, the Mariners paid $13.125 million in entry fees, but Suzuki Ichiro's first contract with MLB was only $14 million for three years. In 2002, the Los Angeles Dodge paid Yakult Swallows $11.26 million in payment, while Ishii Ichiha's contract was only $12.3 million in four years. In 2006, Matsusan Daisuke's credit fee reached US$51.11 million, and in 2011, Darbishui had a credit fee of US$51.7 million, setting historical records respectively. The annual salary of the two is less than US$10 million each.
This state of inequality has finally changed since 2013. It was in that year that the upper limit of the credit fee was limited to US$20 million. Akatsuki Tan, who moved from the Lotte Golden Eagles to the New York Yankees , signed a huge contract of $155 million for seven years.
Ko Shohei Otani is that he cannot sign a high salary directly like Masahira Tanaka.
new version of labor and capital agreement
Players' Union added an international draft when negotiating a labor and capital agreement with MLB in 2016. Although the proposal ended up in vain, the two sides reached an agreement on salary restrictions for foreign players under 25 (mainly against Cuba and Japan). This labor-management agreement stipulates that according to the team's market size and annual revenue, the international players' contract salary pools of each MLB team are divided into three levels: 5.75 million, 5.25 million, and 4.75 million US dollars. All international players under the age of 25 can only sign contracts within this hard salary cap.
MLB has the most complex minor league system in North American professional sports, which makes it difficult for the vast majority of Americans (including Canadian players) to become fully free agents with the right to sign huge contracts before the age of 25. Setting a 25-year-old threshold for international players is also to protect local American players.
According to the Associated Press, all MLB teams use part of the salary pool. The Texas Rangers currently have the most remaining salary pool, at $3.53 million, followed by New York Yankees 's $3.25 million and Minnesota Twins' $3.245 million. Except for the three teams above the above, only the Pittsburgh Pirates (2.26 million), Miami Marlins (1.74 million) and Seattle Mariners (1.57 million).
In other words, Shohei Otani, who wants to enter MLB in the 2018 season, can sign a contract between a basic salary of US$300,000 and US$3.53 million.
If the Japanese Ham Fighter team has just failed, the Japanese Ham Fighter team will receive $20 million, Shohei Otani signed a contract of no more than $3.53 million, and a certain MLB team will receive "Japanese Babe Ruth", which will be a happy result.
can be used in accordance with the provisions of the labor and capital agreement. Starting from the 2019 season, the transfer fees of overseas teams will be limited to 15% to 20% of the team contract.
If this regulation is applied in advance, the Japanese Ham Fighter team will earn up to $600,000 by relying on Shohei Otani. This is obviously unacceptable for Japanese teams who want to make money by selling players. Whether
can enter MLB as you wish is not the decision-making power of Shohei Otani.
According to the information disclosed by the New York Post and Fanrag Sports and other media, the MLB Players Union's initial attitude was to unintentionally extend the validity period of the old letter-entry agreement and was unwilling to treat Shohei Otani in special terms.
As for the reasons why the union changed its attitude at the last moment, some American media believe that the union’s previous cold talks were just bluffs, and they just wanted to establish authority among overseas players. However, Yahoo Sports said that delaying the agreement will only bring more problems to the union in the future, which is why they agreed to extend the validity period of the old system.
Now, after the players' union agrees to follow the old code entry system, the only question left is Shohei Otani's new season's end point. Although I have not expressed my intentions clearly, the American media said that the Yankees and Dodges, the two teams with the greatest influence in Japan, have obvious advantages, but the Dodges' salary pool is only 300,000 yuan, which puts the New York Yankees in the lead in the pursuit of Shohei Otani.
In order to recruit Shohei Otani, Yankees are expected to send special consultant to the team and Japanese baseball legend Hideki Matsui. "If he can come to the United States and the Yankees are interested, then I will join the negotiations and convince or recruit him to the Yankees," said Hideki Matsui.
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