3 Years of Ohtani or 6?
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Here's a typically intriguing comment from my man Zoom, who sez,
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Somehow the length of the contract he would have continued with the Ham Fighters (2 years, until he is 25) has been applied to his contract with a team in MLB.
No.
No.
No.
He will get that signing bonus (probably somewhere between $2 mil and $3.5 mil from the team he selects, which is now determined, but then he becomes a regular rookie from (like most from Central America) who will only enter at League minimum, and wait for arbitration like anyone else.
THE TEAM THAT SIGNS HIM GETS HIM FOR SIX YEARS, NOT TWO YEARS.
So the trade of Viera for international pool money is not
Prorating 10% of Viera's value versus the amount of millions you are saving on Ohtani's contract over 6 years is miniscule.
So, DePoet tosses in $500 grand which he gets from another guy at the table for a 25% chance to take the pot.
We still don't know of Viera is gonna be a bona fide MLB star ... and I believe he might be.
But, hey, I want in for the big pot.
This article from USA Today (not a usual referral) specifies the M's are doing what they can to be in the game, and the descriptions of BabeRuth-san is rather comprehensive.
Sounds like his lifestyle fits in Seattle more than The Bronx.
Remember, finally, that our climate is more like that of Hokkaido than any other MLB city, and we have mountains with snow you can see right out the window, and fresh salmon (referenced in this article), a significant Japanese population, a history of acclimatized Japanese players, and the shorest plane ride home.
Plus, we might have a Darvish or Suzuki coming.
zoom
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Well, now I'm confused. Oakland landed Yoenis Cespedes by offering him an out after 3-4 years, guaranteeing him free agency rather than arbitration, right? Cespedes was the equivalent of a pure free agent when he came to the U.S.
But come to think of it, Ichiro was posted to the U.S. and (as an unknown quantity) signed an M's contract that paid him $20M the first four years and then free agent type money after that. Baseball-reference's category for "Service to Team" -- which usually says Arb1, Arb2 or whatever -- has a bunch of question marks in it. LOL.
I had been pretty sure that an MLB team had the option of waiving its arbitration rights -- and so a player like Ohtani could select a team that would do so. But for some reason the specific players aren't coming to my mind who got to skip their arb years and go FA after three.
Here's an amusing article that characterizes Ohtani as a complete gym rat who literally spends less than $1,000 per month and who is interested in nothing but playing baseball and training.
BABVA,
Dr D