Major League Baseball and its Japanese counterparts have reached a tentative understanding to grandfather the now-expired posting system for one more year, clearing yet another hurdle to facilitate Shohei Otani coming to an MLB team this offseason.
However, a person involved in the negotiations cautioned that nothing is finalized, and the agreement can still be amended. More importantly, as of early Wednesday afternoon, the Players Association had not been even notified that an accord was in place.
The union — via its rights in the collective bargaining agreement — can nix any transfer accord between MLB and a country such as Japan, Cuba or Mexico.