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Nippon Professional Baseball

NPB Pitcher Kodai Senga Expected To Explore MLB Opportunities This Offseason

By Anthony Franco | August 5, 2022 at 8:22pm CDT

Kodai Senga has been one of the better pitchers in Japan over the past decade, and the right-hander could make for an intriguing entrant onto next offseason’s MLB free agent market. Jon Morosi of MLB.com reported last night (Twitter link) that Senga is likely to consider contract offers from major league teams over the winter. That’s not especially surprising, as he’s reportedly sought to make the jump to MLB in the past but been denied that opportunity by his NPB team, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.

Senga is a career-long member of the Hawks, with whom he has spent parts of 11 seasons. He’s tallied a bit more than 1000 innings at Japan’s highest level, pitching to a 2.62 ERA with a very strong 28.3% strikeout rate. The right-hander has a sub-3.00 ERA in each of the past four seasons, including a sterling 2.05 mark across 105 1/3 innings this year. Senga has fanned 28.1% of opponents in 2022 against a fine 8.1% walk rate. Among qualified NPB hurlers, he ranks third in ERA.

Last offseason, Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs wrote that Senga has a quality four-pitch mix headlined by his fastball and split. Longehagen indicated neither of his breaking pitches (cutter or slider) were likely to be impactful offerings, but he suggested his two top pitches combined with solid control could give him a chance to start in the majors. At the time, Longenhagen placed Senga as his #4 international prospect who might be available in 2023 and beyond (and the #3 player in Japan, behind righties Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki).

Unlike Yamamoto and Sasaki, both of whom are in their early 20’s, Senga turns 30 years old in January. The 6’0″ hurler won’t be subject to the MLB – NPB posting system by virtue of his exceeding nine years of NPB service time. That allows him to explore international free agency without requiring any form of compensation on the part of major league teams to his NPB employer.

Senga has a fair bit of financial security to fall back upon. He signed a five-year contract with the Hawks last winter that reportedly guaranteed him a $5.3MM salary this season. That pact afforded Senga an opt-out opportunity after 2022 to allow him to explore MLB free agency, but it also means he can stay in a familiar setting on a multi-year deal if he doesn’t believe there’ll be MLB offers to his liking.

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Shogo Akiyama Signs With NPB’s Hiroshima Carp

By Steve Adams | June 26, 2022 at 10:30am CDT

June 26: Akiyama has signed a three-year deal with the NPB’s Hiroshima Carp, per C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic.

June 20: Former Reds outfielder Shogo Akiyama is headed back to Japan, Akiyama himself tells Japanese media (English languagelink via the Japan Times). A report from The Manichi in Japan suggests that Akiyama’s former team, the Seibu Lions, could have an offer waiting for him.

Originally signed by the Reds to a three-year, $21MM contract heading into the 2020 season, Akiyama was never able to replicate the star-level production he’d showed with the Lions over a nine-year career in Nippon Professional Baseball. The now-34-year-old outfielder tallied just 366 plate appearances with Cincinnati and posted an underwhelming .224/.320/.274 batting line — a far cry from the brilliant .301/.376/.454 batting line he posted in nine years with his former Seibu club.

The Reds released Akiyama partway through the third and final season of that contract, and he quickly landed a minor league deal with the Padres. Akiyama recently opted out of that contract, however, and he tells the Japanese media that his agent informed him there were no offers from big league teams. Akiyama didn’t specify whether that meant no Major League offers or no offers at all, but given that he just hit .343/.378/.529 with three homers, two doubles, a triple and a pair of steals in 16 games with the Padres’ Triple-A affiliate in El Paso, it wouldn’t be a surprise if there had been other minor league opportunities available.

It remains to be seen whether Akiyama will ultimately return to the Lions, sign with another team in NPB, or simply take the remainder of the year off. However, his return and acknowledgement of a lack of MLB interest looks to have closed the door on any near-term return to North American ball. He only recently turned 34, though, so Akiyama ought to have other opportunities to add to an impressive collection of accolades in Japan, where he’s a six-time Gold Glove winner and five-time NPB All-Star.

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Conner Menez To Sign With NPB’s Nippon-Ham Fighters

By Anthony Franco | June 24, 2022 at 2:12pm CDT

Left-hander Conner Menez is in agreement with the Nippon-Ham Fighters of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, the club informed reporters (Japanese-language link from Yahoo! Japan). Menez announced the agreement on Instagram this afternoon.

While Menez had been playing with the Cubs’ top affiliate in Iowa, he’s been granted his release to pursue the overseas opportunity. Salary terms have not been disclosed, but he’ll surely make more with the Hokkaido-based club than he would’ve in Iowa.

Menez made the briefest of appearances with the Cubs this season. Signed to a minor league deal over the offseason, he was selected onto the major league roster in early May. He pitched a scoreless inning during a loss to the Diamondbacks a few days later, then found himself optioned back to Iowa. The Cubs designated him for assignment two weeks back upon selecting Caleb Kilian onto the 40-man roster. Menez cleared waivers and returned to Triple-A, making three more appearances before departing the organization.

The former 14th-round pick had an excellent showing in the upper minors this season. He tallied 21 innings across 11 outings, working to a 2.14 ERA with a quality 28.7% strikeout rate. That work caught the attention of the Fighters’ front office. In announcing the agreement, general manager Atsunori Inaba suggested he would step into a high-leverage relief role.

Menez has appeared in parts of four MLB seasons, spending the 2019-21 campaigns with the Giants before this year’s cup of coffee in Chicago. He’s worked to a decent 3.95 ERA through 43 1/3 innings at the big league level, but his stock took a hit when he struggled in Triple-A last season. Menez’s much better showing in Iowa gets him an opportunity in Japan’s top league. Having just turned 27 years old, he’s certainly young enough to reappear on the MLB radar a year or two down the line if he shows well in NPB.

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Dodgers Select Stefen Romero

By Steve Adams | June 22, 2022 at 4:54pm CDT

4:54pm: Los Angeles officially announced Romero’s promotion, with corner infielder Edwin Ríos moving from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move. Ríos suffered a right hamstring tear and has been out since June 3. The transfer is backdated to the time of his initial IL placement, meaning he won’t be eligible to return until the first week of August.

8:38am: The Dodgers plan to select the contract of outfielder Stefen Romero on Wednesday, reports J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group. He’ll take the place of infielder Hanser Alberto, who is being placed on the paternity list. It’ll be Romero’s first big league appearance since 2016, capping a six-year odyssey that’s taken him around the world.

Once one of the Mariners’ most promising outfield prospects, Romero made his big league debut as a 25-year-old back in 2014 but scuffled to a .192/.234/.299 output over the course of 72 games. He saw more limited Major League time in each of the next two seasons in Seattle, but despite consistently laying waste to Triple-A pitching, he received only sparse looks and never produced much in those infrequent opportunities.

Following the 2016 season, the Orix Buffaloes of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball approached Romero and the Mariners about a potential opportunity, and the M’s granted a then-28-year-old Romero his release in order to sign overseas. Romero was an instant success in Japan, hitting .274/.330/.508 with 26 home runs in the first of would wind up being five seasons in NPB. His second year with the Buffaloes wasn’t as strong, but Romero hit .305/.363/.539 in his third season year with Orix. He then signed on with the Rakuten Eagles for a year and turned in a similarly hearty .274/.354/.539 line during the 2020 campaign.

A return endeavor with the Buffaloes in 2021 lasted just 31 games, but Romero’s five-year stint in NPB nevertheless finished with a solid .264/.331/.497 batting line to go along with 96 home runs, 67 doubles and four triples. He inked a minor league deal with the Dodgers this offseason in hopes of securing a return to the big leagues, and he’ll now realize that dream after beginning the season with a .270/.337/.461 showing in Triple-A Oklahoma City.

It’s possible that this will prove to be a short stay on the big league roster for Romero. Alberto’s stay on the paternity list will be between one and three days, and Romero is out of minor league options, so he can’t be sent back down without first being passed through outright waivers.

The Dodgers do have a need for a right-handed-hitting outfielder at the moment, however, as they’re trying to cobble together a right field platoon while Mookie Betts mends from a cracked rib. They reacquired Trayce Thompson yesterday and appear set to give him the first shot at serving as Eddy Alvarez’s platoon partner, but Romero is also a righty stick who can slot into right field. He’s managed just a .219/.278/.344 slash against lefties in 2022, but that’s come over just 36 plate appearances, so it’s hard to glean much from such a minuscule sample.

Even if it’s a brief stay in the big leagues this time around, today will surely be a day to remember for Romero, whose last MLB appearance came on Aug. 19, 2016 — when he was summoned to the Majors for one game (his lone Major League appearance of that season’s second half). But with the Dodgers’ outfield and bench situations currently in something of a state of flux, it’s at least possible he’ll have the opportunity to carve out a role — at least while Betts is sidelined.

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Roberto Osuna Signs With NPB’s Chiba Lotte Marines

By Anthony Franco | June 10, 2022 at 8:22am CDT

Reliever Roberto Osuna has signed with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, the team announced yesterday. Mexican publication Beisbolpuro first reported the agreement (Twitter link) last week.

Osuna has spent the 2022 season playing in the Mexican League, where he’s appeared in 12 games with the Diablos Rojos del México. He tossed 13 1/3 innings of three-run ball, striking out 15 batters and collecting six saves. That strong work caught the attention of the Marines, who figure to install Osuna at the back end of their bullpen.

The 27-year-old hasn’t appeared in a major league game since 2020, when he was outrighted off the Astros roster. Osuna had missed much of that season with an elbow injury that limited him to four appearances. That malady initially came with a recommendation he undergo Tommy John surgery, but a second opinion suggested he could rehab without going under the knife. He’s spent the past couple seasons pitching in Mexico and seems to have recovered from the elbow issue, considering how effective he’s been for the Diablos Rojos.

Of greater import is that Osuna served a 75-game suspension in 2018 for violating the MLB – MLBPA Domestic Violence Policy. A member of the Blue Jays at the time, he was arrested in Canada and charged with the assault of his then-girlfriend. He later agreed to a one-year peace bond, with the alleged victim withdrawing the charges to resolve the criminal case.

Per the Canadian Department of Justice’s web site, peace bonds are generally used when “an individual (the defendant) appears likely to commit a criminal offence, but there are no reasonable grounds to believe that an offence has actually been committed.” The Canadian Department of Justice further adds that peace bonds are obtainable by “any person who fears that another person may injure them, their spouse or common-law partner, or a child, or may damage their property.”

The Astros acquired Osuna from Toronto at the 2018 trade deadline while he was in the midst of serving his suspension. He posted excellent numbers, tossing 103 innings of 2.53 ERA ball with a 26.1% strikeout rate through the end of 2019. He led the American League with 38 saves in 2019, his most recent full season in the majors. There’s little question of his on-field effectiveness when he’s healthy, but it remains to be seen whether he’ll get another MLB opportunity at any point down the line.

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Rangers Release Joe McCarthy To Pursue NPB Opportunity

By Anthony Franco | April 22, 2022 at 9:59am CDT

The Rangers released outfielder Joe McCarthy this week, according to his transactions log at MLB.com. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets that McCarthy was granted an out after agreeing to a deal with a team in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Last week, Sports Hochi in Japan reported McCarthy had agreed to terms with the Orix Buffaloes. The team has yet to announce the move, but it seems the 28-year-old will head to the Osaka-based club, which has started the season 10-12.

McCarthy, the older brother of D-Backs outfielder Jake McCarthy, is a former fifth-round draftee of the Rays. Traded to the Giants at the 2019 deadline, he played in four games and tallied 10 plate appearances with San Francisco in 2020. McCarthy otherwise spent his Giants’ tenure in the minors, including a 2021 campaign where he posted an impressive .305/.384/.542 mark with 15 homers in 74 games with Triple-A Sacramento last season.

After electing free agency at the end of the year, the University of Virginia product signed a minor league deal with Texas. Despite an 8-14 showing in Spring Training, he didn’t crack the Opening Day roster. Rather than head back to Triple-A, McCarthy will make the jump to Japan’s highest level.

It’s not uncommon for players on minors deals or even at the fringes of an MLB 40-man roster to explore opportunities in other pro leagues. McCarthy’s salary has yet to be reported, but he’ll certainly make more with the Buffaloes than he would’ve spending the entire season with the Rangers’ top affiliate in Round Rock. McCarthy doesn’t have much big league experience, but he’s a career .255/.355/.464 hitter in three Triple-A seasons. If he performs well in NPB, it stands to reason he could again draw interest from MLB teams a year or two down the line.

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Latest On Seiya Suzuki’s Market

By Anthony Franco | March 11, 2022 at 8:45pm CDT

Star NPB outfielder Seiya Suzuki waited out the lockout in search of a deal with an MLB team this offseason. The league and Players Association agreed to freeze his posting window during the work stoppage. The official lifting of the lockout restarted the clock, giving teams twenty days to finalize an agreement.

Suzuki has reportedly drawn interest from upwards of a dozen teams this winter, and Jon Heyman of the MLB Network lists five (via Twitter) that have been prominent players: the Mariners, Giants, Dodgers, Cubs and Red Sox. That’s not necessarily a group of finalists, to be clear, but it seems those teams are among Suzuki’s top suitors.

Four of those clubs — Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago and Boston — have been known entrants in the bidding for some time. A report from Japan’s Nikkan Sports in January named the four clubs as among those likely to remain factors until he chooses a destination. The Dodgers, though, hadn’t been strongly linked to Suzuki until this point.

Los Angeles doesn’t necessarily have a need in the outfield. Mookie Betts, Cody Bellinger and AJ Pollock make for a strong starting trio, and Chris Taylor and Gavin Lux could see some action on the grass as well. The Dodgers haven’t been shy about acquiring talent even in the absence of an obvious weakness on the roster, however. And Los Angeles is clearly open to further bolstering an already strong offense, as they’re reportedly making a run at Freddie Freeman. Manager Dave Roberts isn’t afraid to move even his best players around the diamond, and the implementation of the universal designated hitter could allow NL teams to cast a wider net in search of talent.

With a little under three weeks before Suzuki has to make a decision, there still seems to be a decent array of possible landing spots. Only 27 years old, Suzuki should appeal both to win-now clubs like the Dodgers and teams (the Cubs perhaps among them) that are eyeing 2023 and beyond as more realistic windows of contention. He’s coming off a monstrous .317/.433/.639 showing with the Hiroshima Carp, for whom he’s been a strong middle-of-the-order bat in recent years. Evaluators with whom MLBTR spoke earlier in the offseason generally suggested Suzuki could immediately be a solid everyday right fielder in MLB.

Whoever signs Suzuki will owe the Carp a posting fee on top of the guarantee that goes to the player himself. The fee is calculated as 20% of the contract’s first $25MM, 17.5% of the next $25MM and 15% of any dollars thereafter.

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Seiya Suzuki Still “100% Committed” To Playing In MLB This Season

By Anthony Franco | March 1, 2022 at 8:31pm CDT

One of the most bizarre storylines of the ongoing lockout has been the frozen posting window for Seiya Suzuki. The star NPB outfielder was made available to big league clubs in November via the posting process, but he didn’t agree to a deal with an MLB team before the league implemented the lockout on December 2.

The league and union agreed to freeze the 30-day signing window for the duration of the work stoppage. With the lockout set to reach its three-month anniversary tomorrow, however, questions have intermittently popped up about how long Suzuki himself might want to wait. After all, he could simply choose to return to the Hiroshima Carp for the upcoming season and explore the possibility of making the move to MLB next winter.

Suzuki, though, remains intent on seeing the posting process through. Joel Wolfe, his representative at Wasserman, tells Andrew Baggarly of the Athletic that Suzuki’s thought process was unchanged by the league’s announcement that the first two series of the regular season have been cancelled (Twitter link). “Seiya is 100% committed to playing in MLB this year. He’s shown remarkable patience and resolve,” Wolfe told Baggarly.

That’s not a huge surprise, as Suzuki told Baggarly in mid-January he planned to wait things out. “I’m just going to wait until both sides agree,” Suzuki said at the time. “There’s no date I set on myself. In Japan, you don’t experience a lockout so it’s a first for me. At first, I was a little worried about it. But when you think about it, it’s going to end sometime soon. Just having that positive mindset that it will end sometime has allowed me to keep my head up.”

Still, those comments came before the latest uncertainty regarding the MLB labor situation. In the interim, NPB has begun its preseason schedule and opens its regular season on March 25. MLB, on the other hand, won’t begin playing meaningful games until at least the second week of April. More to the point, the league’s decision to cancel some regular season action only further complicates the labor situation and figures to make the ongoing lockout more difficult to resolve. Waiting things out is no doubt an unenviable situation for Suzuki, but it seems he’s committed to doing so in order to test his ability against big league competition.

Whenever he is allowed to negotiate with teams, the righty-hitting outfielder should have a robust market. At 27, he’s among the youngest players in free agency.  Scouting reports generally suggest he could be a capable everyday right fielder at the MLB level. And Suzuki’s coming off an excellent season in NPB, hitting .317/.433/.639 with 38 home runs across 533 plate appearances. The Padres, Cubs, Giants, Mariners, Red Sox and Rangers are among the clubs that have been linked to Suzuki this offseason.

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Matt Shoemaker Signs With NPB’s Yomiuri Giants

By Anthony Franco | February 15, 2022 at 8:23pm CDT

FEBRUARY 15: Shoemaker’s deal with Yomiuri is now official, according to an announcement from his representatives (on Twitter).

FEBRUARY 5: According to a Japanese-language report from Sports Hochi, Matt Shoemaker is nearing agreement on a deal with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball (h/t to Sung Min Kim). If finalized, it’d be the first career stint outside of North America for the client of Beverly Hills Sports Council.

Shoemaker has pitched in the majors in each of the past nine seasons. He broke in with a one-start cameo for the Angels in 2013 but was a regular member of their starting staff over the next few years. Shoemaker worked 135+ innings every year between 2014-16, posting quality mid-rotation numbers throughout that run. Unfortunately, the righty dealt with recurring health issues over the next few seasons. He underwent surgeries to address nerve issues in his forearm during both 2017 and 2018 before suffering a season-ending ACL tear five starts into the 2019 campaign.

After returning to make six starts with the Blue Jays during the abbreviated 2020 schedule, the Michigan native signed a one-year deal with the Twins last offseason. The stint in Minnesota didn’t go well, as Shoemaker’s strikeout rate tumbled to a career-worst 14.1% while he struggled mightily to keep the ball in the yard. He was outrighted off the Twins’ 40-man roster in early July and released from Triple-A St. Paul a month later.

Late last season, Shoemaker hooked on with the San Francisco Giants on a minors deal. He fared better over nine appearances (eight starts) with their top affiliate in Sacramento. His 4.83 ERA there isn’t eye-catching, but Shoemaker both quieted his home run concerns and posted plus strikeout and walk numbers (26% and 4.3%, respectively). Nevertheless, he didn’t get a big league call with San Francisco and elected minor league free agency after the season.

Presuming a deal gets completed, Shoemaker will head to Japan owner of a 4.24 ERA/4.03 SIERA across 662 2/3 major league innings. He’ll likely take on a key rotation role with the Tokyo-based club, which has also landed recent big leaguers Gregory Polanco and Matt Andriese this winter. Shoemaker turned 35 years old in September, but given his lengthy track record, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him reappear on the MLB radar next offseason if he performs well in Japan.

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Latest On Seiya Suzuki’s Market

By Steve Adams | January 29, 2022 at 11:16am CDT

TODAY: In another view of Suzuki’s market, Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe writes that “within the industry the Giants and Mariners are seen as the leading contenders” to land the outfielder.

Jan. 27: The consensus among general managers to whom Peter Gammons of The Athletic has spoken is that the Giants are perhaps the favorites to sign Suzuki (Twitter link). Again, it seems difficult to proclaim any concrete favorite when Suzuki has not yet traveled to the U.S. and is still planning multiple in-person meetings, but that bit of informed speculation is nevertheless of some note.

Elsewhere, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes that the Marlins, known to be in the market for another power bat in the outfield, “appreciate” Suzuki’s skill set and have some level of interest, though he characterizes the Fish as something of a long shot to actually push a deal across the finish line.

Jan. 26: Star Nippon Professional Baseball outfielder Seiya Suzuki is set to travel to the United States in preparation for face-to-face negotiations with Major League teams once the lockout is lifted, per a report from Japan’s Nikkan Sports. Suzuki and agent Joel Wolfe of Wasserman have already conducted virtual meetings with at least eight clubs, and they’ll continue prepping for advanced negotiations once the transaction freeze has thawed.

Nikkan’s report suggests that the Padres, Cubs, Mariners and Giants are “expected” to be among the finalists for Suzuki once negotiations resume. That’s not an exhaustive list, but it’s worth noting that all four host their Spring Training in Arizona, particularly given this report’s implication that teams with Spring Training camps in Florida may be at a disadvantage when it comes to negotiating with Suzuki. If that’s indeed the case, it’d be a welcome preference for the four “expected” finalists and the Rangers — who’ve also been tied to Suzuki thus far. The Red Sox, Yankees and Blue Jays — each of whom hosts Spring Training in Florida — have all been linked to Suzuki as well, however, and Yahoo Japan suggests the Red Sox could be an early favorite (although it seems dubious to crown any kind of front-runner after just nine days of talks and before Suzuki has had a single in-person meeting).

A 27-year-old right fielder who won his fifth NPB Gold Glove in 2021, Suzuki is regarded as the best player to jump from NPB to Major League Baseball since Shohei Ohtani. That’s not a comparison between the two, of course — far from it. Scouting reports on Suzuki peg him as a potential everyday right fielder who can hit for power and play average or better defense, however, which should generate plenty of interest around the league.

MLBTR spoke to multiple Major League evaluators prior to the point at which Suzuki was formally posted by the Hiroshima Carp, receiving generally favorable reviews and hearing at least once that Suzuki is currently the best player in Japan. Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times received a similar opinion back in August, and Sports Info Solution’s Ted Baarda took a lengthier look at Suzuki in early November.

Statistically, Suzuki checks every box. He posted a mammoth .317/.433/.636 batting line with 38 home runs, 26 doubles and nine steals in 533 plate appearances this past season in Japan, and that’s roughly in line with the type of production he’s delivered dating back to 2018. Over the past four seasons, Suzuki owns a .319/.435/.592 slash line with 121 home runs, 115 doubles and four triples in 2179 plate appearances. He’s also walked nearly as often as he’s punched out, drawing a free pass in 16.1% of his plate appearances against just a 16.4% strikeout rate since 2018.

Of course, it remains to be seen just how Suzuki will fare against more advanced pitching. Major League Baseball features, in particular, considerably higher velocity than NPB hitters face on the regular. That’s often led to some struggles from NPB hitters making the jump to North American ball — including recent examples like Yoshi Tsutsugo and Shogo Akiyama — but it should be stressed that Suzuki is younger than either was upon coming to MLB and has a much better offensive skill set.

Whenever the transaction freeze lifts, Suzuki will have 21 days remaining in his 30-day posting window. He and Wolfe are free to use the entirety of that three-week window to find a new club, although given the possibility (if not the likelihood) that the start of Spring Training will be delayed, it could behoove them to act sooner than later in order to begin the process of making the already difficult transition to Major League Baseball.

As a reminder, any team that signs Suzuki will also owe a release fee to the Carp. The current iteration of the NPB/MLB posting system stipulates that an MLB team must pay a fee equal to 20% of the contract’s first $25MM, plus 17.5% of the next $25MM, and 15% of any money spent thereafter. That’s on top of the actual value of the contract. So, for instance, a $55MM contract for Suzuki would come with a $10.125MM release fee — a total investment of $65.125MM.

Salary that can be unlocked via club/player options, performance incentives, etc. is not immediately factored in but does fall under the purview of the release fee once Suzuki reaches those thresholds. For example, in that same $55MM hypothetical, if Suzuki’s new team were to exercise a $10MM club option for an additional season, they’d owe the Carp an additional $1.5MM in release fees. Were Suzuki to unlock a $1MM bonus based on total plate appearances, another $150K of release fees would go to the Carp.

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