Via Jon Heyman: Officials from NPB traveled to the United States this week to discuss changes to the posting system face-to-face with the folks at MLB. They spoke today and are expected to do so again tomorrow, reports Joel Sherman. There is “renewed hope” an agreement will be reached but it is far from a sure thing. The Japanese players’ union agreed to a revised system earlier this month, but MLB withdrew the proposal because NPB took too long to review. Rakuten Golden Eagles right-hander Masahiro Tanaka can not be posted until the two sides hammer this thing out.
In other news, Sang-Soo Kwon reports Samsung Lions closer Seung-Hwan Oh will join the Hanshin Tigers in Japan on a two-year, $8.9M contract. The best closer in the history of the Korea Baseball Organization was considering jumping to MLB via the posting system — the posting agreement with Korea is still valid, only Japan is an issue at the moment — but he apparently decided to head to Japan instead. The Yankees, who are in the market for late-inning bullpen help, were said to be among the teams scouting Oh.
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