4:35pm: Today's meetings ended without an agreement on a new posting system, and the two sides are likely to take a break until after Thanksgiving, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link).
TUESDAY, 12:56pm: Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports tweets that MLB and NPB officials are meeting today to discuss the new posting system. Baseball America's Ben Badler adds that teams are operating under the assumption that an agreement will be reached, and Tanaka will be available (Twitter link). Badler feels some news will be announced in the near future.
SUNDAY: Japanese baseball officials will visit New York this week to negotiate a new posting system, CBS Sports' Jon Heyman writes. A new posting system would free star Rakuten Golden Eagles pitcher Masahiro Tanaka to sign with a Major League team. Heyman also notes that, if Tanaka were to sign with a big-league team, other starters might begin to sign as well. While the market for position players has been very active (with Brian McCann and Jhonny Peralta having agreed to large new contracts in the past week), the market for starting pitchers has been relatively quiet.
The Yankees, Dodgers and Cubs, among other teams, are expected to show interest in Tanaka, Heyman notes. But the next step has to be agreement on a new posting system. While Heyman notes that officials have "renewed hope" for an agreement, Golden Eagles president Yozo Tachibana recently told the Japan News that he thinks an agreement might not be reached until mid-December. Here's more on negotiations regarding the posting system.
Steve Adams contributed to this post.
