The Mariners and Twins are closing in on a deal that would send international bonus money from Minnesota to Seattle, reports MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (on Twitter). Feinsand’s colleague, Jon Morosi, had recently tweeted that the Twins were likely to trade international funds to one of the seven finalists for Shohei Ohtani tonight.
The Twins have $3.245MM in their international pool after their $3MM deal with prospect Jelfry Marte fell through due to an issue on his physical. The Twins had hoped to utilize that money to pursue Ohtani themselves, but after being informed they’d miss out on him, reports indicated that they’d be willing to part with some of that pool in trades with potential Ohtani suitors.
Segovia3047
Jerry!!!!! Sign Ohtani!!!!
Alex Graboyes
Mariners have a great track record with japanese players. Assuming otani goes there, the bust likely hood is very low plus he is in the al which means pitching and hitting which is important for him
Padres2019ha
Fak!
MHanny17
It’s David Banuelos to the Twins for 1mm
southi
If this goes through then it almost certainly signals that the Mariners think that Ohtani will sign with them.
MHanny17
How does Vieira get them 500k and Banuelos gets them 1mm
xfloydsterx
agreed
weber722
Right? I don’t get it either but maybe Minnesota knew that Seattle would need the money so they kept pushing up the price…
GoRoyals8821
He has said he doesn’t want to go to a team that has had an established Japanese star. So I think the padres are the favorites
martyvan90
King Felix is Japanese?
martevious
The M’s aren’t a favorite, then, because Ichiro was most certainly a Japanese star.
dynamite drop in monty
Ichiro? Nahhh, pretty sure Shigatoshi Hashegawa was more influential.
JKB 2
Actually Ohtani has never said that. Just rumors
chris german
Oh man, if Ohtani doesn’t sign with the Mariners now Dipoto is going to look like a complete fool. He’s going all or nothing with this.
MHanny17
All he’s given up is a guy who can throw hard with no control and a defensive catcher who can’t hit
gavinrendar
Angels just did the same thing. What is going on!?!?
beersy
Angels might be trying to get their pool high enough to pay for Maiten and Soto this year, instead of dipping into next years pool.
floridapinstripes
they would still have to trade for another Million.
Joe Kerr
Can it be split between this year and next?
charles stevens
The Angels will get him on the weekends.
cy119
player may not want money, but agents certainly don’t work for free. Surely you wouldn’t expect Ohtani to make no money and still have to pay his agent, would you?
wayneroo
What does he care? Agent gets a percentage. If he can wait for his big payday, so can CAA.
claude raymond
Endorsement money will be CRAZY! Contract won’t matter and agent will make his share. In two years Otani will get humongous contract. Agent gets a bigger share. wayneroo is dead on correct
Steve Adams
Nez Balelo represents Ryan Braun, Adam Jones, Matt Garza, Phil Hughes, Andre Ethier, David Freese and Jason Vargas, among many others. CAA, generally speaking, is one of the largest baseball agencies on the planet.
I don’t think Balelo or CAA is sweating over the size of the signing bonus. I’m sure the Halos and M’s just want to be sure they did everything in their power to make this happen.
floridapinstripes
So Mariners can still trade for 2 million more right?
imindless
Angels did the same, I think its down to angels and mariners.
sfg415sfc
I’d like to see him come to SF. But good for the Mariners. They have the track record to backup their pitch to Ohtani. Although I believe SF had the first Japanese player in history, they don’t seem to go for Asian players. Shinjo (sp?) was on the cheap and almost doesn’t count. Atlee H was of Japanese decent. But Seattle kind of earned the right to get this kid. We’ll see what happens.
ck420
I think I’m turning Japanese, I really think so
claude raymond
Do you what that song is ACTUALLY about?
claude raymond
…do you *know* what…