MLB Agrees to Grandfather Otani Under Old Posting Rules, Still Needs Union Blessing

After a great deal of back and forth in the last week alone, it appears as though the Shohei Otani saga may finally be entering the home stretch. After it looked for a bit like his prospects of coming to MLB this season were on their deathbed, the star pitcher/outfielder resuscitated them when he hired new representation. Then came word that MLB and Nippon Professional Baseball had reached an agreement to grandfather the now-defunct posting system for one more year.

That bit about hiring a US-based agent is going to be very important with the last remaining hurdle in the process, which is the approval of the Players Association. According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the union had…