Shohei Otani, the white whale, the Japanese unicorn, the slugger who can throw 100mph with a sick slider, will be coming to the bigs this offseason. He will not wait two more years and get the big contract. He will be posted and be subject to the MLB signing rules. This will limit his earnings significantly. That being said, he will still require some money to sign. The Yankees are considered the favorites, although they cannot allocate the most money his way. NY has slowly and quietly acquired extra bonus money in deals. Thy dealt Yefry Ramirez and Matt Wotherspoon to BAL for money and they got $1.5 mil in bonus money in the Gray trade. They've spend around $3.5 mil on their INTL FA's this year and should be able to offer what will amount to their full pretrade slot (about $4.5 mil) to get him. MLB had said it will crack down on any attempts to bypass this rule, but the unioj would have a field day if the MLB tries to punish any signing team from "extending" Otani early in his career. It will be interesting for sure.

Masahiro Tanaka was quoted as saying Otani is a really good hitter, but he is a pitcher in the end. Either way, a DH that can be a front line starter is an interesting thing for sure. I'd love to see him in the Bronx