Seattle Mariners push for Shohei Otani could include Ken Griffey

Many teams will be looking to sign Japanese two-way player Shohei Otani, but the Seattle Mariners may have Ken Griffey, Jr. help recruit him.

According to Ken Rosenthal on the MLB Network, the Seattle Mariners will push hard to sign Japanese superstar Shohei Otani when the two-way player is posted. They hope to take a contingent of people to Japan to woo Otani. According to Rosenthal, they would like Hall of Famer Ken Griffey, Jr. to be part of that group and Griffey is reportedly on board.

The Mariners have a good history with Japanese players, including the greatest import of them all, Ichiro Suzuki, who played 12 seasons with the team and had 2533 of his 3080 career hits. Ichiro was a phenomenon right from the start. He won the AL Rookie of the Year and AL MVP Awards and helped the 2001 Mariners tie a major league record with 116 wins.

Ichiro joined a Mariners team that already had highly-regarded closer Kasahiro Sasaki, who had pitched many years in Japan. They were teammates with the Mariners through Sasaki’s final season with the team in 2003 and the presence of Sasaki helped ease Ichiro’s adjustment to the states.

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More recently, the Mariners had starting pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma as a mainstay in the rotation from 2012 until last year, when he struggled with injuries and only made six starts. In six seasons with the Mariners, Iwakuma was 63-39 with a 3.42 ERA.

So the background is there for Otani. Seattle has been a good location for Japanese players. According to this article by Shannon Drayer, the team has a very good support system in place, including trainers and interpreters who are highly regarded for their work. Also, the Mariners’ reputation in Japan is very good.

A major roadblock to Otani coming to the states has been removed. It’s being reported that Otani’s team, the Nippon Ham Fighters, has been grandfathered in under the old agreement, which expired on October 31. This agreement will allow the team to make $20 million rather than the $150,000 they would have received under the new system.

That’s nice for the Ham Fighters but not so much for Otani. Because he is under 25 years old, he can only receive as much money as the MLB team he signs with has in their international signing pool. The team with the most in their pool is the Texas Rangers, who can spend $3.535 million on a signing bonus. Without this restriction, Otani would likely be a $20 million per year player.

Once Otani is signed, he will be under team control for six years, just like a high school or college draft pick. He will make the league minimum next year and won’t be eligible for arbitration until 2020. His team could sign him to an extension, but they’ll have to do so without appearing as if there were any underhanded shenanigans going on. MLB could enact severe penalties if they believe a team has a secret deal in place.

As mentioned above, the Texas Rangers ($3.535 million) have the most in their signing pool, with the New York Yankees ($3.25 million) and Minnesota Twins ($3.245 million) close behind. The Mariners are one of seven teams who can give Otani $1.5 million or more.

Realistically, though, Otani is already foregoing many millions of dollars by coming to the U.S. now instead of a couple years down the road so a few million here or there is not likely to make a difference. Otani will make his decision based on where he would most like to play and what team would be best for him. The Mariners could be that team.

At ESPN, Dan Szymborski used ZiPS to project Otani’s statistics based on what he’s done in the his career in Japan. He has Otani projected for an ERA in the 3.40 range for around 140 innings per year. ZiPS also projects Otani to be a .260/.330/.480 hitter in around 300 at-bats per year. If he does come over and is allowed to hit and pitch, he would be a very interesting player to watch, not only in real baseball but also in the fantasy baseball world.

Next: Mariners Mount Rushmore

As much as the Seattle Mariners would love to sign Otani, it won’t be easy. Big name franchises like the Yankees and Red Sox are interested and have a better track record of winning. The Mariners haven’t made the playoffs since 2001, which was Ichiro’s rookie year. But they’ll make their pitch, hopefully with the help of the legendary Ken Griffey, Jr., and perhaps they can sign baseball’s next superstar.