KYODO NEWS - May 4, 2017 - 12:41 | Sports, All

Major League Baseball wants to renegotiate the posting system with Nippon Professional Baseball before the highly anticipated move of the Nippon Ham Fighters' two-way star Shohei Otani, which could be as early as this offseason, according to sources with knowledge of the agreement Thursday.

MLB and NPB had until Thursday U.S. time -- 180 days before the Oct. 31 expiration date of the agreement -- to demand a renegotiation of the existing posting system, which has been in effect since 2013.

Under the current system, any major league team willing to pay a maximum fee of $20 million to an NPB team has the right to negotiate with a player put up for bidding.

The 22-year-old Otani, the reigning Pacific League MVP for the Japan Series champion Fighters, has made no secret of his desire to play in the majors, and Nippon Ham is expected to grant him his wish this winter if the sweet-hitting right-hander seeks a move.

The posting system is the only way for NPB's non-free agents like Otani to sign with a major league ballclub.

In December, MLB and its players union announced a new collective bargaining agreement that caps the amount of money teams can use to sign under-25 talent from overseas.

Otani is working his way back from a torn left hamstring he suffered April 8. He is also nursing a bad right ankle that kept him out of the World Baseball Classic in March.