Milwaukee Brewer get exclusive negotiating rights to Norichika Aoki -MLB Update
The Milwaukee Brews grabbed the exclusive negotiating right to Norichika Aoki on Monday, December 19, 2011, when their posting bid for the player to his team in Japan, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, accepted the bid by the club, giving them 30 days to negotiate
with the player for a contract and play him in the 2012 Major League Baseball (MLB) regular season.
At the moment, Aoki is being represented by Nez Balelo of CAA Sports, in the United States, a sports agency which also has clients such as the Brewers very own outfielders, Ryan Braun and Corey Hart.
"The bid allows you the opportunity to negotiate, that's all. We'll make a decision after the workout," Milwaukee Brewers general manager, Doug Melvin, said.
The fee which the Milwaukee Brewers will pay to the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Japan if the team and the player are able to agree on a contract a cool $2.5 million according to latest reports, but if not, he will have to try with another team.
Since Milwaukee does not have any outstation in Japan in order to test the player to their desire, it is expected that they will be inviting him to the United State to complete all such necessities before they begin talks on a contract they would like him
to sign on with them.
Some believe that picking Aoki is related directly to their player, Ryan Braun, potentially facing a 50-game suspension but when assistant general manager of Milwaukee Brewers was reached for comment, he termed it as “totally separate”.
The reason for the rumours were that if Braun was to be suspended, Aoki could help the team in covering and filling that gap of losing a left handed hitter since the team only has Nyjer Morgan in the left hitting department at the moment.
Aoki has a career of hitting .339 in the past four seasons he has been playing in Japan and four home runs in the past season.
It will certainly be interesting to see what the player is capable of in the United States and how their negotiating works out in the upcoming days.
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