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The story
It was reported on the 17th that the Hanshin Tigers are moving toward approving infielder Teruaki Sato (27), who wishes to transfer to MLB this offseason, to use the posting system. The application window opens November 1. This season Sato led the league in batting average, home runs, and RBIs, becoming the ninth Triple Crown winner in NPB history. On 5ch, the thread sparked wide-ranging discussion — fans welcoming the move, speculation on which team might sign him, worry over Hanshin’s lineup next season, and pointed questions about the club’s salary levels.
[Hanshin] Set to Approve Teruaki Sato’s Move to MLB — Front Office Director Shimamura: “As of today I have no comment…” but club reportedly leaning positive — Posting applications open 11/1 — NPB’s 9th-ever Triple Crown winner
◆2026 JERA Climax Series, Central League Final Stage, Game 4: Hanshin 5–8 DeNA (Oct 17, Koshien)
It was learned on the 17th that the Hanshin Tigers are moving toward approving the use of the posting system for infielder Teruaki Sato (27), who hopes to take on MLB this offseason.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Batting cleanup for the Kishiwada Temporaries (a made-up joke team name)
Putting up these numbers with Koshien as your home park is nuts though
So the Dodgers really are circling, huh?
He's probably already mentally in the majors
Definitely not sitting there thinking 'next year Hanshin wins it all!' lol
A starter and a good right-handed hitter who can handle the 6-hole are absolute must-fill spots
Hope they grab Tokoda and Nakagawa
For the foreign slot: Reyes, or if not him, Nevin or Fabian
So he's off to MLB as yet another guy proving how low the level of Japanese pro ball is…
How many does that make now…
All that drama last year was just to pave the way for the move
"We can't pay him anymore, but whatever, fans will keep showing up either way, so let's ride the wave and ease him out"
Right?
It's not that they can't pay — they won't pay
They've got ¥12.4 billion in operating profit, it's just getting skimmed off by the parent company
A club pulling in ¥57.1 billion in revenue capping its top salary at ¥550 million is absurd
And even though they keep bleeding talent, they've got zero intention of changing
Textbook JTC move (internet slang for a stodgy old-school Japanese corporation)
wRC+
Sato 203 Morishita 195 Oyama 150 Chikamoto 137 Nakano 105 Takadera 83
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HUG5nNRbMAEitK2.jpg:orig
@
Looking at wRC+ historically and for 2026, the Pacific League really is blessed with hitter-friendly parks huh
Even Kurihara with 40 HR and Yamaguchi with 37 HR only land in the 170s for wRC+
@
I'm not saying everyone needs to track wOBA, xwOBA, hard-hit rate, barrel rate, and swing speed, but I do wish stats like wRC+ and WAR would catch on more
Because those alone show just how absurd Teruaki Sato and Shota Morishita really are
Even though I hate Hanshin
In Japan even the big corporations
are as stingy as some tiny rural mom-and-pop shop
That's exactly why the talent drain never stops
So many companies have their brains completely fried from the "success" of working talented people like slaves during the hiring-ice-age years
All they've got left are incompetent execs whose only skill is cost-cutting
Honestly, compared even to the late-1940s Showa era,
management back then was more competent than this
Everyone in their 50s to 70s now is useless across the board
A generation that did nothing but drag Japan down
It brings zero benefit to Japanese fans either way
Ohtani was nothing but harmful to NPB, not a single upside
Both NPB and these JTC-style companies deserve to go under
If you can't offer pay that matches your revenue and profit,
of course your talent is going to get picked off — that's just deserved
Unlike an industry like showbiz where no amount of effort generates real profit,
NPB is full of clubs clearing 20%+ operating margins
and none of it ever makes it back to the players on the field
I mean, they give absolutely nothing back to the players on the field,
so of course guys get fed up and head to America
The Hanshin Tigers' operating margin is something like 21.7%
That's an insane level of exploitation
Capital investment should mean player salaries, right?
No investment, no better treatment, just importing foreign players (lol) over and over —
that garbage cycle is exactly why they're declining
There's zero reason not to go
I mean, they even signed a little guy like Yoshida
MLB front offices get played by agents way too easily, total suckers
With the weak yen under the Sanae administration, he'll clear ¥3 billion easily
Hard to imagine Teru signing for under $20 million a year on average as things stand
Personally I want him to land with the Mariners or the Giants
The Mariners already have Dubon, the Giants have Chapman
Both are Gold Glove winners, so it's a tricky fit either way
Something like a .250 average with around 30 homers
Pulling off something as absurd as Ohtani's near-.300 with 50 homers just isn't realistic
No way he hits .250
He'll be stuck in the .100s
Background and Key Points of This Story
The posting system requires the player’s own club to sign off before an MLB move can happen at all, so the “leaning toward approval” reported here is not yet an official decision. A “Triple Crown” means leading the league in all three of batting average, home runs, and RBIs in the same season, and pulling it off makes Sato just the ninth player in NPB history to do so. In the thread, posts citing specific figures for Hanshin’s operating profit and player salaries to slam the club’s treatment of players stood out — but no sources were given for these numbers, so they should be treated as unverified speculation rather than fact. The thread also leaned on the club’s history of MLB transfers, invoking pitcher Kei Igawa’s rough stint with the Yankees after leaving Hanshin as the “Igawa nightmare.”
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Baseball] Hanshin Set to Approve Teruaki Sato’s Move to MLB! Club Reportedly Considering Favorably, Posting Applications Open November 1, NPB’s 9th-Ever Triple Crown Winner.”
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