Hanshin’s Teruaki Sato maintains his “ultra-hard-line stance” because of the “softening of the team’s attitude”…Absence from joint voluntary training sessions has made the conflict definite.

There’s no way he’s not in trouble.”

Hanshin infielder Teruaki Sato, 26, has been linked to a major league challenge as early as this offseason, and with less than a week to go before the team opens camp on February 1, his contract with the team remains undecided.

Sato has been appealing to the team since the off-season of 2012 to challenge the majors on a posting contract.

He has been appealing to the team since the offseason of ’24 to challenge the Major Leagues by posting a contract with the team. After winning two Central League championships last season, he leaned forward and talked about the majors more and more in his chats with the press. He was no longer afraid to mention his aspirations for the majors in interviews, and the baseball team’s public relations department was becoming increasingly wary, saying, ‘This could be bad …….

Sato postponed his voluntary training session scheduled for January 24. On January 27, he visited the clubhouse at Koshien and told the press, “I’m not in dispute (with the team). We are discussing it thoroughly. We are discussing it thoroughly, and everything is going well.

The clubhouse was not in dispute. If the discussions were going as smoothly as he said, the contract would have been renewed long ago. Nevertheless, Sato is showing a strong stance that he will not give up the camp at his own expense.

Some of the mainstays of the Hanshin team have been training together at the camp since January 29, but Sato did not participate. This has made it clear that negotiations have been difficult. Why does Sato continue to be so intransigent at this late stage of the negotiations?

The team, which had planned to stay the course, is now softening its stance.

The team has the right to control the posting process in the first place, so there is no need for them to give in to Sato. There are players on the team, including Hiroto Saiki (27) and Daichi Ishii (28), who have announced their intention to challenge the majors, so there is no way to set a precedent in favor of the players here.

However, there is a situation in which the team cannot ignore Sato’s request. The team is wary of a drop in revenues from merchandise, which is one of the team’s top-selling items. In the past, goods related to Sato were sold in conjunction with the opening of the home base in March and the opening of the Koshien Stadium. Now, however, it is no longer unusual for them to be sold starting with the March open games because they are selling so well.

If the mess continues this long, there is a strong possibility that its sales will be affected. Naturally, Sato’s side understands this situation, so they believe that there is still room for negotiation and that the baseball team will eventually agree to the deal.

The “Satotel craze” shows no sign of abating.