Major League Baseball's latest effort to reduce the prices it pays for Japanese players will not affect this year's expected posting of slugging ace pitcher Shohei Otani, a source within Nippon Professional Baseball said Saturday.

Yet, Japanese baseball executives believe there is little choice but to give in to MLB's efforts to limit NPB's ability to set posting fees for its own players.

"The majors' bargaining position is just too strong," the executive of one team said after officials of all 12 NPB clubs met in Tokyo on Friday to discuss the MLB proposals.