Free Agent Rules Changed

Interesting that that's the part of the decision that they focused on. There were a number of other decisions reached that got a little more attention in Nikkan Sports, while that was just an afterthought of "And all players now qualify for free agency after nine years." That infers that there's no longer a difference between gyakyu-shimei (reverse designation) players and straight draftees, which is what the Japan Times appears to have stressed.

More importantly, the reembursement for free agents that teams within the country have to pay has been decreased from 1.5 times the previous yearly salary to 1.2 times. It's still a lot of money for a free agent, and most likely won't bring Hiroshima into bidding for them, but it's a start.

The number of players one may keep on the protected list also drops from 30 to 28.

Regarding the draft and the "nationality" issue raised by Brazillian Norbert Semanaka, it was decided that any player taken in the draft is to be considered a Japanese player regardless of the number of years studying in Japan. Semanaka attended three years of high school in Japan and is considered a foreign player this year (five years of education have been required up until now), but will no longer have to compete with high priced imports for a foreign slot as of next season.

Another proposal that was discussed earlier was having him become "Japanese" after two seasons (five years in Japan overall). But that would still only apply to drafted players - not players like Rhodes who have been here for over five years. I guess that'll be a different discussion at a different time.