Draft Reform Not Resolved

Negoro-acting commissioner resided over a meeting at the NPB Commissioner's office in Tokyo today (March 13, 2007) along with representatives of the ball clubs and the Players' Association. The main topic for discussion was draft reform. Preliminary reports are in from Nikkan Sports, Sponichi Annext, and Sports Hochi (all in Japanese).

The results: They'll meet again on March 21st.

While there is still no detailed information on what went on in the meeting, it's safe to assume that the Giants are against the idea of reform all together, and this Sports Hochi article mentions that Hiroshima is against the idea of the waiver draft system. Well, actually, Hiroshima's complaint appears to be that things are going too fast over such a short time span, and that decisions made in such a manner may have not so ideal consequences later on, such as more talent fleeing to the Majors if they're unable to pick where they go.

Oh, and the first Sports Hochi (owned by Yomiuri) link above explains an alternative waiver system suggested by the Yomiuri Giants. It describes a system whereby the top finishing teams choose first for the high school draft and the bottom finishing teams choose first for the amateur/college draft. Does anyone on the Giants have a sense of fair play whatsoever?

Shortening the length of time to free agency was also brought up but left unresolved, to the best of my knowledge.

NPB officials plan on meeting with the various amateur organizations about this problem on March 16th, then they'll meet with the Players' Association once again on the 21st in hopes of finalizing plans for the fall draft.