2007-08 Free Agents

Here is the complete list of players who have reached free agency for the 2007-08 off season:

Team       Player                Age
=========  ====================  ===
Giants     Ohmichi Noriyoshi      38
           Kimura Takuya          35
           Maeda Yukinaga         37
           Kosaka Makoto          34
           Tani Yoshitomo         34
           Takahashi Yoshinobu    32 1st

Chunichi   Inoue Kazuki           36
           Ueda Yoshinori         33
           Tatsunami Kazuyoshi    38
           Yamamoto Masahiro      42
           Tomori (Denny) Yui     40
           Iwase Hitoki           32 1st
           Hirai Masafuji         32 1st
           Fukudome Kosuke*       30 1st
           Watanabe Hiroyuki      37 1st

Hanshin    Imaoka Makoto          33
           Hiyama Shinjiro        38
           Shimoyanagi Tsuyoshi   39 2nd

Yokohama   Ishii Takuro           37
           Kudoh Kimiyasu         44
           Saeki Takahiro         37
           Taneda Hitoshi         36
           Suzuki Takanori        35
           Kawakami Takeo         35 1st
           Miura Daisuke          33 2nd

Hiroshima  Ogata Koichi           38
           Sasaoka Shinji         40
           Takahashi Ken          38
           Maeda Tomonori         36
           Kuroda Hiroki          32
           Arai Takahiro          30 1st

Yakult     Furuta Atsuya          42
           Miyamoto Shinya        36
           Ishii Kazuhisa         34

Nippon     Kaneko Makoto          31
  Ham      Tanaka Yukio           39
           Nakajima Satoshi       38
           Kanemura Satoru        31 1st

Lotte      Hori Koichi            38
           Ohmura Saburo          31
           Fukuura Kazuya         31
           Kobayashi Masahide     33 1st
           Komiyama Satoru        42 2nd
           Takagi Koji            39 1st
           Fujita Soichi          35 1st
           Yabuta Yasuhiko        34 1st

SoftBank   Shibahara Hiroshi      33
           Honma Mitsuru          35 1st
           Matsunaka Nobuhiko     33 1st

Rakuten    Kawamoto Yasuyuki      39
           Sekikawa Koichi        38
           Yoshida Toyohiko       41
           Isobe Koichi           33
           Ogura Hisashi          37
           Yamasaki Takeshi       38
           Yoshioka Yuji          36
           Fukumori Kazuo         31 1st

Seibu      Ishii Takashi          36
           Etoh Akira             37
           Takagi Hiroyuki        35
           Nishiguchi Fumiya      35
           Wada Kazuhiro          35 1st

Orix       Kiyohara Kazuhiro      40
           Mizuguchi Eiji         38
           Tuffy Rhodes           39
           Yoshida Shuji          40
           Kitagawa Hirotoshi     35 1st
           Muramatsu Arihito      34 2nd

* Player who has reached free agency due to the new disabled list special day served allocation.

Players without any note to the right of their age qualified for free agency in previous years but have not yet exercised their free agency rights. "1st" and "2nd" notations to the right of players' ages denotes players reaching free agency for their first or second times this year.

Please keep in mind that just because a player is listed here does not mean that the player is free to go where he wants. Hiroshima's Kuroda, for example, did not exercise his free agent rights last off season and signed a four year contract with the Carp. He did, however, have a stipulation in his contract that he may still declare free agency if he feels compelled to try to go to the Majors before the four year contract is up.

Other free agents, like Furuta, plan to retire.

The next step in the free agency game is for players to declare whether or not they wish to exercise their rights as a free agent. To do so, they have 7 work days (Saturday, Sunday, national holidays excluded) after the end of the Nippon Series to notify the Commissioner's Office that they are declaring free agency.

Once the declaration period has ended, the Commissioner's Office will publish a list of declaring players, and teams (both within and without the country) may start courting the declaring players. Other teams than the team a declaring free agent is on are forbidden to discuss possible signing until the day after the list is published. Charges of tampering will be raised, and we'll have to go through another scandal investigation. I expect that the MLB teams will be patient and ride the process out properly.

[Updated to highlight declarees, trades, and releasees on Nov. 15, 2007 10:44 AM JST]

I have heard that Toyoda from the Giants might be available this off-season as a free agent, either to come to MLB or change teams. Is that just a rumor? Or is there some truth to that?

Thanks a lot!

I don't understand this question. If Toyoda's name isn't in the above table, then he isn't a free agent this off season. There is a slim chance that the Giants would just straight out release him (but I don't know why). Where have you heard this? Please post a URL if possible.

Furthermore, if you're new here, the Giants don't recognize the Posting System, so there is no chance he'll be posted by them.

Probably goofy questions but:

• What is the "new disabled list special day served allocation"?
• Also, what is the significance of the player reaching free agency for the first or second time?

- What is the "new disabled list special day served allocation"?

This topic explains the new disabled list allocation.

- Also, what is the significance of the player reaching free agency for the first or second time?

After receiving free agency (9 years), a player is free to sign with any team he wishes, much like free agency in MLB. It works the same way for free agency the second time, the only significance of acquiring free agency the second time is that you've had a long career.

Not goofy at all. They just show that we're getting a lot of new people here.

- What is the "new disabled list special day served allocation"?

Please see this post from last August.

- Also, what is the significance of the player reaching free agency for the first or second time?

Significance? You mean a piece of information has to have significance? It was just there!

Just kidding. It's useful to distinguish those players who just reach free agency and those who have reached free agency but had not yet used their right to freely negotiate with other teams. Many of the players who have not yet used their free agency rights will be under multi-year contracts or will not be interested in moving anywhere anyway. Some may change their minds, but not many.

The first time free agents are the main targets for other teams (NPB and MLB) as it's their first time on the free market.

Those that have reached free agency for a second (or third) time are serious old timers now and will probably not be pursued by other teams or use free agency as a bargaining chip for contract renewal.

In short, first time free agents have the highest probability of exercising their free agency rights. But more don't than do, nonetheless.

I get it! Thanks a lot!

Can I ask another one?

Why are there no foreigners on this list? If a foreign player's contract is up, is it looked at differently?

- Why are there no foreigners on this list?

Actually, Tuffy Rhodes is on the list. He qualified a couple of years ago, having put in 9 full years of service between Kintetsu (merged with Orix) and Giants. Because of this, he is currently not considered a foreign player with regard to the foreign player roster limits.

Most foreign players don't last nearly that long, though.

- If a foreign player's contract is up, is it looked at differently?

Yes and no. Teams are more willing to give up a foreign player's contract if they don't live up to expectations. A Japanese player who doesn't perform falls under one of two categories:

1. Veteran who's value as a mentor to younger players and popularity at the gate out weighs his slumping bat.
2. Developing player who will eventually come around.

As unfair as it is, foreigners very rarely fall under one of those two categories. Instead, they're expected to already be developed and fill a particular role immediately. There is little or no time for adjustment, just do it. If they don't, they are released, and other teams may sign them at will if they saw some talent that might be tapped. (And there have been quite a few cases where a foreign flop for one team has proven to be valuable to another.)

However, foreign players do fall under a team's reservations within Japan if the team wishes to do so. Once a player's contract is up, there's nothing preventing him from returning to the Majors, but he is not free to jump to another team within Japan unless his current team releases him. (More often than not, feelings to move on are mutual.)

I've heard that North American agents tend to also be more cunning when it comes to escape clauses, so there is a chance of getting around team reservations as well. But other owners may respect the previous team's wishes and avoid signing a player who avoids the reservations under such means.

Did Kenshin Kawakami not qualify due to time on the DL? If so, is he likely to be posted?

Kawakami [Sponichi - in Japanese] only has 8 years of service time following this season, and would be a free agent after next year. He would not been eligible for free agency following this year. I don't know where the American press got this error from.

My first time looking at these prospects. My question is, are these guys are at the middle to end of their respective careers? What types of contracts do they get when their are in their 20s? Or are there other reasons there are no younger kids listed?

- are there other reasons there are no younger kids listed?

Players have to wait at least 9 years to become a free agent. Otherwise they have to be posted.

What are the chances that Yoshinobu Takahashi will play along side with Hideki Matsui in New York? Or if he will opt for a move to the Major Leagues, which is the likely destination for him?

Yoshinobu has already announced that he's going to stay with the Giants. He did not file for free agency even though he was eligible this year.

Do we now have a final list?

Yes. The above is the final list.

I've updated it so that:

• the 9 players who declared free agency are in bold,
• the two players who did not declare and were traded are in italics,
• and those players who retired or were released are stricken out.

Note, some of the released players, like Yokohama's Taneda, are seeking spots on other teams. Others may wonder over to North America's minors in hopes of prolonging their careers.

I believe Seibu added Taneda and Rakuten's Taninaka by trade on the 13th.

Kuroda is reportedly getting interest from the Phillies. After pitching at Hiroshima, that bandbox in Philly will actually look spacious to him!