Yomiuri announces signing of Ramirez

Evvai. Con qulache altro ingaggio i Giants saranno più competitivi che mai.

Grande anche il ritorno de Uehara nel ruolo di Starter, e condivido molto gli acquisti si Greisinger e Kroon!

Mi raccomando l'anno prossimo si devono battere i Dragons!

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[Best guess of translation from Italian:]

Evvai. Along with the other acquisitions, I propose that the Giants will be more competitive to you then ever.

The return of Uehara as a starter will also be big, as were the purchases of Greisinger and Kroon!

I recommend that they strike at the Dragons next year!

Let's see, the midgets reup Ogasawara, Abe, Uehara, Lee, and Takahashi for millions. They sign Kroon, Rami, Gesinger, and others I am sure I have missed.

What is the total amount they have spent so far? It has to be close to $10 million if not more. Westbay, perhaps you can calculate the full amount. It may be higher that the total team salaries for other CL teams, and probably the same for the PL.

So should the NPB start a luxury tax for the midgets? Their lineup could be the starting team for the CL all-stars come next summer.

Those that pretend that money does not matter only need to look at the MLB winners in the last few years. The WS winner 8 out of the last 10 years have been big money teams. I read that low budget teams have made the playoffs in the last 10 years only 10% of the time, such as the Oakland team. Clearly the midgets know the RedSox/Yankees/Manchester United formula for winning in sports. Show me the money!

If Hara does not win it all in '08, he will be fired.

Salary information can be found on each of the team's pages, such as the Giants' 2008 team salaries here. Ken D. has been entering these as people have been signing (he deserves credit for keeping up with the Japanese signings very well), but he hasn't been doing the foreign players. I'm part of the bottle neck with the new signees.

Excluding foreigners, I think that Hanshin surpassed the Giants in salary for one of the recent years. Looking at 2007 salaries, Hanshin was at 38-oku yen while the Giants spent almost 44-oku yen, just more than 1 Kanemoto difference.

Don't even forget about all the failed signings like Noguchi, Kadokura, Ozeki, Arias, and you could even put Toyoda in that list, since he was hired to be a shut down closer.

The funniest part about Yomiuri is all their terrible foreign signings with ridiculous hype. Off the top of my head, here are the guys I can think of.

Dan Miceli - Billed as the Major League closer. Came to spring training out of shape, lost a ton of velocity, got lit up, whined about it, then refused to go down to the farm. One of the bigger failures in suketto history. Was seriously embarrassing to watch.

Gabe Kapler - They made this huge deal about Kapler coming from the world champ Red Sox. I remember reading some article on Sponichi about his body building, sex appeal, and all this cr@p that had nothing to do with baseball. He would've been lucky to hit .200 with the way he handled Japanese pitching.

Gary Glover - There were articles out talking about how he sawed off a couple batters during spring training and how he was going to be a beast simply because of that.

That's the great thing about the off season. You get to read ridiculous articles written by bored sports writers trying to hype the new class of foreign players, of which 90% are going to fail. I guess Yomiuri are taking the route of spending anything to get proven foreign talent. If you're going to hate them for that, you might as well hate Orix, too.

- So should the NPB start a luxury tax for the midgets?

What use would a luxury tax do if the majority of owners don't use their money to sign big name players anyway? And more importantly, the MLB luxury tax really doesn't go to any team. So why would implementing a luxury tax solve any of the competitive balance problems in NPB? If no money is being channeled to any teams, a luxury tax is moot. Since Yomiuri has so much money to spend, a luxury tax wouldn't faze them anyway.

Finally, since all NPB clubs are run as a marketing arm more so than a team, we're going to have some clubs who have more money than others. So in essence, most NPB teams want to cut costs down.

In conclusion, I don't see a lot of the NPB teams other than Yomiuri and Hanshin doing anything regarding big name players in NPB. Occasionally, a team like SoftBank will come around and sign a big contract, but not very often.

Anyway, moving on you can't fault Yomiuri for going after proven foreign talent such as Ramirez, Kroon, and Greisinger. The objective of a baseball team is try to win the Nippon Series, not win a popularity contest.

- The funniest part about Yomiuri is all their terrible foreign signings with ridiculous hype. Off the top of my head, here are the guys I can think of.

Thing is though, none of those three players were real great to start out with. There shouldn't been any ridiculous hype on them to begin with. Anyone who thought Miceli was a Major League closer was crazy, he was nothing more than a middle reliever, and he wasn't over dominating there afterward either. Kapler, besides 2000 and 2001, was nothing special. As for Glover, he was a AAAA pitcher, and even in AAA he wasn't anything special.

Hi all. For some reason, the player meikan at Sponichi has not been listing the new foreign signees. I figure once the print version comes out it should be pretty easy to add the newcomers.

Right now I'm just adding 2008 player salaries as the info comes in. Each day I see news reports with salary numbers, but I like to wait for the official word.

Westbay, thanks for the link on salaries. I am surprised Hanshin is listed at 22-oku this year, and 37-oku last year. That is a big drop without really any major changes that I can think of, other than Hamanaka.

As I suspected, the new signings for the YGs are very close, if not more, then the total team salaries of other CL teams. For example your YBs' salary for 2008 is 15-oku. The new signings by the Giants plus the re-up of the current staff will most likely be more that the total YBs' team salary. In the end the YGs' will be paid more than three times your team.

The baseball luxury tax goes into a development fund. I am not sure how those funds are used, but it probably flows to small market teams to improve their stadiums or other such activity. It is not working to reduce salaries as probably 8 teams in MLB will have team salaries over $120 million next year.

The problem with a huge salary imbalance in any professional sport is that it hurts the overall game. Just as the dominance of the YGs decades ago, by cheating mostly, depressed the development of the regional teams, the Giants are now attempting to accomplish the same thing by buying all the talent they can. And it will work as we can easily see in MLB and the English PL.

Other major sports in the US have adopted salary caps and luxury taxes that have resulted in real revenue distribution. And those leagues, like the NFL and the NBA, are more competitive and financially healthy as well.

Of course every team wants to win, that is a silly statement which avoids the subject of this post. The better question is, can every team win when one team is spending 3 or 4 times more on team salary than competitors? The answer to that question is no, as results in MLB clearly demonstrate.

- The baseball luxury tax goes into a development fund. I am not sure how those funds are used, but it probably flows to small market teams to improve their stadiums or other such activity.

The MLB luxury tax is funneled into player benefits which include the player benefit plan or industry growth fund and developing baseball in countries lacking organized high school baseball. Don't kid yourself that implementing a luxury tax is going to solve the NPB competitive balance problem.

As for small market teams it doesn't do much. If they weren't going to spend money before, why would they spend it now?

- It is not working to reduce salaries as probably 8 teams in MLB will have team salaries over $120 million next year.

Then why even mention the salary cap or luxury tax if you say it doesn't work in the first place?

- Other major sports in the US have adopted salary caps and luxury taxes that have resulted in real revenue distribution. And those leagues, like the NFL and the NBA, are more competitive and financially healthy as well.

Which NFL and NBA have you been watching? Must not be the same one I've been watching. The Patriots have won 3 of the last 6 Super Bowls and are on the verge of winning one this year. As for the NBA, you go on to mention the San Antonio Spurs have won 4 of the last 9 NBA championships and the Los Angeles Lakers won 3 of those. A real competitive balance. A salary cap or luxury tax creates a false sense of competitive balance.

Also, looking at the NFL, many teams have to release high priced players to meet the salary cap, and even under this system all teams like Yomiuri have to do is exploit this system to get easy talent for hire.

Whoa. Don't start using the 2008 salary data just yet.

While most of the lower guys have signed, it's the higher paid players that are still either holding out or have yet to negotiate. This happens every year. The lower level players all tend to sign in October and November, then bigger names start signing as December goes through. There will still be some hold outs right up to the first couple of weeks of camp in February.

I don't expect anybody to come near the Giants this year. But the Giants have finished signing pretty much everyone. Chunichi has some of their biggest names to sign, as does Hanshin. Even Yokohama has some hold outs, so I expect that gap to close a little bit.

Hiroshima and Rakuten did a good job of competing for cheapest team salary the past couple of years. It'll be interesting to see who's on that end of the spectrum come February as well.

JBrooks,

The luxury tax is not a salary cap. It is simply a penalty on teams that spend outlandish amounts for players in comparison to other teams. Keep your facts straight.

A salary cap does not mean that teams don't repeat. It just means that all teams have a better chance to win it all. If one team is smarter than the other in terms of managing player personnel (or in the case of the NE Pats, cheats by spying on the other team) then so be it. All research indicates that the NBA and NFL have a much more even distribution of team success than MLB.

In NPB the death grip that the YGs had on baseball has been released, fortunately, in the last few years. As a result Chiba, Chunichi, and the Hamsters have won the Japan Series for the first time in decades. Now the YGs want to spend their way back into winning every year, which will be bad for baseball in Japan as it was when the Giants won every year, year after year, by cheating and bribing players in high school. I suppose you thought that was fair play as well as it helped them win. That's a very simplistic way to look at the game.

- The luxury tax is not a salary cap. It is simply a penalty on teams that spend outlandish amounts for players in comparison to other teams. Keep your facts straight.

Whoa, zman, try and find where in this topic where I said a luxury tax is a salary cap. Nice use of words in my mouth to support your outlandish claims.

If you even bothered to read this topic, you would have seen I even mentioned what the MLB luxury tax is. Nowhere did I even mention that it was the same thing as a salary cap.

- All research indicates that the NBA and NFL have a much more even distribution of team success than MLB.


Even with a salary cap, the same teams are still dominating the NFL and NBA. The AFC is still dominant in the NFL and the Spurs continue to win despite the salary cap. Nowhere have you mentioned how salary caps and luxury taxes help make a sport more competitive.

All salary caps do is punish teams when they succeed, since these teams have to shed salary at will.

- As a result Chiba, Chunichi, and the Hamsters have won the Japan Series for the first time in decades.

Your point again? Yomiuri's high priced contracts came back to blow up in their face in 2005 and 2006. Poor scouting came back to burn them, like signing Kapler and Miceli. Rhodes was injured in 2005. Their pitching was poor in 2005 and 2006. Hideki Matsui moved on to the Majors. Yomiuri management let Petagine go. Injuries added up for Yomiuri.

Signing names such as Kiyoshi Toyoda, Shigeki Noguchi, Ken Kadokura, et cetera have blown up in their face. I could go on all day here on why Yomiuri hasn't made the Nippon Series in ages, but I have better things to do than spend my day coming up.

Yeah I know, it's impossible for you to see these points. You'll just post another post responding to this, saying the same old things you always preach so much here. That a salary cap and luxury taxes will somehow solve the NPB competitive balance problem.

Moving on, what is it about a salary cap system that will prevent Yomiuri from getting big name players because other teams can't afford to have them anymore? Are you going to propose so and so rule so that the Giants can't sign big name players?

Everybody is well aware of my thoughts on salary caps and revenue sharing (communistic nonsense, to put it succinctly). So all I will say here is that if, to quote The Rutles, all you need is cash, then that New York Knicks squad is a real juggernaut, no? I don't follow anything other than baseball, but iirc, the Knicks are spending way over the cap and they are still considered by many to be the biggest joke franchise in sports today.

The Mariners spent a lot of money the last few years (Jeff Weaver, Adrian Beltre, Richie Sexson, etc.) and that got them a whole lot of nothing, too.

As John has shown, all the greenbacks on the planet ain't gonna get you a winner unless you have some judgment and a cohesive vision for what you want your ball club to be. Isiah Thomas has neither of those things, nor does Dolan, the team owner. So you get an outfit that seems to have banana peels under its players shoes every night.

Matsuzaka drooped down the stretch last year after all that money had been thrown at him. MLB, though, actually penalized the Red Sox for taking the risk. If Daisuke had blown his rotator cuff, MLB would have let the Red Sox out to dry while it is only too happy to take the money when Matsuzaka ended up helping drive up team income. What kind of horse pucky is that? MLB, as an organization, is having it both ways and the teams get screwed in the process.

Besides, if you are a Giants hater like me, it is so much fun to watch them and their relatively bloated payroll go right down the Central League sink hole, at least when that happens. I hope to enjoy the same spectacle from both Yomiuri and the Yankees in 2008, though I suspect that the Giants will win the CL. But we'll have to see. The games aren't over when the checkbooks are closed in the off season.

bigmanzam: You believe that 90% of the foreign players signed thus far by NPB teams for 2008 will fail? Since you are being so specific, why not tell us how you define failure and success?

Yomiuri continually fails to get desired results from its foreign players because the organization cannot admit first that most foreign players with any amount of MLB experience - and paychecks in the bank - still come to Japan for a big payday. The team signs players with the misguided belief that playing for the Giants is something they should be honored to do because it would be a loss of face for them to admit that the Giants truly are just minor league.

Did they really think that an injury-prone Gabe Kapler would be happier as a regular with them then as a backup for the RedSox at the top of the baseball world? Did they think that Dan Miceli - correctly evaluated by jbroks - would give a d@mn about playing in Japan? How little effort he put into his time here almost defies explanation, though.

In a somewhat different way, I think the Hawks are starting to run into the same thing while throwing SoftBank's money around with reckless abandon in recent years. Tony Batista and a few others come to mind.

NPB teams that sign players who are still young enough to improve and be successful over here like Jeff Williams and Tuffy Rhodes, or guys who are AAAA types who really see a contract around the MLB minimum as a big step up for them are the ones who often - I didn't say always - do well in NPB.

Losers like Dan Miceli deserve to be slammed for their shameful actions while here. Greedy guys like Gabe Kapler deserve to be harshly criticized, too.

But in the end, Yomiuri creates a lot of the problems for itself with the foreign players it signs.

I was being nice when I said 90%. The only new players I can think of right now in 2007 who were successful are Seth Greisinger and Aaron Guiel. Teams don't spend over 5,000-man on a foreign player just to waste ABs and innings.

Jbrooks,

It seems like this is an emotional issue for you as you don't address facts. You argue that the salary cap penalizes teams that win, yet you also say that teams that spend outlandish amounts in the hope of winning, the YGs, don't win. Pick a position and try to stick to it.

I don't know how to make this any easier for you to understand. The salary controls that have been in place by the NBA and NFL do not insure that teams don't repeat, it insures, however, that teams that don't have the resources of a New York or Los Angeles team has at least can complete. And the data, if you care to look it up, demonstrates that. Do your own homework.

The YGs this year clearly are tying to buy their way into a championship. Now, after five years of failure to make it to the Series they are following the Yankee and RedSox play book. Is that good for NPB? The NBA and the NFL have clearly decided the answer is no, and their success speaks for itself.

All this talk of Hanshin being big spenders in recent years always brings out a wry smile. It wasn't that long ago that they were very miserly. IIRC, didn't the newly-appointed Hoshino-kantoku have to bully the front office into giving him money so he could build a team?

The thing is, the big signings are as a result of no other team wanting the player or the player wanting to stay in Tokyo. It's not a case of the Giants flashing lots of money, but rather other teams failing to offer decent deals. Salary caps sound very nice, but once they are directed against one teaｍ only, they represent discrimination, which I am sure you don't wish to advocate.

- You argue that the salary cap penalizes teams that win, yet you also say that teams that spend outlandish amounts in the hope of winning, the YGs, don't win.

You argue that the Marines, Fighters, and Dragons have won the pennant as a result of Yomiuri's death grip being relaxed. What death grip on winning every year was even there in the over these last five years?

All I mentioned is there were other reasons, not the Yomiuri Giants' death grip being relaxed as to why Yomiuri hasn't competed.

- The YGs this year clearly are tying to buy their way into a championship.

So? We've seen how well this method has worked for the New York Yankees. How many World Series have they won since 2001? None if I remember right.

Also, just a question, would you have so much qualms about say Hanshin signing Greisinger, Kroon, and Ramirez? Surely if you didn't, you could argue under your logic, that Hanshin would be trying to buy a pennant.

What are you going to say next, that players shouldn't have free choice to play where they want when they're a free agent? Also, how in the world are you to know that all three of these players didn't want to play for Yomiuri? Me, I, and everyone else here won't understand solely what their intentions for wanting to play for Yomiuri was. Maybe it was the money, the location, or no other team showed any interest in them. All the same, it doesn't matter why they wanted to sign with Yomiuri.

Look, zman, I'm not here to argue that Yomiuri hasn't exploited the rules. Not once in this thread have I suggested that. All I'm saying is that salary caps and luxury taxes are anti-competitive in the baseball sense and anti-free choice. Since neither of us are going to change our opinions on this matter, this will be my last post on this.

JBrooks,

- You argue that the Marines, Fighters, and Dragons have won the pennant as a result of Yomiuri's death grip being relaxed. What death grip on winning every year was even there in the over these last five years?

Missed the point again, the Dragons spent as much as the YGs last year. My point is that this year the Giants are getting desperate and trying to buy out the championship and will have a significant advantage in talent through spending more on free agents.

- [...] We've seen how well this method has worked for the New York Yankees. How many World Series have they won since 2001? None if I remember right.

The Yankees have been in the playoffs 12 straight times. You think the high payroll has something to do with that?

- [...] qualms about say Hanshin signing Greisinger, Kroon, and Ramirez?

Yes, I would agree with that if Hanshin was also outspending other teams by 100%.

- [...] how in the world are you to know that all three of these players didn't want to play for Yomiuri? [...] Maybe it was the money, the location, or no other team showed any interest in them. All the same, it doesn't matter why they wanted to sign with Yomiuri.

Of course it's for the money. Don't be naive.

- [...] I'm not here to argue that Yomiuri hasn't exploited the rules. [...] All I'm saying is that salary caps and luxury taxes are anti-competitive in the baseball sense and anti-free choice.

There is no free market in baseball. Hello. How many years do players have to serve before they become free agents? NPB itself is a monopoly. Try to start your own professional team, good luck! So your free market concept is a non-starter. The question is, how do you manage the league for the best results for all, not just the Giants, as clearly been the policy in the past? Now the Giants are trying to use money to accomplish winning the JS, before they just cheated. Will the NPB tolerate that? Of course. It is right? Of course not.

Why should the Giants' signing free agents be a bad thing? Yes it will give them an advantage, but they are picking up players others didn't want. The Swallows weren't prepared to pay Ramirez what he was worth (their problem). Likewise with BayStars and Kroon. Why shouldn't these guys go to a team which will pay them?

With regard to foreign free agents, it is a free market. If teams want to be stingy, that's fine - it means they lose their talented foreigners.

You obviously don't remember when the Giants had Petagine and Rhodes in their lineup (coupled with Etoh and Kiyohara). That was an expensive team which didn't win. So there are no guarantees here.

Greisinger wanted to stay in Tokyo so he didn't take the Tigers' more lucrative offer (at least that is my information).

The Giants have a poor record with free agents, but maybe that is their problem. We are dealing with responsible adults here, able to make their own decisions and judgments based on what is important to them.

- Those that pretend that money does not matter only need to look at the MLB winners in the last few years. The WS winner 8 out of the last 10 years have been big money teams.

I know I promised that I wouldn't post anymore to the topic, but after zman went on his most recent long attack post, that was off.

Anyway, let's move on to this point zman posted. Yes, zman, many of these teams here are large market teams, but these teams were also built through smart trades, the draft, and other teams just being too cheap and losing them via free agency. The only thing money does here is keep these teams together. The big majority or important pieces of these teams were built through smart moves by the front office or through other teams being cheap.

Using this to support your claim of salary caps and luxury taxes does nothing to help support your claims, as the facts prove these teams were built by smart decisions. Furthermore, the only reason these teams' salary were high in the first place is because the teams have paid the majority of those players below their appropriate market worth to keep these teams together.

Let's take a look at the World Series winners the last 10 years, and take a look at some of the players on them and how they built those teams. (I apologize this will be a long post.):

2007 Boston Red Sox
Jason Varitek (via trade w/Mariners 97)
Kevin Youkilis (via draft 2001)
Dustin Pedoria (via draft 2004)
Mike Lowell (via trade with Marlins 05)
David Ortiz (released by Twins 02)
Daisuke Matsuzaka (posting system 06)
Josh Beckett (via trade with Marlins 05)
Curt Schilling (via trade with Diamondbacks 03)
Tim Wakefield (released by Pirates 95, signed by Boston 95)
Jonathan Papelbon (via draft 03)

2006 St.Louis Cardinals
Yadier Molina (via draft 00)
Albert Pujols (via draft 99)
Scott Rolen (via trade with Phillies 02)
Jim Edmonds (via trade with Angels 00)
Chris Carpenter (via free agency, 02, after the Blue Jays gave up on him after on him due to injuries)

2005 Chicago White Sox
A.J. Pierzynski (released by SF Giants 04, signed by White Sox in 05)
Paul Konerko (via trade with Reds 98)
Tadahito Iguchi (via free agency after departing from the Daiei Hawks, once again only worth $2.3 million in 05)
Joe Crede (via draft 96)
Juan Uribe(via trade with Rockies 03)
Scott Podsednik (via trade with Brewers 04)
Aaron Rowand (via draft 98)
Jermaine Dye (via free agency, 04, but at the time most thought the White Sox were making a mistake, and Dye therefore turned into a bargain)
Mark Buehrle (via draft 98)
Freddy Garcia (via trade with Mariners 04)
Jose Contreras (via trade with Yankees 04)
Jon Garland (via trade with Cubs 98)

2004 Boston Red Sox
Jason Varitek (see above)
Kevin Millar (via waivers from Marlins 03)
Mark Bellhorn (via trade with Rockies 03)
Johnny Damon (via free agency from A's 01, but made a raise to $8 million in 02 from $7.25 million in 01)
David Ortiz (see above)
Orlando Cabrera (via trade midseason with Expos)
Derek Lowe (via trade with Mariners 97)
Pedro Martinez (via trade with Expos 97)
Curt Schilling (see above)
Tim Wakefield (see above)
Bronson Arroyo (claimed on waivers via Pirates 03)

2003 Florida Marlins
The Marlins were built mostly from the 97-98 Marlins fire sale, as most of those players acquired in trades blossomed.

2002 Anaheim Angels
Bengie Molina(amateur free agent 93)
Adam Kennedy (via trade with Cardinals 00)
Troy Glaus (via draft 97)
David Eckstein (claimed off waivers via Boston 00)
Garret Anderson (via draft 90)
Darin Erstad (via draft 95)
Tim Salmon (via draft 89)
Brad Fullmer (via trade with Expos 02)
Kevin Appier (via trade with Mets 01)
Ramon Ortiz (amateur free agent 95)
Jarrod Washburn (via draft 95)
John Lackey (via draft 99)
Troy Percival (via draft 90)
Francisco Rodriguez (amateur free agent 98)

2001 Arizona Diamondbacks
Damian Miller (drafted in expansion draft 97)
Jay Bell (via free agency from Royals 97, made $5 million in 97, which is what he made in 98, the contract went up in the upcoming years)
Matt Williams (via trade from Indians 97)
Tony Womack (via trade from Pirates 99)
Luis Gonzalez (via trade from Tigers 98)
Steve Finley (via free agency from Padres 98, but was offered a big raise of $5.375 million in 99 up from $3.4 million in 98)
Reggie Sanders (via free agency from Braves 00, actually signed for a drop in money due to a injury plagued 2000 season)
Curt Schilling (via trade with Phillies 00)
Randy Johnson (via free agency from Astros 98, same thing offered a raise, $9.7 million in 99 from $6 million in 98)

2000 New York Yankees
Jorge Posada (via draft 90)
Tino Martinez (via trade with Mariners 95)
Chuck Knoblauch (via trade with Twins 98)
Derek Jeter (via draft 92)
Bernie Williams (amateur free agent 85)
Paul O'Neill (via trade with Reds 92)
Roger Clemens (via trade with Blue Jays 99)
Andy Pettitte (amateur free agent 91)
David Cone (via trade with Blue Jays 95)
Orlando Hernandez (amateur free agent 98)
Mariano Rivera (amateur free agent 90)

1999 New York Yankees
The 1999 Yankees are essentially the same team they were in 2000, meaning from what I posted, we already know how they got there.

1998 New York Yankees
Once again, pretty much the same team as in 1999 and 2000, just subtract Clemens for Wells.

1997 Florida Marlins
Charles Johnson (via draft 92)
Jeff Conine (via expansion draft 92)
Luis Castillo (amateur free agent 92)
Bobby Bonilla (via free agency from Orioles 96, though was paid $5.7 million in 97, up from $5.1 million in 96)
Moises Alou (via free agency from Expos 96, though like many of these, was given a raise, easy to see why he moved to Marlins)
Devon White (via free agency from Blue Jays 95, actually signed for less than he made in 95 during the 96 and 97 seasons)
Gary Sheffield (via trade from Padres 93)
Kevin Brown (via free agency from Orioles 95, actually made less in 96 than in 95, contract went up as time went on)
Alex Fernandez (via free agency from White Sox 96, as with Alou easy to see why he jumped)
Al Leiter (via free agency from Blue Jays 95, see Alou and Fernandez)
Robb Nen (via trade from Rangers 93)

- Hello. How many years do players have to serve before they become free agents? NPB itself is a monopoly

This is irrelevant to the point as, first off, I'm talking about foreign free agents, who are free for anyone to sign and not bound by the NPB reserve clause. If these three players (Ramirez, Kroon, and Greisinger) want to sign with Yomiuri, then so be it.

Second, reserve clauses have been proven to be illegal by the Seitz decision in MLB and by the Bosman ruling regarding soccer in Europe. Sooner or later the current free agent system which makes players wait 9 years will be challenged in Japan, too. Which will end up making the two sides (the owners and JBPBA) go to the bargaining table on free agency. It might not happen anytime soon, but it will eventually happen.

Non immaginavo che altri italiani fossero interessati al baseball giapponese, oltre me!

I didn't imagine that others Italians were interested to the Japanese baseball, beyond me!