December 01, 2008
Not Quite Official
Tony Massarotti reports the Red Sox and Junichi Tazawa agreed to a three-year, $3 million contract.
Though Tazawa was courted by several teams and offered more money by at least one - the Texas Rangers - the pitcher reportedly was interested in pitching for the Sox. Team officials have been scouting Tazawa for more than a year after having made major inroads in the Japan talent pool with the signings of Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima during the 2006-07 offseason.
Despite his having no professional experience in Japan, Tazawa's deal is a major league contract, meaning he will occupy a spot on Boston's 40-man roster. Nonetheless, Tazawa is expected to begin his career in the minor leagues, though his ascension to the majors could come rapidly.
That bell you hear ringing is the death-knell of the Japanese Major Leagues. I wonder if the Japanese will change the way they run things, scraping their draft and going after amateur free agents all over the world. I'd like to see them sign a highly ranked US player before he's drafted just to force the issue.
It's a matter of geography. Jackie Robinson was the death kneel for Negro League baseball and affiliation was the death kneel for independent leagues but Japanese baseball won't compete with MLB in major cities like the NL and won't become a farm club for MLB.
The ramifications of this will probably be that Japanese baseball moves to a more player friendly contract system but the audience should still be there even if the talent pool isn't the same. The League will be forced to make concessions to players and share more revenue with them.
I'd like to see them sign a highly ranked US player before he's drafted just to force the issue.
I don't think the economics would work that way. Even with the restraint of employment inherent in a draft, where the draftee can only negotiate with one club, the top players will certainly be worth more "at slot" to the KC Royals or Washington Nationals than they will be to the Tokyo Giants or Nippon Ham Fighters.
The players who can make more money in Japan are the marginal backups and 4A players who can be major league regulars in Japan. Any further up the player quality chain, and there's better payoff (and more convenience) to staying in America.
Not to mention many americans just don't want to play in Japan - why would you go to play against a lower level of competition if you wanted to make it in MLB?
