The New Age Of Japanese Baseball-Player Media Coverage

Well, according to Scott Boras, "Daisuke is someone who dominated in Japan and in the WBC, and I think it reflected the fact that a major league team knew that someone of his abilities could have a great impact on their goals.” Daisuke wasn’t a member of the Red Sox quite yet. The $51 million dollars was not for the contract, but rather, the posting fee.

The posting system is the baseball player transfer system currently in effect between Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball and Major League Baseball. When a player under contract with a Nippon Professional Baseball team wishes to play in Major League Baseball, he must notify his current team's management and request that they make him available for posting during the next posting period (November-March).

If the team consents, the player is presented to the MLB Commissioner. The Commissioner then notifies all MLB teams of the posted player, and holds a four-day-long silent auction during which interested MLB teams submit sealed bids to the Commissioner’s Office.

After the four days have passed, the Commissioner opens the bids and notifies the player's NPB team the highest bid amount, but not who the bidding team is. The NPB team then has 30 days to either accept or reject the nonnegotiable bid amount. If accepted, the bid amount is publicly revealed and the winning Major League team is granted the exclusive rights to negotiate with the player for 30 days.

If the player and the MLB team agree on contract terms before the 30 day period has expired, the NPB team receives the bid amount as a transfer fee, and the player is free to play for that team in the MLB in the coming season. If the MLB team cannot come to a contract agreement with the posted player, then no fee is paid, and the player's rights revert back to his NPB team. A player can request to be posted again in subsequent years, and the process is repeated with no advantage to the club that had won the previous year.

The posting system had to be created in order to protect the Japanese league from the financial losses incurred when superstars such as Hideo Nomo and Alfonso Soriano “retired” from The NPL in order to have their contracts voided in order to leave for the MLB.

After the Red Sox finally hammered out the details of Daisuke’s six-year, $52 million contract, it was time for him to meet America and its press. There were four TV satellite trucks and nearly 40 Japanese reporters camped outside Boras' office the last few days of the negotiations, waiting for the news to come in.

Over 300 reporters from the United States and Japan were present for the historical press conference, with Dice-K flashing a trademark-caliber grin. His words were confident, although very misinterpreted by a shaky translator. ''I hate the word dream, because a dream is a dream,'' Matsuzaka said. ''It's not what happens. So to come here, I make it a goal. I believe I can be in the major leagues.''

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