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NPB decides to abolish 'kibo-waku' this year
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TOKYO, March 28 (19:24) Kyodo
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Nippon Professional Baseball decided Wednesday to abolish this
year the so-called ''kibo-waku'' system, which allows notable amateur
players to designate professional teams they wish to join and
vice-versa.
Acting Japanese baseball commissioner Yasuchika Negoro made the
announcement to the effect, revising NPB's earlier decision to scrap
the system next year, in response to protests from amateur baseball
organizations which wanted an immediate abolishment.
The move to abolish the system comes in the wake of a scouting
scandal in which two amateur players were paid a total of 13 million
yen under the table by the Seibu Lions from their high school days.
Negoro said all 12 ballclubs accepted NPB's proposal to do away
with the ''kibo-waku'' system from this fall's draft and hold a
lottery in the event multiple teams seek to obtain the right to
negotiate a contract with a player from the collegiate or corporate
league in the first round of this year's draft.
The draft for high school baseball players, which does not
involve ''kibo-waku,'' will remain the same using the lottery system,
Negoro said in a hastily arranged press conference in Tokyo.
''We very much welcome the decision to abolish the kibo-waku
system this year,'' Lotte Marines president Ryuzo Setoyama said.
''We will make efforts to set up the draft system for next year
on as soon as possible under the guidance of the acting commissioner
and in coordination among the 12 teams and the amateur baseball
community,'' Setoyama said.
The pro baseball organization agreed last week to abolish the
''kibo-waku'' system next year, but was met by protests from the
Japan Amateur Baseball Association, the All Japan University Baseball
Federation and the Japan High School Baseball Federation.
The Yomiuri Giants had earlier opposed the immediate abolishment
of the system, saying the issue should not be concluded without
discussing a possible shortening of the duration it takes for players
to become free agents.
But the Central League ballclub apparently bowed to the demands
of the amateur baseball bodies and public opinion and retracted its
assertion.
Under the ''kibo-waku'' system, players designate teams they
want to join and the professional clubs are each allowed to select
one player from among them at the expense of the right to join the
first round of the main draft. |
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