Limits on U.S. Players? Foreign Players?
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Re: Limits on U.S. Players? Foreign Players?
[ Author: westbaystars | Posted: Jan 13, 2007 11:37 PM
| YBS Fan
]
The Players Association is the group responsible for continuing with the foreign player limits. That part is true. (As much as a lot of us like to blame the Old Boy network of owners for the slow pace of change, they're not the ones pushing this, and have slowly increased the number of foreign players through the years, often without first consulting the Players Association.)
However, there is no restriction per country. That's just plain wrong. Furthermore, there is no limit on the number of foreign players a team may have, just a limit on the number who can play for the top team at any given time.
Starting in 2007, though, there is a proposal for an exception to be made for one Asian player per team. (This proposal is expected to be accepted at the upcoming Owners Meeting at the end of this month.) That is to say, one player from Korea, Taiwan, or Mainland China can be considered exempt from the foreign player limit, effectively increasing the limit to five players. Both KBO and CPBL officials have raised objections to this, fearing that Japan is going to take more of their top players. (These objections are why the exemption was not done last season. I haven't heard that they've been resolved, but NPB appears to be going ahead anyway.)
The barriers to foreign players are slowly coming down. I remember when it was one fielder and one pitcher per team (no spares at ni-gun). With some Taiwanese who have gone to school in Japan and were drafted along with a couple of ni-sei Japanese from Brazil, it's possible that a team of all foreign born players could happen in the near future.
However, there is no restriction per country. That's just plain wrong. Furthermore, there is no limit on the number of foreign players a team may have, just a limit on the number who can play for the top team at any given time.
Starting in 2007, though, there is a proposal for an exception to be made for one Asian player per team. (This proposal is expected to be accepted at the upcoming Owners Meeting at the end of this month.) That is to say, one player from Korea, Taiwan, or Mainland China can be considered exempt from the foreign player limit, effectively increasing the limit to five players. Both KBO and CPBL officials have raised objections to this, fearing that Japan is going to take more of their top players. (These objections are why the exemption was not done last season. I haven't heard that they've been resolved, but NPB appears to be going ahead anyway.)
The barriers to foreign players are slowly coming down. I remember when it was one fielder and one pitcher per team (no spares at ni-gun). With some Taiwanese who have gone to school in Japan and were drafted along with a couple of ni-sei Japanese from Brazil, it's possible that a team of all foreign born players could happen in the near future.
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The reason the host made that statement was because of the players agreement he said they have in NPB. I know there is a limit of foreign players a NPB team can have, but I didn't think that U.S.A. players are restricted the most.