Players who were signed free contracts by professional baseball teams were announced on the 1st, and Rakuten's pitcher Tomohiro Ara, who was announced to have been harassed, and Sho Nakata of the Giants, who terminated his contract in the middle of a three-year contract with the aim of transferring to another team, became free agents.
On the 1st, 12 players were announced on the pending rosters that 148 professional baseball clubs are expected to sign contracts for next season, as well as players who have deviated from the roster and have become free agents.
Among the players who became free agents, 27-year-old pitcher Anraku was released by Rakuten for harassing multiple Rakuten players, such as taking off his teammates' underwear in the locker room.
In addition, the 3-year-old Nakata, a 16-year-old professional who has won the RBI title three times, signed a three-year contract last offseason, but left the Giants as a free agent after exercising his "opt-out" right, which allows him to review or terminate his contract every year, in order to move to another team.
Among foreign players, pitcher Bauer, who won the National League's Cy Young Award three years ago in the big leagues and won 34 games after joining DeNA this season, has been signed as a free agent with the intention of moving to the big leagues, but the club says it will continue negotiations.
Lotte's Polanco, who won the Pacific League home run title this season, is also a free agent, but the club is still negotiating to stay.
Harassment of Anraku pitchers Players' Association "Investigation by 12 clubs"
Tadahito Mori, Secretary General of the Japan Professional Baseball Players Association, spoke to the media after completing administrative negotiations with NPB = Japan Baseball Organization and said that the harassment of pitcher Tomohiro Agara "came out today, but it is not only a problem for Rakuten, but also 12 clubs must investigate and deal with it."
He also expressed his thoughts on future measures, saying, "It may be difficult to talk to the clubs and players' associations involved, so we talked about whether it would be good to have a consultation desk for a third-party organization.
Rakuten Masahiro Tanaka "Regret that I was naïve"
Pitcher Masahiro Tanaka commented on the team's admission to harassing his teammates by Rakuten pitcher Tomohiro Anraku on his social media.
On the 1st, Tanaka posted a message on his old Twitter account, saying, "We apologize for any concern this may have caused. As an elder of the team, I should have paid more attention to the situation of the juniors and consulted them casually, and if there was a problem, I should have taken the initiative to pay attention to it, and I regret that I was naïve."
He added, "I have heard that each player and the club are talking about this issue thoroughly, but I am determined to do everything I can to ensure that we can fight the pennant race as a team once again and that the fans can support us with peace of mind." I commented.