D-Rays bid on Japanese 3rd baseman

[hockeytown]

The Devil Rays won the bidding rights to 3rd baseman A. Iwamura from Japan. I honestly have not a clue who this other then from the read by cnnsi.com. Sounds like he has a little pop in the bat and was a All-Star in Japan.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/baseball/mlb/11/15/devilrays.iwamura/index.html

 

[dherm360]

why do teams have to bid, maybe they should draft these players and hold the rights to them

 

[GarkoCollector]

They have to bid because for the Japanese players to talk business with American teams, that American team has to buy out the contract first.

 

[hockeytown]

why do teams have to bid, maybe they should draft these players and hold the rights to them

I agree 100 percent it would keep the higher end pay roll teams from tapping the top notch foreign players since they have money. I understand the whole idea of buying out their contracts but I think they should be put into the draft. Only my thoughts though.