i thought he decided on the red sox? 3MM, 1M per year, major league contract?

I don't follow Japanese ball that at all and was wondering how come there was no posting process involved. The article has this:

Tazawa has been the focus of attention in the baseball business across the Pacific Ocean since the 22-year-old right-hander made clear his intention in September to pursue a major league career by refusing to be named at the Japanese amateur draft.

I'm sure that there are other Primates that didn't know this and might like to know.

There's no posting process because he isn't even in the NPB yet (and won't ever be, more than likely). He plays for an industrial league team. I think a lot of Primates know about it as there have been a number of articles about him since late September/early October.

He wasn't drafted out of high school by any NPB team, so he went to an independent minor league and showed amazing progress. It seems fair that now he gets to be a free agent instead of being drafted again by one of the teams that missed their chance to notice him earlier.

It sounds like the Nippon Oil manager is doing a lot of the negotiating - what kind of compensation will they get from the team that ends up with Tazawa? I guess it isn't the same as "posting", but presumably Nippon Oil is negotiating for something in exchange for Tazawa's rights.

I think a lot of Primates know about it as there have been a number of articles about him since late September/early October.

Fair enough. I never heard of him until yesterday.

Per NPBtracker.com via Jamey Newberg:

The website reports that Tazawa has received the following offers (all major league contracts -- which just means 40-man roster inclusion rather than a guaranteed April assignment to the big league club):

* Boston: 3 years, $3 million
* Seattle: 3 years, $3 million
* Atlanta: 4 years, $4-5 million
* Texas: 4 years, $7 million

Despite this, Boston is widely considered the leader in the clubhouse...

Well if the kid is any good, this might be chalked up as one of the most tangible benefits of the $51 million posting fee the Sox paid for Daisuke Matsuzaka. At the time of his signing, there was much speculation of the true value of the gigantic posting fee, but one theory was there would be more young Japanese men walking around with Sox hats on. Perhaps its true.