If the Red Sox hadn't signed him, he was going to reenter next season under the same silly posting system, with the winning bidder having the only rights to try and sign him. If that had failed, he was to become a free agent just like any other free agent in MLB coming back in 2008. Too bad for him he couldn't wait until then, cuz he woulda doubled or possibly even tripled his salary.
the system works well to protect the japanese league from getting ruined by player exodus, at the expense of players and american teams. not that that is so bad, because it is probably good for the sport as a whole that the japanese league stays healthy.
