Yomiuri Giants right-hander Koji Uehara re-signed with the Central League club on Thursday for an annual salary of 300 million yen.
The 28-year-old received a 90 million yen pay raise and made history by becoming the first Japanese player to employ an agent to conduct talks with the Tokyo-based club when he was accompanied to the negotiating table by lawyer Kimihito Kato.
Uehara hired Kato as his agent at the end of October as he dreaded the idea of holding talks with the Yomiuri brass alone. Even so, Yomiuri technically did not recognize Kato as Uehara's agent, saying the lawyer had failed to submit the proper paperwork.