With qualifying offers and options now behind us, MLB free agency is officially underway — and once again, it's shaping up to be an international affair. Sure, there are the established big-league stars like Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman, but as has been the case for the last few years now, some of the most intriguing members of this free-agent class are coming from overseas.
Which begs the question: How does that process actually work? When someone like Shohei Ohtani or Yoshinobu Yamamoto wants to make the jump to the States, what are the rules governing that process? And what does it mean for MLB teams hoping to sign them? Maybe you've heard the phrase "posting system" thrown around in recent years and wondered just what the heck everyone was talking about. Fear not; we've got you covered.
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MLB's posting system, explained: How foreign talent comes to the States
NPB (Japan)
The Japanese boom began in earnest in the late 1990s, when NPB stars like Hideo Nomo and Alfonso Soriano began jumping to the States — leaving their previous teams in the lurch without any compensation. So, in 1998, the two sides hammered out something called the posting system.
The posting system only applies to players currently under contract with a foreign team. The idea is pretty straight-forward. When an NPB player decides he wants to come to the Majors, he requests to be posted — i.e., to be made available to big-league teams as a free agent. His Japanese team has the right to either grant or deny that request. If the request is denied, the player remains in NPB until next offseason; if the request is granted, MLB's commissioner is notified, and the player gets set to enter free agency.
Once a player's posting is announced, a 45-day window is initiated in which that player can negotiate and sign a contract with any Major League team. If that window comes and goes without a deal being reached, the player reverts back to his NPB team for one more year. And if the player does reach an agreement with an MLB club, his Japanese team is compensated in the form of a posting fee — an additional sum of money on top of the new contract, much like a transfer fee in soccer.
How much that posting fee is worth depends on how much the contract is worth. If it's $25 million or less in total value, the posting fee is 20 percent of the deal. If between $25 million and $50 million, it's 20 percent of the first $25 million plus 17.5 percent of the value exceeding $25 million. And for all deals worth more than $50 million, it's 20 percent of the first $25 million, plus 17.5 percent of next $25 million, plus 15 percent of everything exceeding $50 million.
Sorry, we should've warned you that there'd be math involved. But let's walk through an example to help make things clear. When Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed his $325 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers two years ago, L.A. also had to pay his NPB team, the Orix Buffaloes, a posting fee of $50.65 million — $5 million for the first $25 million, $4.4 million for the next $25 million and $41.25 million for the remaining $275 million. So that's a total outlay of more than $375 million, when combined with the actual contract.
There is just one more caveat to note: Unless the player in question is at least 25 years old and has been playing professionally for at least six seasons, they're still considered an amateur free agent under MLB rules and are thus only eligible to be paid via international bonus pool money. Hence why Roki Sasaki, who just turned 24 on Nov. 3, went to the Dodgers for pennies on the dollar.
KBO (Korea)
We've also seen plenty of players (Hyun-Jin Ryu, Hyeseong Kim and many others) come to MLB from the KBO and have an immediate impact. The posting process in Korea is much the same as the one in Japan: Players request to be posted, teams can either grant or deny that request and the KBO team is compensated via a posting fee should the player reach an agreement in the Majors. (The posting fee math is identical to the one laid out above.)
The only difference is that KBO players have a 30-day negotiating window once they are posted, rather than the 45 days afforded to NPB players.
Serie Nacional (Cuba)
For the most part, top baseball talents in Latin America sign with MLB organizations as teenagers and work their way up through American farm systems. The one notable exception is Cuba, whose domestic league, the Serie Nacional, is one of the most competitive in the world, boasting some of the game's greatest players as alumni.
There is currently no posting process in place between MLB and the Serie Nacional. Once a player hits 25 years old and accrues at least six years of service time in Cuba, they're free to sign with a big-league team in free agency. But they must either be freed from their contract by their Cuban team or not under contract in the first place, and the Cuban team is not entitled to a posting fee.
CPBL (Taiwan)
Taiwan's CPBL has a similar system in place, with the league and MLB hammering out the details back in March of 2019. After three years of service time, a CPBL player can request to be posted, and are free to negotiate with Major League teams if that request is granted. The posting fee math works the same way as in Japan and Korea.
Liga Mexicana de Beisbol (Mexico)
Not too long ago, MLB banned all transactions involving LMB players and teams due to concerns over corruption in the Mexican League. After a series of reforms, though, the relationship has begun anew, this time with a posting system that governs all transactions involving LMB players looking to play in the Majors. The system is largely the same, save for some different posting fee math: 35 percent of the deal for players who sign a Minor League contract and 15 percent of the deal for any Major League contract.
Where the best international free agents in this year's class could land
So, what does all of that mean for this offseason? While there might not be a star as bright as Yamamoto or Sasaki in this year's class, there are three potential Japanese free agents that could command serious bidding wars among MLB teams.
1B/3B/DH Munetaka Murakami
Sometimes referred to as the Japanese Babe Ruth, Murakami is one of NPB's most prodigious power hitters, with 246 dingers across eight seasons with the Yakult Swallows and a whopping 56 in 2022 alone. He also put that ability on display in Japan's WBC win back in 2023.
Now, the 25-year-old home run king is headed to the States, having officially been posted by Yakult on Friday. It'll be fascinating to see how his market materializes; while the power is obvious and tantalizing, he brings little to no value as a defender or base-runner — the odds are slim of him sticking at third base in the Majors — and his high K rate in Japan might get even higher against big-league pitching.
RHP Tatsuya Imai
A two-time All-Star who struck out 17 batters in a start back in April, Imai has premium velocity (topping out in the high 90s) that he pairs with a power slider in addition to the usual pitch mix you see from NPB arms (i.e.: yes, he throws a splitter). He's become a far more polished pitcher in recent years, and he won't turn 28 until next May. Kodai Senga wouldn't be an unfair comp here, though he's been more durable than Senga in Japan and is two years younger than Senga was when he came over to the Mets. It's not a sure thing that the Seibu Lions will agree to post him, but if they do, his market could skyrocket quickly given the demand for pitching.
1B/3B/OF Kazuma Okamoto
Maybe one of the sleepers of this entire free agency class regardless of national origin, Okamoto ranks fourth in OBP and first in SLG among qualified NPB hitters over the last three years, and that's a combination worth paying attention to no matter the level of competition. Plus, unlike Murakami, he's a fine defender at third and can even spot you in an outfield corner if need be. It's an awfully well-balanced profile, and while he's the oldest of the bunch (he'll be 30 next June) some team might be getting a heck of a player.