Posting system
The posting system is a transfer mechanism between Major League Baseball (MLB) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) that enables Japanese clubs to make players available to MLB teams through a bidding process for a release fee, with the player then negotiating a contract independently if an agreement is reached.[1][2] Established in 1998 following earlier informal arrangements, the system sets posting fees based on the value of the MLB contract signed, typically ranging from flat amounts for lower-tier deals to percentages for higher ones, such as 20% for contracts over $50 million, though revised agreements in 2013 introduced caps to encourage more postings.[3][4] Over its history, the posting system has facilitated the move of approximately 22 NPB players to MLB, including standout performers like pitchers Daisuke Matsuzaka, whose 2006 posting by the Seibu Lions fetched a record $51.1 million fee from the Boston Red Sox, and Masahiro Tanaka, posted in 2013 for $20 million to the New York Yankees before signing a $155 million deal.[5][2] Notable successes have elevated the system's role in globalizing baseball talent, yet it has drawn criticism for NPB teams' reluctance to post young stars under 25 due to fee limitations—such as international signing bonus pools for those players—potentially suppressing player mobility and earnings until they qualify for standard free agency after nine years of service.[6][7] Controversies persist around the system's structure, including antitrust concerns over its restraint on player movement and instances where high fees deterred bids, as seen in Hisashi Iwakuma's 2011 posting that yielded no deal, forcing a return to Japan.[8] Recent cases, like Roki Sasaki's 2024 posting treated as an international amateur due to his age, highlight ongoing tensions between protecting NPB investments and enabling player aspirations, with MLB investigations addressing pre-posting negotiation rumors to uphold procedural integrity.[9][10]History
Origins in the 1990s
The Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) employed a reserve clause in player contracts that perpetually bound athletes to their teams within Japan, granting clubs exclusive rights to their services absent mutual agreement or free agency after extended tenure.[11] This system contrasted sharply with Major League Baseball (MLB), where players achieved free agency after six years of service following the 1976 abolition of MLB's analogous reserve clause.[12] Unilateral departures by NPB players exploiting contractual loopholes, such as retiring domestically to sign abroad, deprived Japanese clubs of talent and associated revenue streams without compensation, heightening tensions over player mobility.[13] Hideo Nomo's 1994 retirement from the Orix BlueWave—followed by his signing with a U.S. minor league affiliate and subsequent 1995 MLB debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers—exemplified this issue, as his reserve clause applied only within Japanese baseball, enabling the move without NPB payout.[8] Nomo's on-field success, including the 1995 National League Rookie of the Year award and two All-Star selections, amplified Japanese player interest in MLB opportunities while exposing vulnerabilities in NPB's control mechanisms.[14] Such defections eroded NPB competitive balance and financial stability, prompting league officials to initiate bilateral discussions with MLB from 1994 onward to regulate transfers and ensure remuneration for departing stars.[13] Amid escalating player aspirations and repeated transfer attempts through the mid-1990s, NPB and MLB negotiators formalized an initial framework by late 1998, establishing an informal posting agreement under the United States-Japan Player Contract Agreement.[14] This arrangement permitted NPB clubs to post eligible players for MLB pursuit, with release fees structured at 20-25% of the signing bonus secured by the player, aiming to balance talent outflow with economic safeguards for Japanese teams.[15] The protocol addressed prior ad-hoc exits by institutionalizing a compensation mechanism, though it remained rudimentary and subject to future refinement.[13]Initial Agreements and Early Postings (1998–2005)
The posting system was formalized in a 1998 agreement between Major League Baseball (MLB) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), enabling NPB clubs to post non-free agent players for transfer. Under the mechanism, a player requested posting from their NPB team, which, if approved, notified the NPB commissioner; this prompted the MLB commissioner to announce availability, opening a four-day window for sealed cash bids from MLB clubs seeking exclusive 30-day negotiation rights. The highest bid was presented to the NPB club for acceptance or rejection; payment of the bid to the NPB club occurred only if the MLB team and player reached a contract agreement, with the player returning to NPB otherwise.[13][14] The system's initial test came in February 1999 when the Hiroshima Toyo Carp posted utility player Alejandro Díaz, drawing a $400,001 winning bid from the Cincinnati Reds, though Díaz appeared in only six MLB games before release. A breakthrough arrived with outfielder Ichiro Suzuki's posting by the Orix BlueWave on November 9, 2000; the Seattle Mariners secured rights with a $13,125,000 bid and signed him to a three-year, $14 million contract. Suzuki's 2001 rookie season—featuring a .350 batting average, 242 hits, and American League MVP honors—validated the process by showcasing a seamless integration of elite NPB talent into MLB, while generating substantial revenue for his former club.[13][16][17] Further operational tests followed, including pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii's January 2002 posting by the Yakult Swallows, where the Los Angeles Dodgers bid $11,260,000 and signed him to a four-year, $15.5 million deal; Ishii recorded a 3.56 ERA across 58 starts from 2002 to 2004. Lesser-profile cases included reliever Ramón Ramírez's 2003 posting from the Hiroshima Toyo Carp for a $300,050 Yankees bid and Shinji Mori's 2005 posting from the Seibu Lions for a $1,000,000 Rays bid, both resulting in contracts. Third baseman Norihiro Nakamura's 2005 posting to the Dodgers, however, failed to yield a signing after medical evaluations. These transactions collectively demonstrated the system's functionality but highlighted variability in fees and outcomes.[13] NPB clubs grew dissatisfied with the arrangement, arguing it provided insufficient compensation relative to the long-term value of departing young stars, as MLB's financial advantages enabled aggressive bidding that depleted NPB rosters without equivalent developmental investment. This perspective, rooted in concerns over talent drain and economic imbalance, precipitated the agreement's lapse after the 2005 season, halting postings until further negotiations.[13][14]2006–2007 Suspension and Negotiations
The 1998 posting agreement between Major League Baseball (MLB) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) encountered significant disputes over compensation structure following the record $51.1 million blind-bid fee paid by the Boston Red Sox for negotiation rights with pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka in December 2006.[18] NPB representatives pushed for enhanced release fees, including proposals for up to 50% of a player's MLB contract value or larger flat payments to better reflect player development costs, while MLB officials argued that the unsealed bidding process encouraged wasteful escalation and violated antitrust principles by restricting player mobility.[19] These irreconcilable positions prevented renewal of the agreement by the end of the 2006 posting window, leading to a complete halt in formal postings starting with the 2007–08 offseason.[2] The final posting under the prior rules occurred in December 2006, when the New York Yankees won bidding rights to left-handed pitcher Kei Igawa from the Hanshin Tigers for $26 million, followed by a five-year, $20 million contract.[20] Igawa's rapid decline in MLB—posting a 6.25 ERA in limited starts during 2007 and spending subsequent seasons in the minors—exemplified the risks of high-stakes blind bidding, amplifying MLB's critiques of the system's inefficiency and NPB's overreliance on windfall fees rather than sustainable talent pipelines.[21] This case, combined with Matsuzaka's own adjustment struggles despite Boston's total outlay exceeding $100 million, underscored the financial volatility that deterred agreement renewal without structural overhaul.[18] In the absence of an active posting mechanism, NPB teams explored workarounds, such as releasing players as international free agents to bypass fees entirely; reliever Hideki Okajima, for instance, signed a two-year, $2.5 million deal with the Red Sox in late 2006 directly from the Yakult Swallows without any compensation to his Japanese club, succeeding immediately with a 2.22 ERA in 2007.[22] Such moves highlighted circumvention vulnerabilities, as MLB clubs continued scouting and acquiring talent freely while NPB forfeited an estimated $50–100 million in aggregate potential fees over the impasse period, straining Japanese clubs' incentives for player investment and escalating bilateral tensions toward eventual reform.[23] The deadlock persisted through 2011, with MLB leveraging its market leverage to resist NPB's demands for elevated compensation amid ongoing free-agent signings like Okajima's.[24]Revival and Revisions (2012–2013)
Following the suspension of the posting system after the 2007 offseason, MLB and NPB reinstated it temporarily under the prior uncapped blind-bid terms for the 2011–12 period, enabling the first such transfer in five years when the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters posted pitcher Yu Darvish on December 8, 2011.[25] The Texas Rangers won exclusive negotiating rights with a record $51.7 million bid announced on December 20, 2011, before signing Darvish to a six-year, $60 million contract.[26] [27] This one-year revival highlighted ongoing tensions over escalating fees from competitive bidding, prompting MLB—concerned about costs deterring mid-market teams—to seek structural changes amid anticipation of high-profile cases like Rakuten Golden Eagles pitcher Masahiro Tanaka.[28] [11] On December 16, 2013, the leagues finalized a three-year agreement, set to auto-renew annually thereafter unless terminated with notice, fundamentally revising the mechanics to cap posting fees at $20 million and eliminate unlimited blind auctions.[29] [24] Under the new protocol, NPB clubs notify MLB between November 1 and February 1 of a player's availability; MLB teams then submit sealed bids up to the cap, with the highest securing exclusive talks for 30 days, though ties at $20 million allow the player to negotiate with all maximum bidders.[30] This shift directly mitigated bidding war inflation, as MLB executives had projected fees exceeding $100 million for elite talents like Tanaka under the old framework.[11] Tanaka's posting on December 26, 2013, tested the revisions, with the Yankees' $20 million bid granting exclusive rights and ultimately yielding a seven-year, $155 million contract; Rakuten received the full capped fee, underscoring the system's intent to distribute value more predictably between player, NPB club, and MLB suitors.[31] [32] The pact also reinforced eligibility norms requiring substantial NPB tenure—typically at least six professional seasons—to qualify as a postable "foreign professional," with NPB commissioner veto power over premature postings, thereby prioritizing domestic talent cultivation over early exports that could undermine league development.[33] [11]Post-2013 Evolutions and Recent Cases (2014–2025)
The posting agreement between Major League Baseball (MLB) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), initially revised in 2013 to cap release fees at $20 million and eliminate blind bidding, saw further adaptations in 2017 to address ongoing concerns over cost structures and player mobility.[34] On December 1, 2017, MLB clubs ratified a new protocol, temporarily extending the 2013 terms while transitioning to a percentage-based release fee model effective for the 2018-2019 offseason.[35] This shift allowed all MLB teams to negotiate directly with posted players, with fees tiered by contract value—for instance, 20 percent of the first $25 million plus 17.5 percent of amounts between $25 million and $50 million for major-league deals exceeding $50 million in guaranteed value—replacing the prior fixed-cap system that had led to disputes, as exemplified by the $51.7 million fee paid for Yu Darvish in 2011.[36][37] Shohei Ohtani's high-profile transition in December 2017, under transitional rules ahead of the full implementation, underscored the system's flexibility amid negotiations. The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters received the maximum $20 million release fee despite Ohtani signing a minor-league contract limited by MLB's international amateur bonus pools, a structure distinct from standard postings but related in facilitating cross-league movement for dual-threat talents.[38][39] These adjustments aimed to balance NPB compensation with reduced financial barriers for MLB clubs, though they preserved age-based restrictions that continue to differentiate treatment of players under 25 from veterans. Recent applications highlight persistent challenges, particularly for younger athletes. Roki Sasaki, a 23-year-old right-handed pitcher renowned for his velocity and precision, was posted by the Chiba Lotte Marines on December 10, 2024, during MLB's Winter Meetings.[40] As an under-25 player, Sasaki's eligibility falls under international signing rules, confining him to a minor-league deal with bonus pools capped between $5.1 million and $7.6 million per team for the 2025 period, which critics argue undervalues established NPB performers by limiting immediate major-league earnings and leverage.[41][42] In October 2025, the system enabled another veteran transfer when the Yomiuri Giants approved posting for 29-year-old first baseman/outfielder Kazuma Okamoto on October 22, positioning him for standard negotiations without age-related bonus caps.[43] Okamoto, who posted a .322/.411/.581 slash line with 15 home runs in limited 2025 action before injury, exemplifies how the post-2013 framework supports established players' MLB aspirations while generating release fees—anticipated under the percentage model based on any secured contract—to bolster NPB club revenues.[44] Such cases demonstrate the agreement's endurance, with fees from postings cumulatively providing NPB teams financial stability equivalent to tens of millions per high-profile deal, offsetting talent losses without the inflationary bidding wars of earlier eras.[30]Mechanics
Player Eligibility Criteria
The posting system governs the eligibility of professional players under contract with Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) clubs who seek to negotiate with Major League Baseball (MLB) teams prior to qualifying for unrestricted international free agency. Specifically, it applies to those with fewer than nine years of accrued service time in NPB, requiring their NPB club to approve and facilitate the posting process.[1][45] Players who have accumulated nine or more years of service time in NPB become eligible for international free agency, allowing them to sign with MLB clubs without posting fees or club consent, as they are treated as unrestricted free agents under the operating agreement between MLB and NPB.[46][47] This threshold reflects NPB's structure for domestic and international mobility, where service time is calculated based on games played and roster status, distinct from MLB's arbitration eligibility.[45] Eligibility excludes amateur players, who enter MLB through the international signing bonus pool system rather than posting, as they lack NPB contracts.[1] Professional players under age 25, while technically eligible if under nine years of service, are frequently denied posting by their NPB clubs to preserve team investments in development, though no formal age-based prohibition exists in the agreement.[48] In all cases, the NPB club retains discretion to reject a player's posting request, with no contractual obligation to grant it, ensuring teams control early-career departures.[2][48]Posting Procedure and Timeline
The posting procedure requires mutual consent between the eligible NPB player and their club to initiate the process, after which the club submits a formal request to the NPB commissioner for permission to post the player.[1] The NPB commissioner then notifies the MLB commissioner's office, which publicly announces the posting once confirmed, thereby making the player available to all 30 MLB clubs.[49] This announcement marks the start of a 45-day exclusive negotiation window, during which the player may engage in contract discussions solely with MLB teams and must sign by the deadline to secure a major league deal.[1] Postings are confined to the offseason, with the standard window for submission opening on November 1 and typically closing by early December, aligned immediately after the Japan Series concludes in late October.[2] For instance, in the 2024-25 cycle, pitcher Roki Sasaki's posting was approved and announced on November 9, 2024, following the Chiba Lotte Marines' clearance process post-season.[49] If no MLB contract is finalized within the 45 days, the player automatically returns to their NPB club with full rights retained, and the team is prohibited from re-posting them in the same calendar year to prevent prolonged uncertainty.[1][50] This timeline ensures structured transitions while limiting mid-season disruptions, though rare exceptions for in-season postings have occurred under prior agreements but are not standard under current protocols.[2]Release Fees and Financial Compensation
The release fee, payable by the signing MLB club to the player's NPB club, is calculated solely based on the total guaranteed value of the major league contract signed by the posted player, serving as indirect compensation tied to the deal's financial scale rather than a direct bidding process. This structure, established under the operative agreement between MLB and NPB, ensures the fee reflects the player's perceived market value as evidenced by the contract terms.[1][6] The fee tiers are as follows:| Contract Guaranteed Value | Release Fee Calculation |
|---|---|
| $25,000,000 or less | 20% of total guaranteed value |
| $25,000,001 to $50,000,000 | $5,000,000 plus 17.5% of value over $25,000,000 |
| $50,000,001 or more | $5,000,000 (20% of first $25 million) plus $4,375,000 (17.5% of next $25 million) plus 15% of value over $50,000,000 |