What is the Posting System? Definition, Formula, and Example
The posting system is the formal process by which a player under contract to a Japanese (NPB) or Korean (KBO) club is made available to MLB teams, who then pay a release fee to the player's original team based on the size of the MLB contract signed.
What is the Posting System in Baseball?
The posting system is the rulebook mechanism that lets a player still under contract to a Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) or Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) club sign with a Major League team before reaching international free agency. When a Japanese or Korean star wants to come to MLB but isn't yet a free agent, his club can "post" him — formally notifying MLB that he is available. That opens a fixed negotiating window during which all 30 MLB teams may bid for his services. Once the player signs an MLB deal, his original club receives a release fee (the "posting fee"), paid by the signing MLB team on top of the player's salary. The system compensates the foreign club for losing a player it still controls.
How the Posting Fee Is Calculated
Under the current MLB-NPB agreement, the posting fee is a percentage of the guaranteed value of the MLB contract the player signs, on a tiered scale:
- 20% of the first $25 million guaranteed
- 17.5% of the next $25 million (i.e., $25M–$50M)
- 15% of every dollar above $50 million
Earned bonuses and option buyouts add smaller supplemental percentages. The player has a 45-day window (typically opening around December 1) to negotiate and sign; if no deal is reached, he returns to his NPB club and can be posted again later. The KBO system uses a similar tiered structure.
Worked Example
When the Los Angeles Dodgers signed pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto out of the Orix Buffaloes in December 2023, they agreed to a 12-year, $325 million contract. The posting fee owed to Orix worked out to:
- 20% × $25M = $5.0M
- 17.5% × $25M = $4.375M
- 15% × ($325M − $50M = $275M) = $41.25M
Total ≈ $50.6 million paid to Orix, *separate from* Yamamoto's $325M salary — making the Dodgers' true outlay roughly $375 million. By contrast, when the Dodgers signed Roki Sasaki in January 2025, he qualified as an international amateur (under 25 with limited pro service), so his deal came out of the bonus pool and the posting fee was minimal — a reminder that age and service time change the math entirely.
Why It Matters
The posting system shapes how MLB front offices budget for elite international talent: the all-in cost is salary plus fee plus, often, a luxury-tax hit. For the player, posting is leverage — the club can refuse to post him, keeping him in NPB. For fans and fantasy players, posting windows are the calendar markers that precede a star's MLB debut. Understanding it explains why a "$325M pitcher" actually cost his team far more.
Limitations and Misconceptions
The biggest misconception is that the posting fee counts against the MLB team's luxury-tax payroll — it does not; only the player's average annual salary does. Another is that posting guarantees a move: the player and team must still agree to terms within the window, and clubs can decline to post a player at all. Players under 25 with under six years of service are treated as international amateurs, capping their bonuses regardless of talent — which is why generational young players sometimes sign for a fraction of their open-market worth.
Related Terms
- What is Service Time?
- What is the Luxury Tax?
- What is Deferred Money?
- What is the Qualifying Offer?
- What is the MLB Draft?
In Legends Deck, internationally posted stars enter your franchise through a dedicated signing market where the posting fee is modeled as a one-time cost layered on top of the contract — so landing a Yamamoto-tier ace forces the same budget trade-off real GMs face: pay the premium now, or let a rival outbid you and watch a 70-grade arm walk.