Posting system

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Ichiro Suzuki was the first high-profile NPB player (and second overall) to use the posting system.

The posting system is a baseball player transfer system currently in effect between Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and the United States' Major League Baseball (MLB). Japanese players were never eligible to be obtained through the traditional means of the Rule 4 Draft, and since there were no set legal rules in place to govern the process, problems arose.^[1] The system was implemented for two reasons. First, the NPB players Hideo Nomo and Alfonso Soriano used loopholes to void contracts and leave for the MLB - possibly taking fans with them.^[2] Second, NPB player Hideki Irabu had very little negotiating power when it came to his trade deal between NPB and MLB teams.^[3] By creating a system that requires MLB teams to pay NPB teams transfer fees while allowing players the power to negotiate their own trade deals, the posting system presumably was meant to solve both problems.

As of 2008, 12 Japanese players have been "posted" using the system.^[4] Of these, seven were immediately signed to Major League contracts, three were signed to minor league contracts and two were unsuccessful in drawing any MLB interest. The two highest-profile players that have been acquired through the posting system are Ichiro Suzuki and Daisuke Matsuzaka. Respectively, they attracted high bids of $13.125 million and $51.1 million and have enjoyed highly successful careers in the MLB.^[5]

1 History
2 Process
3 Past postings
4 See also
5 References
6 Further reading

[edit] History

The posting system was created as a combined reaction to three different cases involving NPB players moving to the MLB. The first incident occurred in 1995 when pitcher Hideo Nomo, who was not eligible for free agency, announced his retirement from the Kintetsu Buffaloes. This retirement enabled Nomo to void his contract with the Buffaloes and sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers a year later, where he played a season that won him the National League Rookie of the Year award.^[2] The following year, the Dodgers signed a 3-year, $4.3 million contract.^[6]

Two years later, in late 1997, the San Diego Padres signed a working agreement with the Chiba Lotte Marines that gave the Padres the exclusive signing rights for Hideki Irabu. Unfortunately, neither team consulted with Irabu before finalizing the deal, and he and his agent soon stated that Irabu would only sign with the New York Yankees. The Major League Baseball Players Association sided with Irabu stating that the system gave the player no freedom. The MLBPA soon lost the argument, and the MLB's executive council ruled that the Padres held the rights to Irabu. Irabu ultimately won, however, when the Padres quickly traded him to the Yankees who signed him for $12.8 million over four years.^[3]

Alfonso Soriano's move to the MLB helped prompt the creation of the posting system.

The final incident occurred the next year when Alfonso Soriano found out that he was unable to leave the Hiroshima Toyo Carp due to contract restrictions. In addition to Soriano disliking the Japanese's intense practice schedule, the Carp denied him a salary increase to $180,000 a year. Taking the advice of agent Don Nomura, the same agent who represented Hideo Nomo during his retirement from the NPB, Soriano also retired in order to void his contract with the Carp and pursue a career in the MLB.^[7] This decision resulted in the Hiroshima management suing Nomura for $1.1 million as well as threatening legal action against any ball club that negotiated with Soriano. In July 1998, however, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig declared that the MLB recognized him a free agent and the Carp backed down. Soriano signed a 5-year, $3.1 million contract with the New York Yankees the same year.^[8]

The posting system was drafted that same year, and Bud Selig and NPB Commissioner Hiromori Kawashima signed the deal in December 1998.^[3] In its design, each of the problems brought up by the Nomo, Irabu and Soriano cases were addressed. By forcing MLB teams to place bids that eventually act as transfer fees, NPB teams receive compensation for letting their star players out of their contracts. Additionally, allowing Japanese players to negotiate with MLB teams gives them power when dictating the terms of their new contracts. The system only applies to players currently under contract with a Japanese team, it does not apply to free agents or to players with 10 or more years of service in the NPB.^[1] The system does not work in reversal, as in the system does not regulate MLB players, such as Alex Cabrera, that move to the NBP.^[9]

[edit] Process

When a player under contract with a Nippon Professional Baseball team wishes to play in Major League Baseball, he must notify his current team's management and request that they make him available for posting during the next posting period (November-March). If the team consents, the player (including any other NPB players wishing to be posted) is presented to the MLB Commissioner. The Commissioner then notifies all MLB teams of the posted player and holds a four-day-long silent auction during which interested MLB teams submit sealed bids (in USD) to the Commissioner’s Office. After the 4 days have passed, the Commissioner opens the bids and notifies the player's NPB team the highest bid amount, but not who the bidding team is. The NPB team then has 30 days to either accept or reject the nonnegotiable bid amount.^[10]

If the bid is rejected, the NPB team retains the player’s rights and the player cannot be posted again until the next off-season. If accepted, however, the bid amount is publicly revealed and the winning Major League team is granted the exclusive rights to negotiate with the player for 30 days.^[1] If the player and the MLB team agree on contract terms before the 30 day period has expired, the NPB team receives the bid amount as a transfer fee, and the player is free to play for that team in the MLB in the coming season. If the MLB team cannot come to a contract agreement with the posted player, then no fee is paid, and the player's rights revert back to his NPB team. A player can request to be posted again in subsequent years, and the process is repeated with no advantage to the club that had won the previous year.^[10]

[edit] Past postings

Of the 38 Japanese-born players playing in the MLB, only 12 have entered the league using the posting system. Since the system's creation in 1998, the players that have utilized it have experienced a range of success. Of the 12, seven were immediately signed to Major League contracts. These contracts range from $52 million on the high end to $1.4 million on the low end. Of the remaining 5, three were signed to minor league contracts and two were unsuccessful in drawing bids from any Major League clubs. The following tables outline each posting and their outcome:

List of Successful Postings (chronological)
Posting Date	Player	NPB Team	MLB Team	Winning Bid	Date of Contract Agreement	MLB Contract	Notes
February 2, 1999	Alejandro Quezada	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	Cincinnati Reds	$400,001	March 2, 1999	Signed minor league contract	^[11]
November 9, 2000	Ichiro Suzuki	Orix BlueWave	Seattle Mariners	$13.125 million	November 30, 2000	3 years, $14 million	^[12]^[13]^[14]
January 3, 2002	Kazuhisa Ishii^P	Yakult Swallows	Los Angeles Dodgers	$11.26 million	February 8, 2002	4 years, $12.3 million	^[15]^[16]^[17]
February 6, 2003	Ramón Ramírez^P	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	New York Yankees	$350,00	March 5, 2003	Signed minor league contract	^[18]^[19]
November 11, 2003	Akinori Otsuka^P^§	Chunichi Dragons	San Diego Padres	$300,000	December 9, 2003	2 years, $1.5 million	^[20]^[21]
January 28, 2005	Norihiro Nakamura	Orix Buffaloes	Los Angeles Dodgers	Undisclosed^ψ	February 3, 2005	Signed minor league contract	^[22]^[23]
December 12, 2005	Shinji Mori^P	Seibu Lions	Tampa Bay Devil Rays	$750,000	January 11, 2006	2 years, $1.4 million	^[24]^[25]
November 2, 2006	Daisuke Matsuzaka^P	Seibu Lions	Boston Red Sox	$51,111,111.11^†	December 14, 2006	6 year, $52 million	^[26]^[27]^[28]
November 6, 2006	Akinori Iwamura	Yakult Swallows	Tampa Bay Devil Rays	$4,500,000	December 15, 2006	3 year, $7.7 million	^[29]^[30]
November 17, 2006	Kei Igawa^P	Hanshin Tigers	New York Yankees	$26,000,194^‡	December 27, 2006	5 years, $20 million	^[31]^[32]
^§ This was Otsuka's second attempt at the MLB after an unsuccessful posting the previous year. ^ψ The Dodgers chose not to publicly reveal their bid amount, despite MLB teams traditionally disclosing the amount after negotiating rights have been won.^[33] ^† This specific amount was chosen by Red Sox owner John Henry because he deemed it lucky.^[34] ^‡ The final three digits, 194, represent Igawa's total strikeout count for his 2006 season.^[31] ^P Denotes that the player is a pitcher.

List of Unsuccessful Postings (chronological)
Posting Date	Player	NPB Team	Result	Notes
February 2, 1999	Timo Pérez	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	Re-signed with the Carp on February 3, 1999 for ¥34.5 million (US$295,705 in 1999)	^[4]
December 18, 2002	Akinori Otsuka^P	Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes	Signed with the Chunichi Dragons on March 20, 2003 for ¥95 million (US$800,404 in 2003)	^[35]
November 22, 2005	Yusaku Iriki^P	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	Released by the Fighters on December 5, 2005; signed by the New York Mets on January 18, 2006 to a one-year, $750,000 contract	^[36]^[37]
^P Denotes that the player is a pitcher.