Major League Baseball's free agency period opened earlier this week and teams are now clear to pursue any roster upgrades they deem necessary. That includes players coming over from Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league and South Korea's Korea Baseball Organization. Those are high-level leagues that have sent many impact players MLB's way over the years.
Look no farther than the Dodgers to see how important international talent can be to a club. The Dodgers employed four different former NPB and KBO players this past season, including two-way star Shohei Ohtani, ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and starter Roki Sasaki. Ohtani was signed as an MLB free agent, but the others went to the Dodgers through the posting system.
Per the posting agreement with MLB, posted NPB players get a 45-day window to negotiate and sign with an MLB team. KBO players get a 30-day window. Players who do not sign during that posting window return to their previous team in NPB or KBO.
The MLB team that signs a posted player pays a fee to the player's former NPB or KBO team. $5M plus 17.5% of contract value over $25M $9.375M plus 15% of contract value over $50M For example, the White Sox paid Munetaka Murakami's former team, the Yakult Swallows, a $6.575 million posting fee on his $34 million contract last offseason. That's $5 million on the first $25 million plus 17.5% of the remaining $9 million, which is $1.575 million. The $5 million plus $1.575 million equals the $6.575 million posting fee paid to the Swallows.
KBO players have until 5 p.m. NPB players posted this offseason have 45 days to sign from the day they are posted. Unlike last lockout, when the window was paused, that timeline will remain in place this year, according to The Athletic.
In other words, if owners lock players out on Dec. 1 as expected, that date will essentially serve as the same deadline for already posted NPB players unless the lockout ends before their 45-day window expires. There are no superstar-caliber players like Ohtani or Yamamoto available in this winter's international free agent crop. There are, however, several interesting players who can improve an MLB roster in 2027.
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