Mike Salas
Chiba Lotte Marines has officially posted Roki Sasaki. Teams can begin negotiating with Sasaki and will have 45 days to reach an agreement after his official posting.
Sasaki is not expected to sign until the 2025 international amateur signing period begins on Jan 15. He can negotiate throughout those 45 days but needs to have a signed deal in place by January 23rd. If Sasaki does not sign by January 23rd, he will return to the NPB.
How it works:
According to the current posting rules and MLB collective bargaining agreement, Sasaki would be viewed as an international amateur and eligible to enter MLB on a minor league contract with a signing bonus.
Players who are classified as “professionals” a foreign-player must be at least 25-years old and have at least six seasons of experience in the NPB before they can become an oversees free agent. Yoshinobu Yamamoto met the requirements and signed as a free agent to a 12-year $325 million dollar contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Players are posted from November first to December fifth, both the team and player must agree on the posting. An NPB team notifies the MLB Commissioner of a posting, with the posting fee determined by the value of the contract that a posted player eventually signs with an MLB organization. Once the MLB Commissioner announces the posting, the player has 30 days to sign with an MLB team. Unlike the past system, in which only the team that won the bidding process had negotiating rights, the current system allows the posted player to negotiate with any MLB team willing to pay the posting fee. If the player signs with an MLB team during the negotiating window, the signing team will pay the posting fee.
For players signed to MLB contracts, the posting fee is based on the amount of guaranteed money in the initial contract:
- 20% of the first $25 million
- 17.5% of the next $25 million
- 15% of any amount above $50 million
For players signed to minor-league contracts, the fee is a flat 25% of the contract’s value. Since Sasaki is not 25 years old and has played in NPB for three seasons, a deal for him would be counted toward the international bonus money restrictions. Under the new CBA, teams have at least $4.75 million to spend. Those with a Competitive Balance Round A receive $5.25 million and those with a Competitive Balance Round B pick receive $5.75 million. Bonus pool money can be traded up to a maximum of roughly $10.1 million, per MLB.
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