Posting system

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The posting system is a baseball transfer agreement introduced in 1998 that regulates the transfer of players from the Japanese professional league Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) to the US professional league Major League Baseball (MLB). This allows NPB players who are not free agents (i.e. still under contract) to enter into contracts with MLB teams if they are initially given permission from their team to step out of their contract. A transfer fee is then determined in a covert auction among the interested MLB teams , which the NPB team concerned can then reject or accept.

background

There was a dispute between NPB and MLB in 1964 when Japanese pitcher Masanori Murakami was loaned out by the Nankai Hawks (NPB) to the San Francisco Giants (MLB) and he made so much impression on their minor league baseball team that they made him Wanted to buy Giants. Murakami pitched six games for the Giants, but after a long contract dispute it was decided that the Hawks could keep him. As a result, the "United States - Japanese Player Contract Agreement" was introduced in 1967, which was equivalent to a tacit non-solicitation rule. This "armistice" remained in place for the next two decades until in 1994 Hideo Nomo was denied a raise by the Kintetsu Buffaloes . Without further ado, Nomo declared his career "finished", so that as a player without a contract he no longer fell under the contract agreement, and switched to the Los Angeles Dodgers (MLB) for no consideration . A year later, Hideki Irabu ( Lotte Orions ) wanted to switch to MLB. The Orions negotiated a signature-ready contract with the San Diego Padres , but Irabu himself only wanted to switch to the New York Yankees . After a long contract dispute, Irabu moved to the Yankees, which angered the Padres. In order to avoid these situations, the MLB and NPB introduced the "posting system":

  • Every NPB player who wants to switch to the MLB must officially announce the intention to his team by March 1st of each calendar year.
  • If the team allows the move, it makes the player available for the posting system auction.
  • All MLB teams are allowed to submit covert bids for four days. The highest bidder wins the bid and the NPB team again has four days to decline or accept the offer.
  • With mutual consent, the MLB team and players are allowed to negotiate the exact content of the contract, and if they come to the signature after 30 days, the transfer is perfect.
  • In the event that any of these steps go wrong, the player will return to their NPB team.

The posting system is intended to prevent Japanese talent from migrating prematurely to the MLB. The posting system is quite controversial as it gives the player little room for maneuver and rich MLB clubs that can afford high auction sums can "bid away" the players to less wealthy clubs without being seriously interested in the player himself.

Selection of transfers

It lists players who were transferred to the MLB using the posting system and made it into the Major League Baseball All-Star Game .

Web links