When we have outstanding young talents such as 20-year-old Lotte Marines right-hander Roki Sasaki, the youngest pitcher to throw a perfect game, Orix Buffaloes ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, or Yakult Swallows third baseman Munetaka Murakami, who is shattering home run records at the age of 22, people in the States begin asking when they’re coming to MLB.

It’s not obvious in most cases.

Japanese players can’t just walk away until they have nine years of service time in Japan’s major leagues. Their Japanese teams can make them available through the posting system, but that is 100 percent up to the teams — unless the team has a contractual obligation to post the player.

This kind of agreement, unimaginable in MLB, is one of the little nuggets in Japan’s salary and contract structure.