The Orix Buffaloes officially posted Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Monday, kicking off a negotiation period that’s expected to culminate in the largest contract ever for a Nippon Professional Baseball player coming to Major League Baseball.

The 25-year-old starting pitcher already has seven dominant NPB seasons under his belt and a well-stocked trophy case. He owns a 1.82 ERA over 897 innings, a solid 26.43% strikeout rate, and minuscule 5.9% walk and 1.03% home run rates. He’s coming off three consecutive Japanese Triple Crowns and Eiji Sawamura Awards (akin to MLB’s Cy Young Award) and won back-to-back Pacific League MVP in ‘21 and ‘22. As members of Team Japan, he and Red Sox outfielder Masataka Yoshida took home the gold at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

Major League clubs have until Jan. 4, 2024 to lock him down. If he doesn’t sign by that time – which seems highly unlikely – he’ll return to the Buffaloes for the 2024 season.

Though the Buffaloes are almost certain to lose their ace by the start of the new year, they won’t walk away emptyhanded. Per the posting system regulations, the MLB team that signs him must also pay Orix 20% of the contract’s first $25 million in guaranteed salary, 17.5% of the next $25 million, and 15% on the remainder. If the projections are correct, Yamamoto is about to get a deal worth over $200 million, so the Buffaloes will take home a hefty sum.

The Red Sox have been linked to Yamamoto for months, heavily scouting him throughout the season, but they’re just one of over a dozen teams in the hunt. They have competition in their own division – the Yankees and Blue Jays have also been connected to him – as well as from some of the league’s biggest spenders; the Phillies, Mets, Rangers, Padres, and Dodgers are among the other interested parties.

Boston has ample financial flexibility this offseason; they could sign Yamamoto and still have comfortable room under the $237 million 2024 Competitive Balance Threshold (luxury tax). While the Mets, Yankees, Padres, and Phillies had the top four luxury tax payrolls in the game (in that order), all coming in over $30 million above the $233 million threshold, the Red Sox were down at No. 12. As they finished the season approximately $10 million under the limit to reset their penalty, they could exceed the threshold and only incur the first level penalty, a 20% tax on all overages. Said penalties grow more severe with each consecutive season above the limit, and each of the four aforementioned teams have exceeded the threshold for at least two consecutive seasons.