The United States’ decision to normalize relations with Cuba will change Major League Baseball forever. Cuban-born players will no longer have to risk their lives to come to America. Now, scouts from every MLB team will be able to come to them.

But the true effect this ruling will have on the sport won’t be known until the details are sorted out. MLB and Cuban officials must agree to a post-embargo system that controls the talent flow.

MLB clubs are free to set up amateur camps in the Dominican Republic that encompass players from all over Latin America. Teams often sign prospects before they reach adulthood, and gain control of their rights years before they even play in MLB’s minor league system. The Red Sox, like all of its competitors, have a Dominican academy.

It’s unlikely that Cuban officials will allow its players to take part in this feeding system, as the country has a vibrant 16-team professional league. Meaning, MLB and Cuba may wind up agreeing to a posting system akin to the one that’s in place in Japan.

If a team in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League wants to make one of its players available, an MLB organization must pay a posting fee of no more than $20 million to the Japanese club. The NPB player is then posted, and every MLB team that submitted the appropriate fee is free to bid on his services.

Japanese players effectively become free agents, as teams can spend an unlimited amount of money to sign them. MLB’s international spending limits only apply to amateur players. Any player who is at least 23 years old and has played in a professional league recognized by the MLB Commissioner’s office isn’t considered an amateur.

Up until this point, any Cuban player who is at least 23 years of age and has played at least five years in the country’s professional league wasn’t labeled as an amateur. That’s why Cuban prospects, such as Red Sox outfielder Rusney Castillo, have received lucrative multi-year contracts in recent years. (The Red Sox signed Castillo to a record-setting seven-year, $72.5 million contract last August.)

The price tag for Cuban players won’t change if Cuban officials use Japan’s agreement with MLB as a model. Meaning, this pipeline could be a coup for big market teams with exorbitant budgets.

Even though Japan and Cuba are more than 7,500 miles apart, their baseball landscapes will now probably look far more alike than different.