Bidding begins on Seibu star

Let the bidding begin.

Yusei Kikuchi, the coveted Japanese pitcher who has already caught the Yankees attention, was posted by the Seibu Lions on Monday and is eligible to begin negotiating with MLB teams Tuesday morning.

Kikuchi will have until Jan. 2 to sign in the majors, or else he will return to the Lions. The MLB club that takes a chance on Kikuchi will owe the Lions a posting fee based on the new contract.

“I have only gratitude to Seibu for approving the posting,” Kikuchi told the Japan Times. “I want to focus on what I can do in order to get a solid outcome.”

The southpaw went 14-4 with the Lions last season and struck out 153 batters in 1632/3 innings. He is 73-46 with a 2.77 ERA all-time in Nippon Professional Baseball.

“I saw film on him during the pro scouting meetings,” co-owner Hal Steinbrenner said at the MLB owners meetings in November. “We talked about that individual. We’ve always been paying attention to that area of the world. Some unbelievably great players came out of there. So it won’t be any different this year.”

Many teams are expected to be interested in Kikuchi, who might not bear the same stardom as fellow countrymen Shohei Ohtani or Masahiro Tanaka, but carries a No. 2 starter ceiling, according to scouts who spoke with MLB.com in August.

Kikuchi’s fastball ranges from 92-94 mph and reaches 96-98 mph at times.

While it’s been widely speculated Kikuchi will end up on the West Coast like Ohtani, never count the Yankees out of any free-agent race — especially as general manager Brian Cashman continues to look for ways to beef up the rotation.