Japanese baseball’s day off brought no reprieve for Tadahito Iguchi or Brandon Laird, while the players union announced its annual salary rankings.
Iguchi, Laird fined
Lotte Marines manager Tadahito Iguchi and corner infielder Brandon Laird were both fined 100,000 yen on Monday following their ejections on Saturday and Sunday, respectively in Osaka.
Iguchi was tossed for coming back for another word after being warned for disputing a game-ending called third strike on a 3-2 pitch that would have loaded the bases in a 1-0 loss to the Buffaloes.
At least that’s how the crew justified the ejection to the media after the game. Officially, it was for using “insulting language.” My guess is that the insulting language came AFTER Iguchi was ejected.
Two weeks after he strode to the mound to give Marines pitcher Roki Sasaki an etiquette lesson and was vilified nationwide, umpire Kazuyuki Shirai added to his portfolio of incidents Sunday.
In the second inning, he rang up Laird on two straight borderline pitches, and then ejected him, saying he understood enough of what Laird said in English to justify it on the grounds of his using “abusive language.”
Hawks top NPB payroll list, probably
Japanese players’ salaries are slippery things to pin down, because much of the actual money paid out is not disclosed to either the commissioner’s office or the players union.
But using the best information they have from their union members, essentially everyone but the import players, the Japanese Pro Baseball Players Association announced its salary rankings for 2022, and for the third straight year, the SoftBank Hawks lead the way in average salary.
The survey counts only the pay of the 721 union members on NPB’s 12 teams’ 70-man rosters. Those players saw their average annual pay increase by 1.38 million yen ($10,695) to a recorded high of 43.12 million yen ($334,196).
Although far less than the MLB minimum, it’s worth noting that most of Japan’s minor leaguers are included, and that their minimum salary is in excess of $50,000 a year with room and board.
The Hawks lead the way with their union members receiving an average of 70 million a year.
- SoftBank Hawks: 70.02 million yen
- Yomiuri Giants: 66.32 million
- Rakuten Eagles: 60.35 million
- Seibu Lions 43.30 million
- Yakult Swallows 40.50 million
- Orix Buffaloes 39.92 million
- DeNA BayStars 37.32 million
- Hiroshima Carp 36.93 million
- Hanshin Tigers 34.56 million
- Chunichi Dragons 31.18 million
- Lotte Marines 30.77 million
- Nippon Ham Fighters 28.17 million
The Pacific League has led in average salaries for the third straight year, paying out 45.45 million on average compared to the Central League’s 40.74 million — a figure only the Giants clear.
Starting pitchers
Lions vs Hawks: Naha 6:30 pm, 5:30 am EDT
Kaito Yoza (2-1, 2.63) vs Nao Higashihama (4-1, 2.45)
Marines vs Eagles: Chiba Marine Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Ayumu Ishikawa (3-2, 1.83) vs Masahiro Tanaka (4-1, 1.17)
Buffaloes vs Fighters: Kobe Green Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Taisuke Yamaoka (3-1, 0.89) vs Takayuki Katoh (2-3, 2.57)
Giants vs Carp: Utsunomiya Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
C. C. Mercedes (4-1, 2.00) vs Atsushi Endo (2-2, 2.48)
Swallows vs Tigers: Jingu Stadium 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Cy Sneed (2-0, 4.44) vs Yuki Nishi (2-3, 2.11)
Dragons vs BayStars: Nagoya Dome 6 pm, 5 am EDT
Shinnosuke Ogasawara (2-1, 2.89) vs Shota Imanaga (0-0, 4.50)
Active roster moves 5/16/2022
Deactivated players can be re-activated from 5/26
Central League
Dectivated
| Swallows | P | 19 | Masanori Ishikawa |
| Swallows | P | 38 | Yugo Umeno |
| Tigers | P | 36 | Masumi Hamachi |
| Giants | P | 35 | Toshiki Sakurai |
| Giants | OF | 51 | Takumaru Yaoita |
| Carp | P | 43 | Sotaro Shimauchi |
| BayStars | P | 11 | Katsuki Azuma |
| BayStars | IF | 4 | Yukiya Ito |
Pacific League
Dectivated
| Buffaloes | C | 33 | Masato Matsui |
| Buffaloes | IF | 31 | Ryo Ota |
| Buffaloes | OF | 39 | Ryoma Ikeda |
| Buffaloes | OF | 60 | Yukikazu Sano |
| Hawks | IF | 52 | Richard Sunagawa |
| Fighters | P | 22 | Toshihiro Sugiura |
| Lions | P | 25 | Katsunori Hirai |
