Thursday, December 17, 2020

2020 Seibu Lions name translations


One of our most common gags here at Graveyard Baseball is to do a literal translation of Lions players and their family names. On Twitter, it often looks like this:


It's followed up with this as a reply.  

Here is the 2020 edition of every Seibu Lions player.  

To prevent redundancy, we have assigned 田 to paddy and 野 to field. If some guys have the same family name, we've translated their first name as a bonus. When seeing that kanji, the last name is first, first name is last.

For players with the same surname, we also translated their first name.

Italicized names are players who are not returning for 2021.

All draft picks from 2020 are not included since they won't play until 2021. 

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Pitchers:

Tatsushi Masuda 増田: More paddies

Kona Takahashi 髙橋 光成: Tall bridge, Light growing

Shinsaburo Tawata 多和田: Many harmonious paddies (Note: 和 is the same harmony character that all businesses, teams and work places uses in needing to have Wa)

Tawata will be an ikusei in 2021

Ken Togame 十亀: Ten turtles

Shota Hamaya 浜屋: Beach Roof

Shunta Nakatsuka 中塚: Center mound

Shogo Noda 野田 昇吾: Field paddy, Rising Self

Katsunori Hirai 平井: Flat well

Yasuo Sano 佐野: Assistant field

Ichiro Tamura 田村: Paddy village

Makoto Aiuchi
相内: Inside aspect

Keisuke Honda 本田: Book Paddy

Shota Takekuma 武隈: Warrior shadow

Tsubasa Kokuba 國場: Country place

Koki Fujita 藤田: Wisteria paddy

Tatsuya Imai 今井: Now well (Well as in the noun, not the adverb/adjective)

Hiromasa Saito 齊藤 大将: Adjusted Wisteria, General

Daiki Enokida 榎田: Mushroom Paddy

Sho Ito: 伊藤: Italian Wisteria

Ryuya Ogawa 小川: Small River

Kaima Taira 平良: Flat Good

Yutaro Watanabe 渡邉: Ford Edge (ford as in ferry crossing or transit, not the car).

Kaito Awatsu 粟津: Millet Harbor

Tetsuya Utsumi 内海: Inside Sea (Inlet)

Ryosuke Moriwaki 森脇: Forest Armpit (or side / flank)

Kaito Yoza 與座: Participation Seat

Tetsu Miyagawa 宮川: Shrine River

Daisuke Matsuzaka 松坂: Pine Tree Slope

Hiroki Inoue 井上: Well Top

Koki Matsuoka 松岡: Pine Tree Hill

Towa Uema 上間: Above Space

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Catchers:

Tomoya Mori 森: Forest

Masatoshi Okada 岡田: Hill paddy

Hitoto Komazuki 駒月: Horse moon (Interesting note that 駒 [koma] also refers to the knight piece when playing chess or another board game involving a horse)

Shoya Makino 牧野: Shepard Field

Masato Saito 齊藤 誠人: Adjusted Wisteria, Sincere Person

Sena Tsuge 柘植: Mulberry Plant

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Infielders:

Sosuke Genda 源田: Root paddy (源 [gen] can refer to the origin or root of something)

Hotaka Yamakawa 山川: Mountain river

Takeya Nakamura 中村: Center village

Daichi Mizuguchi 水口: Water mouth

Kyohei Nagae 永江: Long bay

Haruka Yamada 山田: Mountain paddy

Ryusei Tsunashima 綱島: Rope Island

Shuta Tonosaki 外崎: Outside cape (cape as in headland, not the cloak)

Kakeru Yamanobe 山野辺: Mountain Field Area

Ryusei Sato 佐藤: Assistant Wisteria

Ryota Kawano 川野: River Field

Yuto Morikoshi 森越: Forest Surpass

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Outfielders:

Yuji Kaneko 金子 侑司: Gold child, Assistant director

Takumi Kuriyama 栗山: Chestnut mountain

Fumikazu Kimura 木村: Tree village

Manaya Nishikawa 西川: West River

Seiji Kawagoe 川越: River surpass

Masato Kumashiro 熊代: Bear substitute (Fun fact: Shiro is a homophone for the color white (白). Unfortunately the kanji shows he's not a polar bear.)

Shohei Suzuki 鈴木: Bell tree

Daisuke Togawa 戸川: Door river

[Aito] Takeda 武田 愛斗: Military paddy, Love Big Dipper / Ladle (Takeda has his first name registered)

Wataru Takagi 高木 渉: Tall Tree, Ford (as in fording or crossing a river)

Junichiro Kishi 岸: Beach

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Ikusei:

Tomomi Takahashi 髙橋 朋己: Tall bridge, Companion self

Aoi Tono 東野: East Field

Toshihiro Idei 出井: Exit Well

Jiyu Okubo 大窪: Large Cavity (or cave in / depression).

Beware, 窪 has multiple meanings

Daichi Nakaguma 中熊: Center Bear


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Manager and Coaches:

Hatsuhiko Tsuji 辻: Intersection

Toshifumi Baba 馬場: Horse Place

Kiyoshi Toyoda 豊田: Rich Paddy

Shigenobu Shima 嶋: Island

Masahiro Abe 阿部: Corner head of Yamato Group (saw Africa for Abe's name, but too confusing)

Kosaku Akimoto 秋元: Autumn Beginning

Fumiya Nishiguchi 西口: West Mouth

Tomoaki Sato 佐藤: Assistant Wisteria

Kazuo Matsui 松井: Pine Tree Well

Hiroyuki Takagi 高木 浩之: Tall Tree, This Abundance

Kento Sugiyama 杉山: Cedar Mountain

Ming-Chieh Hsu 许: Permit

Kosuke Noda 野田: Field Paddy, Abundance of help

Satoshi Kuroda 黒田: Black Paddy

Shogo Akada 赤田: Red Paddy

Hiroshi Hirao 平尾: Flat Tail

Eiji Kiyokawa 清川: Pure River

Tatsuyuki Uemoto 上本: Top Book

Tatsuya Ozeki 小関: Small Connection

Norio Tanabe 田辺: Paddy Border

Hayato Aoki 青木: Green Tree

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Bonus: Foreigners

As a continuous gag, we reverse translate the foreigners to see what their name in Japanese would literally look like, not just katakana sounds. Here is what their names would look like in kanji. Chinese names also included, though Hsu is listed with the coaches.

Zach Neal ニール: Senshuken [選手権]. Neal's name has Gaelic origins meaning "Champion." Senshuken could also mean a title besides a championship.

Ernesto Mejia メヒア: Kyuseishu [救世主] . Mejia's name means "Messiah" or "Savior" in latin/greek origin.

Reed Garrett ギャレット: Tsuyoyari [強槍]. Garrett is a "Strong Spear" with German and French origins . 

Cory Spangenberg  スパンジェンバーグ: Tomegane [留金]. Spangenberg derives from Spange, which is a clasp or buckles in German. 

Sean Nolin ノリン: Sake [叫]. Nolin's has Irish descent which can be similar to Neal's "Champion" title, but it can also mean a shout, which is Sake. 

Nien Ting Wu 呉: Giver


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Wednesday, December 2, 2020

2021 Seibu Lions Salary List

 

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With NPB in offseason mode, it becomes a period of transition into next year with contract negotiations and salaries being reported. While foreigners have agents to deal with business, domestically, the player has a chance to make his case on his worth with a team representative before both sides come to an agreement. 

Teams will factor in whatever the player did and could give a raise, paycut or status quo depending on what happened in the season. While these reported figures are not exact, they are the universal estimates that the media uses. 

Here is what the Lions have as this list will continue to update: 

Legend: 

^ - Raise

|v| - Paycut

= - Same wages

R = Coming off their first game or season at the ichi-gun.

AVG/OBP/SLG for position players. 
 

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Pitchers: 

Tatsushi Masuda: ¥300 million ^ by ¥110 million; (5-0), 2.02 ERA, 33 SV in 48 games, 49 innings

Masuda chose to remain with the Lions after earning domestic free agent rights. He enters the first of a four-year contract. 

Katsunori Hirai: ¥80 million [v] by ¥20 million; (5-5), 4.18 ERA, 7 HLDS in 41 games, 60.1 innings

Ken Togame: ¥70 million =; (1-2), 7.50 ERA, in eight games, 24 innings

Togame is in the second of a four-year contract

Kona Takahashi: ¥67 million ^ by ¥27 million; (8-8), 3.74 ERA in 20 games, 120.1 innings

Tetsuya Utsumi: ¥56.25 million [v] by ¥18.75 million; (1-2), 4.26 ERA in four games, 19 innings

Kaima Taira: ¥42 million ^ by ¥30 million; (1-0), 1.87 ERA, 33 HLD, 1 SV in 54 games, 53 innings

Daiki Enokida: ¥37 million [v] by ¥11 million; (1-1), 5.25 ERA, in five games, 24 innings

Ryuya Ogawa: ¥36 million ^ by ¥3 million; (2-1), 2.10 ERA, 3 HLD in 38 games, 25.2 innings

Ryosuke Moriwaki: ¥33 million ^ by ¥20 million, (7-1), 16 HLD, 1.35 ERA, 1 SV in 47 games, 46.2 innings

Wataru Matsumoto: ¥30 million, ^ by ¥9 million, (6-7), 4.37 ERA in 20 games, 103 innings

Tatsuya Imai: ¥28 million, [v] by ¥7 million, (3-4), 6.13 ERA in 19 games, 61.2 innings

Tetsu Miyagawa (R): ¥23 million ^ by ¥7 million; (2-1), 3.83 ERA in 49 games, 44.2 innings

Shota Takekuma: ¥22 million [v] by ¥26 million; (0-0), 22.09 ERA in three games, 3.2 innings

Yasuo Sano: ¥18 million [v] by ¥5 million (0-0), 1.35 ERA in eight games, 6.2 innings

Shota Hamaya (R): ¥15.5 million ^ by ¥2.5 million; (3-3), 4.97 ERA, 50.2 innings

Keisuke Honda: ¥13.6 million [v] by ¥2.4 million; (1-4), 4.08 ERA, 35.1 innings

Hiromasa Saito: ¥13 million [v] by ¥1 million; (0-1), 9.90 ERA, 10 innings

Ichiro Tamura: ¥10 million ^ by ¥4 million; (0-0), 3.95 ERA in 31 games, 41 innings

Kaito Yoza (R): ¥9 million ^ by ¥2 million (2-4), 5.45 ERA in eight games, 38 innings

Sho Ito: ¥8.2 million ^ by ¥500K; (0-2), 4.08 ERA in 12 games, 28.2 innings

Koki Matsuoka (R): ¥7.5 million =; (0-0), 13.50 ERA in two games, 2 innings

Shunta Nakatsuka: ¥7.3 million ^ by ¥200K; (0-0), 5.14 ERA in six games, seven innings

Kaito Awatsu: ¥7 million [v] by ¥3 million; (1-1), 7.04 ERA in 13 ni-gun games, 15.1 innings

Yutaro Watanabe: ¥6.5 million = ; (0-1), 5.24 ERA in four ni-gun games, 22.1 innings

Hiroki Inoue: ¥6 million = (0-1), 9.00 ERA in two ni-gun games, 3 innings

Towa Uema: ¥5 million = (0-2), 5.09 ERA in nine ni-gun games, 35.1 innings

Mitsuo Yoshikawa: ¥30 million [v] by ¥5 million ; (0-0), 3.38 ERA in five games, 5.1 innings

Yoshikawa made ¥35 million with the Fighters in 2020

Reed Garrett: ¥85 million ^ by ¥35 million; (3-2), 3.10 ERA in 49 games, 49.1 innings

Zach Neal: ¥220 million =; (6-8), 5.22 ERA in 21 games, 112 innings

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Infielders:

Takeya Nakamura: ¥220 million [v] by ¥130 million; .213/.310/.372, 9 HR in 79 games

Hotaka Yamakawa: ¥170 million [v] by ¥40 million; .205/.357/.450, 24 HR in 102 games

Sosuke Genda: ¥150 million ^ by ¥10 million; .270/.327/.330, 1 HR in 120 games

Kakeru Yamanobe: ¥14 million ^ by ¥2 million ; .233/.266/.283, 0 HR in 53 games

Nien Ting Wu: ¥8.8 million ^ by ¥2 million ; .227/.320/.295, 0 HR in 51 games

Ryota Kawano: ¥6.5 million = ; .242/.333/.349, 3 HR in 58 ni-gun games

Ryusei Sato: ¥6.4 million [v] by ¥2 million; .303/.388/.505, 5 HR in 27 ni-gun games

Sato was suspended for the 2020 season after being caught for speeding. His suspension will be lifted at the start of 2021. 

Haruka Yamada: ¥6.2 million = ; .200/.200/.200, 0 HR in 8 games

Ryusei Tsunashima: ¥5 million = ; .261/.298/.418, 2 HR in 44 ni-gun games

Ernesto Mejia: ¥100 million =; .207/.273/.409, 11 HR in 74 games

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Outfielders: 

Takumi Kuriyama: ¥170 million ^ by ¥20 million; .272/.362/.427, 12 HR in 111 games

Shuta Tonosaki: ¥130 million [v] by ¥10 million; .247/.335/.353, 8 HR in 120 games

Yuji Kaneko: ¥126 million ^ by ¥6 million; .249/.312/.302, 3 HR in 86 games

Kaneko is in the second year of a four-year contract. 

Fumikazu Kimura: ¥50 million ^ by ¥5 million; .231/.295/.383, 8 HR in games

Masato Kumashiro: ¥12 million =; .100/.182/.100, 0 HR in 38 games

Kumashiro chose to remain after having domestic FA rights

Shohei Suzuki: ¥9.6 million ^ by ¥3 million; .207/.261/.286, 1 HR in 46 games

Seiji Kawagoe (R): ¥8.8 million ^ by ¥2.4 million ; .156/.260/.281, 2 HR in 48 games

"Aito" Takeda: ¥7.4 million [v] by ¥1 million ; .154/.143/.154, 0 HR in 7 games

Manaya Nishikawa (R): ¥7.3 million ^ by ¥300K ; .250/.250/.500, 0 HR in 3 games

Wataru Takagi: ¥7 million ^ by ¥1.8 million ; .175/.175/.400, 2 HR in 12 games

Daisuke Togawa: ¥5.6 million [v] by ¥400K ; .111/.111/.111, 0 HR in 4 games

Junichiro Kishi (R): ¥5.5 million ^ by ¥500K ; .000/.333/.000, 0 HR in 5 games

Cory Spangenberg: ¥80 million =; .268/.326/.482, 15 HR in 111 games

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Catchers: 

Tomoya Mori: ¥160 million [v] by ¥40 million; .251/.325/.380, 9 HR in 104 games

Masatoshi Okada: ¥30 million =; .107/.138/.125, 0 HR in 29 games

Sena Tsuge (R): ¥12 million ^ by ¥2 million; .184/.262/.342, 2 HR in 17 games

Shoya Makino: ¥6 million = ; ..161/.197/.210, 0 HR in 22 ni-gun games

Masato Saito: ¥5 million = ; .085/.239/.102, 0 HR in 33 ni-gun games

Hitoto Komazuki: ¥5 million [v] by ¥1 million ; .246/.338/.420 in 29 ni-gun games

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Ikusei: 

Aoi Tono: ¥3.5 million = ; (0-1), 3.74 ERA in 11 ni-gun games

Jiyu Okubo: ¥2.8 million = ; (0-1), 9.00 ERA in six ni-gun games

Daichi Nakaguma: ¥3.5 million = ; .266/.330/.310, 3 HR in 56 ni-gun games

Toshihiro Idei: ¥4 million = ; (0-1), 3.00 ERA in two ni-gun games, six innings


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2020 Draft picks:

IF Kento Watanabe: ¥16 million, ¥100 million signing bonus, ¥50 million incentives. (1st round draft pick) 

P Takeru Sasaki: ¥13.5 million; ¥70 million signing bonus (2nd round draft pick)

IF Takayoshi Yamamura: ¥7 million, ¥50 million signing bonus. (3rd round draft pick) 

OF Gakuto Wakabayashi: ¥10 million, ¥40 million signing bonus (4th round draft pick) 

RHP Ren Ohmagari: ¥9 million, ¥30 million signing bonus (5th round draft pick)

IF Brandon Taiga Tysinger: ¥7 million, ¥30 million signing bonus. (6th round draft pick) 

OF Yuta Nakamigawa: ¥6 million, ¥15 million signing bonus (7th round draft pick) 

RHP Yuto Akagami: ¥4 million, ¥3.5 million signing bonus (1st round ikusei pick)

OF Shinya Hasegawa: ¥2.8 million, ¥3.5 million signing bonus (2nd round ikusei pick)

OF Joseph Ken Miyamoto: ¥4 million, ¥3.5 million signing bonus (3rd round ikusei pick)

RHP Taishi Mameda: ¥2.8 million, ¥3.5 million signing bonus (4th round ikusei pick)

RHP Yoshinobu Mizukami: ¥4 million, ¥3.5 million signing bonus (5th round ikusei pick)

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This is an ongoing list and it will continue updating as more information comes. 

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