Comparative Law Paper on Japanese Baseball

1. What is the average NPB Player salary (in Yen and US dollars)?

According to the Nippon Professional Baseball Players' Association web site [Link - in Japanese], the average 2004 salary was 3,805-man yen. (1-man = 10,000 - you can get a convertion to any currency here.)

2. What is the minimum salary (in Yen and US dollars)?

Four players in 2004 had salaries of 440-man yen, the minimum I have recorded in my 2004 Player Meikan. While the salary data is incomplete, I believe that the only salaries I'm missing are higher paid players and foreign players (who make significantly more than the league minimum). The four players are: Naoto Ishibashi, Akihiro Tamura, Jun Ohtsuka, and Shinji Komiyama.

3. Who are the five highest paid players (Name, Position, Team)?

This is where I have less confidence that these figures are complete. There might be another player who belongs here, but I'm not sure as this was all the salary data I was able to get for the year. Nonetheless:

7.2-oku yen: Roberto Petagine, 1B, Yomiuri Giants
5.5-oku yen: Tuffy Rhodes, OF, Yomiuri Giants
5.0-oku yen: Norihiro Nakamura, 3B, Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes
5.0-oku yen: Kazuhiro Sasaki, P, Yokohama BayStars
4.5-oku yen: Kazuhiro Kiyohara, 1B, Yomiuri Giants

Yes, you read correctly. The Giants have two of the top paid first basemen in Japan. But that's a different story.

* 1-oku = 10,000-man = 100,000,000. These are standard units you need to be faimilar with to do accounting in Japanese. Have fun with math.

4. What are the rules for agents in Japan?

An agent must be a practicing attorney in Japan and may only represent one player at the most. The reason for this is to prevent agents from using knowledge of one player's contract to work out better contracts for other players. This is the divide and conquer strategy approved by the owners. (Note: Agents for foreign players don't have these restrictions.)

In November of 2000, the owners agreed to allow non-free agents to negotiate contracts with an agent provided that they meet the above criteria and, at the disgression of the ball club, require the player himself to accompany the agent.

In a related story, the Giants have refused to recognize ace pitcher Koji Uehara's agent as an agent for the second year running, meeting him as an "advisor." More information on this can be found at the NPBPA site here (in Japanese). You could probably write a book on the various scandals that the Giants have been and are currently involved with.

5. How many players filed for free agency this year?

The list of players who qualified are listed here. Of them, only nine actually declared [Link - in Japanese].

Please try to confirm all information with a secondary source. I've mentioned what data may need further checking.

Otherwise, I hope that this information helps you get started on the road to discovering more about NPB. A few years ago the thought of a law paper wouldn't have sounded interesting to me, but after reading GrokLaw for over a year, I actually look forward to reading what ever draft you would like to share.

Thank you so much for the reply. Also, I have a few other questions.

When does a player become eligible for arbitration?

Also, A player can file for free agency after 9 years of service, correct?

Further, is it the team's option to Post a player?

- Also, A player can file for free agency after 9 years of service, correct?

A player can file file for free agency after 9 years of service in the NPB.

- Further, is it the team's option to Post a player?

Also, it's up to the discretion of the team to the post the player via the posting system.

- When does a player become eligible for arbitration?

Arbitration? There is no such concept in Japanese baseball to my knowledge. I've heard that there have been a few players refuse all offers from a team until a third party came in to mediate between the parties - but every instance has ended with the third party siding with the owners.

The only option a player who refuses all offers from his team has is to sit out a full year, then he is essentially a free agent. But the player may not play in any other league, professional or ameteur, during that time period as the team retains all negotiation rights to said player for a full year after his contract expires.

- Also, [a] player can file for free agency after 9 years of service, correct?

It's not quite that simple, although the Players' Association is trying to make it so.

The problem is with the definition of "9 years of service." According to the 2004 Baseball Agreement (PDF file in Japanese), artical 197, number 1, one year is defined as 150 days on the registered roster with either the Central or Pacific League. My understanding is that this means 150 days on the ichi-gun (top team) roster. Days spent on the disabled list don't count.

- Further, is it the team's option to Post a player?

Yes. A player may request to be posted, but the team has the final say in the matter.

Google this site for "Iguchi" and "post" and you'll find that Iguchi has been requesting to be posted for a number of years, finally being released outright at the end of this past season so that he may pursue his dreams of playing in the Majors unincombered by the posting system.

On the other hand, the Seibu Lions wanted to post Kazuo Matsui a year before he became a free agent in hopes of getting something in return for his venture to the Majors. However, Matsui turned the Lions' owner down, claiming that he wasn't ready at the time.

So the posting system is not like an ordinary trade. Both the player and the owner must agree to post a player, and either has the right to refuse an offer that's been made by a Major League team. If either refuses the offer, the player remains with his current NPB team.