Japanese Lesson: Hot Stove Lexicon
This is something I’ve always wanted to do — find a way to be more supportive of people learning Japanese. I occasionally get asked to translate things, but only rarely do those queries come from a Japanese learner.
So here’s a mini Japanese lesson, consisting of terms that are contextual to the offseason and hot stove league. Many of these terms won’t appear in your run-of-the-mill Japanese class, but you will find most of them on Nihongodict.com.
| Japanese | Reading | English | Notes |
| ストーブリーグ | sutoubu rigu | hot stove league | Japanese does away with the “hot†and calls it simply a “stove leagueâ€. |
| ç²å¾— | kakutoku | acquire | |
| 契約 | keiyaku | contract | |
| 契約更改 | keiyaku koukai | contract renewal | Most NPB players go year to year with their contracts, so during each offseason, a new contract at a new salary is negotiated for the following year. |
| 仮契約 | karikeiyaku | provisional contract | This is usually used to the first contract signed by recent NPB draftees. |
| 大型æ¡ä»¶ | ougata jouken | significant terms | This indicates a big contract offer, usually in terms of number of years or annual salary. |
| 新戦力 | shinsenryoku | new competitive strength | “senryoku†doesn’t translate particularly nicely in a baseball context. This term, with the “shin†prefix, is used to describe the acquisition of a new player. For example, a new pitcher acquired by an NPB team might be refered to as “shinsenryokuâ€, where as in English we might say the team has “bolstered†it’s pitching staff. |
| 戦力外 | senryokugai | uneeded competitive strength | consersely, adding the “gai†(outside) modifier to “senryoku†indicates that a player is no longer needed and will be released. In English we might say the player “doesn’t fit into the team’s plansâ€. |
| ãƒã‚¹ãƒ†ã‚£ãƒ³ã‚°ã‚·ã‚¹ãƒ†ãƒ | posutingu shisutemu | posting system | |
| å…¥æœåˆ¶åº¦ | nyusatsu seido | bidding system | when the term “posting system†appears in a Japanese article, it is usually followed with this term in parentheses |
| å…¥æœ | nyusatsu | bid | |
| 大リーグ / メジャー挑戦 | Dai rigu / mejaa chousen | big league / major league challenge | “chousen suru†is a general term meaning to |
| 入団 | nyudan | join a team | |
| テスト入団 | testo nyudan | tryout with a specific team | in English we usually call this a “tryout†or ‘trialâ€. |
| １２çƒå›£åˆåŒãƒˆãƒ©ã‚¤ã‚¢ã‚¦ãƒˆ | juuni kyudan goudou toraiauto | 12 team group tryout | The NPB 12-team tryouts occur every offseason, and give players who have been released a chance to showcase themselves for other teams. It includes some kind of simulated game played by the players taking part, but I’m not sure how simulated and how competitive it is. |
| 決定 | kettei | confirmed | |
| オファー | ofaa | offer | |
| 交渉 | koushou | negotiations | |
| フリーエージェント（ＦＡ）宣言 | furii eejento (FA) sengen | declare free agency | Free agency is abbreviated as FA, and comes in two varieties “kokunai†(国内, domestic) and “kaigai†(海外, overseas) |
| ç§»ç± | iseki | move | used when a player moves to a new team. Ie,æ¾äº•ã€ã‚¨ãƒ³ã‚¸ã‚§ãƒ«ã‚ºç§»ç±. Can be couple with FA (FA Iseki |
| 残留 | zanryu | remain | used when a player who is eligible for free agency and stays put. The big recent example is Hisashi Iwakuma |
| 有力 | yuuryoku | lead | In the hot stove context, this is often used to indicate the leading candidate to land a player. |
| æ示 | teiji | proposal | Differs from “offer†in that this is usually a general proposal of terms, while offer is more official. |
| 代ç†äºº | dairinin | agent | |
| トレード | toreedo | trade | |
| 大ç‹åˆæ„ | osuji goui | agree to terms |
Obviously, this isn’t a comprehensive list. If anyone out there has any questions or any terms to add to the list, fire away in the comments.