Been a lot of Japanese articles about the Angels being interested in Munetaka Murakami
October 8, 2025
In Japanese but switch you can Google translate it. What do yall think about it?
7 comments
I saw on a different article that the bidding would exceed 200m
I would love to grab another Japanese star, but unfortunately they need to go through the Asian-American system first (aka dodgers).
Other than maybe Japanese players having the mindset of “I want to do what shohei couldn’t “ (make the angels winners), I have no idea why any player would choose us over anybody else. I’m sure we wouldn’t have the highest offer so our money will probably an average offer.
A left handed power bat that plays third base and isn’t tied to a QO or requires prospects to trade fits in line with roster needs. He’ll draw a ton of interest around the league though and I struggle to think the Angels can outshine other suitors.
Yea but is he interested in us?
Potentially expensive and defensive liability 3B? No thank you.
The stink of the Angels’ being perennial losers thanks to Shohei’s tenure will take forever to remove, if it ever does. It’ll be a miracle if they can get a big name Japanese FA anymore.
That being said, even if the Angels were a prime ticket destination, Murakami is a defensive liability at third and whiffs a ton. If other teams are scared off by that and the Angels just offered him a lot of rope to acclimate himself to MLB, then maybe? But the fit is not ideal and could lead to a lot of money being tied up in a few players again.
Tatsuya Imai though? Sign me up. (Another hefty price tag there too but at least he’s a starter.)
What’s the point? Splurging on one player isn’t going to fix this team. There is no way any player in their prime would come consider coming here unless they are being over paid and content with not seeing a title in their career. We are always getting players in on short “prove it” contacts or well known guys on their way to retirement. We need a group of competitive players to right this ship.
A full rebuild before the trade deadline (except the young core and Adell) would have helped, getting something for the guys we let walk in free agency and maybe flipping Kikuchi while he was hot, would have got us something nice in the farm system.
We finished behind Oakland and they weren’t trying to be competitive. Let that sink in.
7 comments
I saw on a different article that the bidding would exceed 200m
I would love to grab another Japanese star, but unfortunately they need to go through the Asian-American system first (aka dodgers).
Other than maybe Japanese players having the mindset of “I want to do what shohei couldn’t “ (make the angels winners), I have no idea why any player would choose us over anybody else. I’m sure we wouldn’t have the highest offer so our money will probably an average offer.
A left handed power bat that plays third base and isn’t tied to a QO or requires prospects to trade fits in line with roster needs. He’ll draw a ton of interest around the league though and I struggle to think the Angels can outshine other suitors.
Yea but is he interested in us?
Potentially expensive and defensive liability 3B? No thank you.
The stink of the Angels’ being perennial losers thanks to Shohei’s tenure will take forever to remove, if it ever does. It’ll be a miracle if they can get a big name Japanese FA anymore.
That being said, even if the Angels were a prime ticket destination, Murakami is a defensive liability at third and whiffs a ton. If other teams are scared off by that and the Angels just offered him a lot of rope to acclimate himself to MLB, then maybe? But the fit is not ideal and could lead to a lot of money being tied up in a few players again.
Tatsuya Imai though? Sign me up. (Another hefty price tag there too but at least he’s a starter.)
What’s the point? Splurging on one player isn’t going to fix this team. There is no way any player in their prime would come consider coming here unless they are being over paid and content with not seeing a title in their career. We are always getting players in on short “prove it” contacts or well known guys on their way to retirement. We need a group of competitive players to right this ship.
A full rebuild before the trade deadline (except the young core and Adell) would have helped, getting something for the guys we let walk in free agency and maybe flipping Kikuchi while he was hot, would have got us something nice in the farm system.
We finished behind Oakland and they weren’t trying to be competitive. Let that sink in.