Bidding war for Munetaka Murakami expected to surpass $200M. Interested teams include the Mets, Yankees, Phillies, and Mariners (Japanese article from Nikkan Sports)

38 comments

  2. Murakami can’t really play 3B, he grades out pretty poorly there, which leaves 1B or DH

    We already know DH isn’t an option given Stanton’s contract and the fact that the Yankees like to use the spot to rotate players in to give a break from the field.

    Would they really sign him to play 1B when you have Rice making peanuts and having great batted ball metrics? Even if you think they need to platoon Rice, Murakami is a lefty too.

    And I don’t buy moving Rice to catcher. I think they like his versatility there, but there’s no way they’d commit to playing him there full time

    I just can’t see him as a fit whatsoever.

  4. You know it’s going to be massive pile of collusion (that will be conveniently ignored by Manfred) and he will go to the Dodgers, just like with Yamamoto and Sakaki

  5. If the dodgers are out on a Japanese player my assumption is they aren’t that good lol

  8. Paying over $200M for Japanese Pete Alonso is an even worse idea than paying $200M for American Pete Alonso lol

  11. I doubt it. He has extreme strikeout and swing decision issues. If you’re spending $200+ million might as well get Pete Alonso.

  12. Wasn’t he seen last Christmas in public wearing a Dodgers hat? If anything drive up his price for the Dodgers

  16. As much as it would be good for him to be a Yankee so we can have the first Japanese player to come here since Tanaka, we all know he’s going to the Dodgers. Even if there’s no place for him, they’ll make one.

  18. The dodgers probably saw this dude and was like “hell nah, this dude’s trash, let these other losers over spend on him”

  19. Unless mlb teams have convincing proprietary data I don’t see how he’ll get 200 million.

  20. *sigh* im not ready for the off-season yet. Pls win tonight boys, I dont wanna wait till next year to be excited again

  22. Pre-Ben Rice breakout I would have loved to have this guy. Now I don’t think he has a position. 

  23. The Yankees would be better off with Rice or Bellinger at 1B. That’s a shit ton of money for a guy that there’s no guarantee he can play in MLB

  24. Any relation to Masanori Murakami, the first Japanese major leaguer, who pitched for SF for  a few years in the 60s?

  29. Seems like an unnecessary gamble. Maybe two years ago but we don’t need another DH and we have Rice playing 1B next season hopefully.

  31. Click bait. The Yankees have a 3b next year and a 1b on a cheap deal. Asian hitters are typically a crapshoot, paying huge money for an offense first 1b with no MLB experience makes no sense.

  35. Two years ago it would have been a go for it. But offensively he has dropped significantly.

    That being said, he would pay for himself in revenue from the Japanese market. All the top Japanese players do at least initially.

  36. Man… if he comes over and wears “56” giving a little h/t to Matsui… ouu I can already see it

  37. Another low contact, low average, power hitter, grreeeeaaaat. Its worked so well in the playoffs during the Boone era

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