SHOCKER: White Sox Sign Munetaka Murakami for $34 Million —Did the Mets IGNORE a Steal?

SHOCKER: White Sox Sign Munetaka Murakami for $34 Million —Did the Mets IGNORE a Steal?

Munitaka Morami has found a new home in free agency and it took almost nothing for the White Socks to sign him. You are Locked on Mets, your daily New York Mets podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. >> Hello to all you amazing Mets fans. You’re listening to Locked On Mets part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Thank you for making Locked On Mets your first listen every day. And thank you for making Locked On the number one sports podcast network. On the show today, we’re going to talk about the latest MLB news, and that is that Muna Takamori has signed with the Chicago White Socks on a 2-year deal. I’ll break down the contract in the first segment. Then in the second segment, we’re going to talk about how this impacts the rest of the market. What does this mean for Kazuma Okamoto? Maybe Veneu Suarez. Are teams just not valuing the slugging corner infield market? And if so, did the Mets overpay for Hoya Palano? We’re going to go through it all before we do. I’m your host Ryan Ficklestein. I’ve been covering the New York Mets on this show since the 2019 season. This is the number one daily podcast on the New York Mets. You want to find any of my written work, you can do so over at justbaseball.com where I work as the editor and chief. Today’s episode’s brought to you by FanDuel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanuel.com to place your NFL live bets all season long. So, the Chicago White Socks have signed Munitaka Morakami and it only took $34 million to get a deal done. Projections for Munaaka Morakami going into this free agency were absolutely insane when it comes to what he was going to get on his contract. And I’m going to put myself out there. I was as wrong as anybody because he was such a tough creation to peg. Was he going to get the long-term commitment that we’ve been expecting from Muda Taka Morakami? He was supposed to blow past what Seya Suzuki got, what Masataka Yoshida got. If you go back to his record-breaking season in 2022, which was a leadin to the World Baseball Classic in 2023, the last time we had a World Baseball Classic, Munitaka Morakami hit 56 home runs in 141 games to set the MPB record back in 2022. The years since then, the numbers haven’t been quite as good, but still 30 home runs in back-to-back seasons in 23 and 24. This past year, he only played 56 games due to injury, but he hit 22 bombs. So his OPS which had dipped below a,000 and actually had dipped below 900 for two straight years was at 875 in 2023 then 851 in 2024 after posting a 1.168 OPS in 2022. He got that OPS back over a th00and this past season hitting 273 with a 379 on base and a four excuse me a 663 slugging percentage. Now, there was concerns about the swing and miss, about just his strikeout rate in general, about his ability to hit velocity, although I think those uh concerns were a little overblown. There was concerns about his defense. And with all of that said, when it came to prediction time, when we were trying to figure out, okay, where is this guy gonna go and and how much is it going to take for him to sign, I’m trying to pull up exactly what I predicted, but I know it was a seven-year deal. And I think it was close to $20 million per. I mean, yeah, I had a sevenyear $140 million deal. $20 million per with an opted after year three. I vastly overshot his market. And I was not alone. Going into the off season, a lot of people were projecting this guy to make over $und00 million. And the market never materialized to the point that the Chicago White Socks swoop in here and they get him for a $34 million deal over two years. And there’s no optouts. I thought if he was going to sign a two-year deal, a especially for that dollar amount, I thought he would get an opt out in that contract as well. So that if he was able to shake all of these preconceived notions about what he was going to be in the big leagues and he posted a huge first season, my expectation was he’d be able to hit the market again. But instead here gets a two-year deal and there’s no opt out. So he has two years to prove himself for the White Sox, which is incredible value for them because I mean, who are they going to sign in free agency? probably not a lot of really talented free agents were signing up to be part of the White Socks who were rebuilding. But for Morakami, I’m sure it got to a point where it was who’s going to guarantee playing time no matter what. A and that’s where a team like the Mets maybe is less attractive to Munitaka Morakami because who’s to say that Munitaka Morakami would have earned the playing time over Mark Ventos. And I know it sounds crazy, but now that we’re looking at this contract and what the commitment is, you know, you start to see how little of a market Morami truly had. I think it’s twofold. It’s one the concerns over the bat and the long-term commitment that’s attached to what the expectation was, but also the lack of a position. if you have a guy who the White Sox apparently going to play at first base and it’s not like they have a clear-cut answer at third, but I think that suggests that nobody felt like he was going to be a third baseman. And so now he goes to Chicago and the plan is play him at first base every single day, see what he can do. And if this guy turns into a 40 home run hitter in two years, he has free agency going into his age 28 season. Still at 27 years old because he’s his birthday is in February. So he’s 25 right now, but going into his age 26 season and he can cash in on a huge deal then. But at this moment, the White Sox get a steal. It’s a no risk for for them especially no risk gamble. I I think, you know, we’re we’re obviously doing a Mets show here and so from a Mets perspective, I know fans are going to see this and say, why did the Mets not jump in and get this guy? If they were so committed to short-term deals, why aren’t they ponying up and hopping in on a two-year $34 million commitment? But again, it’s it’s twofold. It’s it’s where’s Morami going to get the playing time? Not that the Mets wouldn’t have offered him playing time, but again, for him, where does he feel like he can show get showcased the most and have the runway to play? And for the Mets, even $17 million, if you don’t think that this guy can play third base, you don’t think he’s necessarily a good first baseman and you’re not entirely sure he’s going to translate and you are in a win now mode. as much as you look at a guy that has 80 great power, you can ultimately decide that it’s not worth going all in on. And so I think to me it’s not really surprising that the Mets didn’t hop hop in on this. What’s surprising is how little he went for and the fact that it was only two years and the fact that there wasn’t an opt out so you get the full two years. Um maybe there were a lot of teams that only wanted a one-year. Maybe that’s how the the White Socks were able to push deal to the finish line. Maybe because they did offer the two years. Um but I think this is a pretty awesome deal for them because there’s just so much upside and you’re in a position as the White Socks where that’s what you should be doing. you should be trying to sign guys who are coming off down years that you can try to buy low on or in this case a guy’s free agent market never materialized but he still had a full day here to get a deal done he had until 5:00 on Monday and instead he jumps on this offer and he’s a white sock so uh interesting signing for sure what I want to talk about in the next segment is how this impacts the rest of the market for corner infielders and did the Mets over pay for Jorge Palano We’re going to go through all of that in just a minute. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. NFL Sundays move fast. One big play, suddenly everything feels different. That’s what makes live betting with FanDuel so exciting. You’re not just watching the game, you’re reacting to it in real time. 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Obviously, the first place we look is Kazuma Akamoto, who is the other top international free agent bat. And there’s every chance he is going to blow this contract out of the water because there are not as many concerns about Kazuma Okamoto when you’re talking about the defense. This is a guy that won multiple Golden Glove awards over there. And the thought is not only can he play first, but he can play third and even can go play some left field if you have a team that really needs him to do that. So, you have the defensive versatility. You have the fact that this is a guy that had six consecutive seasons hitting 30 or more homers. He also has a 41 home run season on his resume. He led the Central League in home runs multiple times. And he doesn’t strike out a bunch like Munataka Morakami. His strikeout rates are very palatable for the big leagues. Even if they do tick up a little bit like we’ve seen in the past with some sluggers that try that try to translate over, he’s still going to be rocking strikeout rates well less than Munitaka Morakami. He’s got power. He’s got the ability to hit for a higher average. I mean, there’s a lot to like with Kazumo Okamoto. There’s not as much of the upside, but it does seem like he’s had a better market this whole time, and market dictates price. And so I would not be surprised at all if he was able to get a five-year deal because say a Suzuki and Masataku Yosha got fiveyear deals. Now if Kazuma Akamoto ends up on a two or three-year deal, I think that is indicative of a market that’s just not going to give years out to these free agent bats. And that will be telling when it comes to Cody Bellinger and Kyle Tucker guys who are at a different level of the market. But if teams are hesitant to give years, good luck getting 10 if you’re Kyle Tucker or getting seven or eight if you’re Cody Bellinger. A Heno Suarez is on the market right now. Does not have a clear position because yes, he’s a third baseman, but not a very good one. So, there are teams that probably just don’t want him to play third base. Can he move over and play first? Probably, but not something he’s done a lot of. So, there’s that question mark attached to him. And the guy who nearly hit 50 home runs had a brutal second half after getting traded. And so he does not have nearly the value that he did at the deadline where we were talking about him as like the best trade deadline bat ever dealt. Uh so it’ll be interesting to see what Gino Suarez gets. And that’s a guy you wonder would the Mets if the price drops enough jump in on Aenos Suarez and Orion O’Harn and play, you know, for obviously O’Harn is a first baseman, but maybe you play Gino over at first. Uh it’s going to be interesting to see what these other guys sign for and I do think there’s going to be some opportunities where the lack of a market is going to allow the Mets to hop on some deals at some point and get some really good players. Now you talk about the Jorge Palano contract and nobody coming into this free agent period would have thought that Jorge Palano would get more total dollars not even including the posting fee than Munitaka Morami because everyone thought Morakami was going to get a lot of years. Nobody also thought that Horge Palano was going to get $20 million a season. But again I just want to stress market dictates price and there was a healthy market for Jorge Palano. The Mariners really wanted Jorge Palano back. The Pirates really wanted Jorge Palano before they traded for Brandon Laauo after Palano signed with the Mets. So, there were a lot of teams that were in on Palanco off of his good season. There’s a lot less risk in a bat like Palano because you know that he’s going to translate to the big leagues and he’s coming off a good season. It’s coming off really three of the last four years being good seasons for him offensively. So, it it makes sense. It’s just kind of jarring. Uh both of these deals were when they were announced. No one really had Palano getting 20 million per and everybody had more economy getting more years than two. And if he was going to get a two-year deal, only 17 million per is a little bit surprising. But you also have to factor in the posting fee where I’m sure it gets a little bit closer to, you know, $20 million. I’m sure that the total commitment gets very close to $40 million. The biggest loser in all of this is Morakami’s uh previous team because I think it was it the the Yokult swallows. Uh regardless, they were expecting a posting fee a lot more significant than what he ends up getting here. And so they’re definitely the biggest losers in all this because, you know, they were probably counting on the, you know, close to $20 million posting fee potentially. Um, and it’s going to be significantly less than that. I don’t think the Mets fans should be upset that they didn’t jump in on this deal if there’s as much risk with the profile as clearly the industry thinks that this isn’t just the Mets that passed on giving this guy a better deal. This is, you know, 29 other teams or who knows how many teams were in it at the level that the White Socks were in it and they were the ultimate team that that ended up winning it out. But I don’t think this was a big miss for the Mets. Uh, but it does make me very curious what the market’s going to be for Aamoto and for AO Suarez and for even a Ryan O’Harn. If these are guys that hang out in the market for a while and ultimately it’s not going to cost much to get them, it would make some sense for the Mets to jump in. But you also have to wonder, depending on what they have to spend, if they’re trying to land a Cody Bellinger, if they’re trying to sign a Framber Valdez, depending on what else the Mets are trying to do on the market, maybe first base DH is not something they’re trying to address because maybe they feel like the combination of Mark Ventos, Ronnie Mauricio, uh Ryan Clifford that with the young players they have and Jorge Palano, they can fill first base and DH. That’s a distinct possibility. Or you could see them at DH signing back a Stling Marte for example for much less money and going that route of someone that doesn’t even help at first base and Jorge Palano is pretty much just the guy over there. We’ll see how it all shakes out. Definitely a surprising uh bomb to drop on us today that Morakami has signed with the White Socks for a two-year $34 million deal, but not one that I think should drastically change what the Mets are planning. I don’t think they’re ever very in on this. And I’ll be curious if they are in on a more well-rounded profile in Okamoto or if he signs with a different team uh for potentially another team friendly contract. We’ll see how it all shakes out. That’s going to be all for this edition of Locked On Mets. Appreciate all of you for tuning into the show. Make sure you follow, rate, and review your podcast. Subscribe if you’re watching on YouTube. And thank you for making Lock On Mets your first listen or your first watch every day.

The Chicago White Sox land Munetaka Murakami on a shockingly low $34 million deal, leaving fans questioning the slugging corner infielder market.

Did teams undervalue Murakami’s 80-grade power, or is MLB shifting away from long-term commitments for power-first bats?

Kazuma Okamoto’s upcoming contract further fuels speculation: Are teams reevaluating offensive talent versus defensive versatility?

Host Ryan Finkelstein breaks down the ripple effects of Murakami’s signing, discussing implications for the New York Mets’ roster strategy, Jorge Polanco’s market value, and the uncertain future for talent like Eugenio Suarez and Ryan O’Hearn.

With defensive concerns and positional fit reshaping free agency, should Mets fans be upset they missed out—or are smarter moves coming?

Don’t miss this sharp analysis of baseball’s evolving approach to high-risk, high-reward hitters.

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