Another big name is hitting the open market, as Nippon Professional Baseball’s Tokyo Yakult Swallows planned on officially posting Munetaka Murakami on Friday.

Starting Saturday, the Japanese masher will have 45 days to reach a deal with a major league team. If Murakami remains unsigned by 5 p.m. on Dec. 22, he will return to the Swallows.

One of several players expected to make the transition from NPB to MLB this winter, Murakami is expected to command a sizable contract after hitting 246 home runs with a .951 OPS over eight seasons in Tokyo. The 25-year-old’s best campaign came in 2022, when he crushed 56 dingers, breaking the single-season NPB home run record set by Sadaharu Oh (55) in 1964.

With tantalizing power, a high ceiling and youth on his side, Murakami’s free agency will draw widespread interest. However, the two-time Central League MVP is a questionable fit for the Yankees’ roster as presently constructed despite plenty of rumors and reports connecting the two sides over the last few years.

For one, the Yankees don’t have a place for the first and third baseman to play right now. They have the defensively stellar, light-hitting Ryan McMahon and his tough-to-move contract at third, while the sweet-swinging, cost-efficient Ben Rice, while capable of catching, is poised to be their regular first baseman.

Both are left-handed hitters, just like Murakami.

There are also serious concerns about Murakami’s defense at third. There’s a good chance he ends up at first base in the majors, and the Yankees also have Giancarlo Stanton clogging the DH spot.

And for all the pop he possesses — Murakami hit 22 home runs in 56 games this past season after being limited by an oblique injury — the 2022 NPB Triple Crown winner struck out a ton in a league with less velocity than he will face stateside. Murakami’s 28.6 K% was the fourth-highest among all NPB hitters with at least 220 plate appearances last year. His 28.8 K% since 2023 is also the fourth-highest.

Murakami’s propensity to swing and miss at pitches in the strike zone is a particular problem. His in-zone contact rate was just 72.6% in 2025, down from 77.1% during his record-breaking 2022 season.

For reference, former Yankee Joey Gallo, a strikeout machine, had a 70.6% in-zone contact rate for his career. The average MLB in-zone contact rate is 82.5%, and NPB sluggers typically see their contact numbers go down when they get to the majors.

None of that means Murakami won’t find offensive success in the U.S., but the Yankees would benefit from a little more contact in their lineup (that’s not to say they should completely abandon the slugging approach that made them baseball’s top offense in 2025).

The Yankees would also love to reestablish their presence in the Japanese market, which the Dodgers have dominated and made millions off of in recent years. Landing an NPB star like Murakami would help along those lines, but he still has to make sense roster-wise.

There will be other Japanese players that the Yankees can target, as Kazuma Okamoto and Tatsuya Imai are among those expected to join Murakami in international free agency.

A right-handed hitter who can play the corner infield spots, Okamoto hits for more contact. However, he may look for a team that can assure him a solidified starting spot after starring for the Yomiuri Giants, the same NPB team that employed Hideki Matsui before he became a Yankees great.

Imai, still waiting for the Saitama Seibu Lions to officially agree to post him, would be the best Japanese pitcher available. A righty, he has a fastball that is typically in the 95-mph range, as well as a slider and splitter. He would add depth to a Yankees rotation that has a bunch of arms but will begin the season with Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón and Clarke Schmidt on the injured list.