Why signing Munetaka Murakami was a smart move for the White Sox

Yahoo Sports senior MLB analyst Jake Mintz is joined by Dani Wexelman to discuss the Chicago White Sox signing Munetaka Murakami and why it makes so much sense for their organization. Hear the full conversation on the “Baseball Bar-B-Cast” podcast – and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

Video Transcript

Munetaka Murakami, one of the most accomplished players in the history of Japanese baseball.

Has signed a two-year, $34 million deal with the Chicago.

White Sox, God’s team, the Pope’s club.

There are really two main stories.

In my mind, Dani, there’s the fit of Murakami with the White Sox.

And there is the contract, which is significantly smaller than anybody anticipated.

I want to start with the contract, because jaw- dropping.

Let’s be honest, any team could go get a guy for that amount of money.

All 30 teams could afford something like that.

The Pirates could afford something like that.

If the Rays wanted to be really crazy and find A creative way they probably could have brought him in.

And he’s headed to Illinois, to the Midwest, and it’s the Chicago White Sox.

Like, that’s incredible that they felt like they wanted to make the splash.

And the projections are always going to overshoot, right?

Everyone’s always going to over-project.

I think because he’s Japanese.

He’s a slugger; he hit 56 home runs.

He’s young, right?

There are, of course, red flags.

His red flags.

Right, the swing and miss, the end-zone contact rate.

Okay.

But let’s be honest, like, low, low risk, very high reward.

And the White Sox were willing to give him…

It’s, like, It’s, like, $40 million in total with that posting fee.

I salute Chris Getz and that entire front office for being the one team to take the Flyer on him.

For most of the history of players coming over, They were relatively finished products, right?

So, you would sign a Yu Darvish, and you would be like, Oh, there’s no development left here.

I mean, “We can always pull some levers, but he’s going to be in the rotation.”

This tells us that the Difference between a hitter and a pitcher coming over is so significant.

Right, that teams just feel more confident projecting how a pitcher’s gonna perform.

Because you have all that data.

And even though Murakami is young, teams just didn’t feel.

Comfortable giving out a ton of years for him, and so in the end, He ends up with the White Sox.

Uh, my I was sh Yeah.

I was shocked.

Why signing Munetaka Murakami was a smart move for the White Sox

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