With the departure of Pete Alonso, the Mets have a challenge ahead of them to rebuild their offense without their longtime first baseman. One potential option for the club has a limited time frame, with Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami’s window for signing with a major league club expiring at 5pm ET on Monday, December 22.
Our Steve Sypa wrote up an extensive profile of Murakami, highlighting both the potential benefits (huge power potential) and pitfalls (contact rate, health) of his game. To get
a full picture of the pros and cons of Murakami’s game, Steve’s piece is a must read.
Murakami represents a philosophical question for the Mets in a number of ways. While there have been obvious successes for players coming over from Nippon Professional Baseball, for every Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui, or Shohei Ohtani, there are plenty of examples of players who simply never make the adjustment to the American game.
But beyond that, the Mets also have to make decisions about blocking some of their young players. While Jorge Polanco’s signing is such that he could fill any number of roles for the Mets, Murakami is seen as basically a first baseman/designated hitter at this point in his career, with his arm being unlikely to play at third.
If the Mets believe in Ryan Clifford at first in the future, it doesn’t make sense to block him with a player who is unlikely to play elsewhere aside from perhaps at DH. Similarly, if Mark Vientos still has any value left in the organization, Murakami would seem to be somewhat of a redundant piece. But if they believe in his left-handed bat enough, he represents a player that costs no prospect capital and would likely sign for less than market value of similar MLB players.
That said, the upside to Murakami is fairly spectacular. He’s only 25, and despite his injury issues, still has a while to go before reaching his physical peak, and he’s already had a few truly great seasons. While there is no reason to expect a carbon copy of his best season from 2022, if Murakami could put up a facsimile of that .318/.458/.710, 56 home runs, 118 walks, 134 RBI season, it would be a huge boon to the team.
The big question, as it was with Alonso, is going to be length of contact. If Murakami is willing to gamble on himself and sign a short-term deal to prove is value, there’s every reason to think an MLB team will be in the discussion. David Stearns at one point was interested enough in Murakami to fly to Japan to scout him in person, so the Mets make sense as a destination for his services.
With the White Sox, Pirates, Mariners, Red Sox, Padres, and Mets still rumored to be in on him, there seems to be plenty of interest for Murakami’s skills despite the question marks in his game. Unlike so many free agents, we know when this decision will be made, and so will know where Murakami lands on Monday evening.
