At 6 am Arizona time this morning, the clock started ticking on another Japanese import. Slugger Munetaka Murakami has been posted by his NPB team, the Yakult Swallows, with the official window for him
to negotiate a deal with a major-league team now open. The deadline for that is still some way off – he has until December 22 to come to terms. But we can expect a fever pitch of whispers, rumors, and rumors of whispers over the next month and a half, until his decision is made. Munetaka is likely the Japanese player with most power to make the jump, certainly since Hideki Matsui came over in 2003.
Indeed, through their age 25 seasons, Murakami has better home-run numbers. Matsui hit 204 over 853 games, while Murakami has 246 in 892 games. He will also be several years younger than ‘Godzilla’ was when he joined the Yankees: Matsui was approaching 29 when he played his first game, while Murakami will only recently have turned 26 on Opening Day next year. Because of his age, he will not be limited in the contract he can receive, in the way Roki Sasaki was last winter. It could well end up setting a new record for an Asian position player. Currently, the highest is Korea’s Jung Hoo Lee, who got a six-year contract worth $113 million from the Giants.
Given the way the past couple of Japanese players have gone, you might be forgiven for being a bit cynical about the whole process. Who can forget Roki Sazaki’s Instagram post when the utterly foregone conclusion of him joining LA came to pass. “It was a very difficult decision.“ Never has Japanese politeness seemed so thoroughly insincere. And BetOnline.ag have made the Dodgers the 3-1 favorites to sign Murakami (with, incidentally, the over/under on his contract being set at $129.5 million). The Diamondbacks are considered long-shots, all the way back at 33-1. Certainly, big guns like the Yankees, Mets, Mariners and Phillies will likely be among his suitors.
But there’s no doubt Murakami would fill an obvious need for Arizona. In Japan, he has been largely a third baseman, though also has experience at first, and some think that’s a better fit for him, long-term. Both these positions are spots on the diamond where the D-backs don’t have any immediate guarantees. Right now, it would be some combo of… uh, Blaze Alexander and Jordan Lawlar at the hot corner, with Pavin Smith and Tyler Locklear at first. The man who broke Sadaharu Oh’s record for single-season home runs by a Japanese native, would be a major upgrade at either spot.
However, there are reasons perhaps to be cautious. There’s no denying, Japanese players are the “in” thing right now, with the likes of Sasaki, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto all playing key roles in the Dodgers’ march to another World Series title. But at the risk of triggering D-backs fans, we remember the last time Arizona sought to leap on an apparently unstoppable bandwagon of foreign acquisitions. That led the team to sign Yasmany Tomas to a then-record sum for a Cuban player. It’s a deal which still ranks as the second-worst contract in franchise history, and I trust valuable lessons were learned as a result.
There are some other potential concerns. Murakami missed a lot of time in 2025 with an oblique injury – those can linger – and only appeared in 56 games. His peripherals have been trending in the wrong direction of late. Over his last full seasons, he struck out 180 times in 143 games. There’s also a suspicion he may be vulnerable to heat, and MLB pitchers throw significantly harder. In 2023, the last full campaign for which I could find comparable data, the average NPB fastball was 91.1 mph, three mph slower than in the majors. That sharp uptick in the velocity Murakami will face, would make any problem there considerably worse.
There is perhaps an alternative, who may be lower profile, but would consequently come cheaper. For Murakami is not the only Japanese corner infielder looking to try his talents out in America. Last month, the Yomiuri Giants announced that their 1B/3B, Kazuma Okamoto, will also be offered through the posting system this winter. He also has some pop, putting up six consecutive 30-homer seasons for Yomiuri, from 2018-23. Oddly, like Murakami, he also missed a good chunk of time due to injury this year, though this was due to an elbow injury suffered in a collision at first-base.
At age 29, Okamoto likely would not give a team the same long-term upside as with Murakami. His career batting average in NPB is actually fractionally better, at .277 vs. .270, but in both on-base and slugging percentage, Murakami is 30-40 points better. Still, it likely would not require as much of a commitment, either in years or dollars. However, it is a genuine question as to whether, given the limited resources available to Mike Hazen this winter, he would want to spend that money on additional offense. After all, the problem last year was definitely more the pitching conceding too many runs. That should be easier and cheaper to improve: a league average player would help.
However, there are potential options there too. While nothing has yet been officially announced. right-handed pitcher Tatsuya Imai may also become available. He had a spectacular 2025 campaign, with an ERA of 1.92 for the Seibu Lions across 163.2 innings, with a K:BB of 178:45. Now the bad news: he’s a Scott Bora$ client, so you know there are going to be no discount rates. Bringing back American players like Anthony Kay, who had a 1.74 ERA over 24 starts for Yokohama, could be another option. Or the team could also look to bolster their bullpen, as they previously did with Yoshihisa Hirano, who had a very successful 2018 campaign for Arizona.
It is the case that the D-backs are likely not going to be able to compete with bigger franchises, purely in dollar terms. However, they have to spend smarter not harder: part of that is looking for talent globally, and promoting what Arizona can offer – like a lower-pressure atmosphere than large markets. Hopefully, the team can execute, and leverage everything they have into good value on the field.
