![\"Munetaka](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/munetaka-murakami-team-japan.jpg\")
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(Photo by Eric Espada\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The sweepstakes for Japanese free agent Munetaka Murakami, who is linked to the Boston Red Sox<\/a> and Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> among several other teams, is reaching its final days, with his MLB<\/a> posting window ending on December 22. There have been plenty of teams connected to the power hitter, but nothing concrete in terms of a favorite to land the player. <\/p>\n Murakami appeared in only 56 games this season due to an oblique injury, but still managed 22 home runs, posting a .273\/.379\/.663\u00a0slash line.\u00a0The question surrounding him is whether he can translate what has made him successful in Japan into the major leagues.<\/p>\n On December 12, MLB Network insider Jon Morosi shared the latest on Murakami as the window to sign him dwindles.<\/p>\n \u201cMurakami is of interest to teams like the Red Sox, the Mariners, the Tigers, the Phillies, the Mets<\/a>, the Blue Jays, a lot of different teams,\u201d Morosi said on MLB Network<\/a>. \u201cThe Pirates<\/a>, I have been told, are connected to Murakami.\u00a0If you want to sign Murakami, you only have 10 more days to do it. And so if the [Alex] Bregman market is going to continue into the new year, and if you\u2019re thinking about Bregman or the power of Murakami. <\/p>\n \u201cAll the power that he\u2019s had in the past, the 56-homer season, a really intriguing lefty bat. Yeah, there\u2019s some swing and miss, but he\u2019s a guy that a lot of teams like. You can\u2019t wait forever on Bregman because Murakami is no longer a secondary option once you get past December 22.\u201d<\/p>\n Why Red Sox Could Be Hesitating on Munetaka Murakami<\/p>\n In a December 5 ESPN article<\/a>, Buster Olney notes that although the player shows considerable potential, teams remain hesitant. This could help explain why he has not signed a contract during his posting window so far.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of talk among teams about Murakami, the free agent corner infielder who is making his way from Japan \u2014 and skepticism, in some front offices, about how his skill set will play in the big leagues, given his big swing-and-miss profile and the perception that his defense could be a problem,\u201d Olney wrote. \u201cBut all he needs in this bidding is for one team (or more) to fall in love with his big-time power.\u201d<\/p>\n Mariners Seen as a Fit for Munetaka Murakami<\/p>\n Right after the offseason began, the Seattle Mariners<\/a> acted quickly to lock up a familiar face. Seattle re-signed Josh Naylor to a five-year deal, keeping him in the Pacific Northwest. With that move complete, MLB insider Mark Feinsand thinks Murakami should be the Mariners\u2019 next priority.<\/p>\n \u201cI know everybody loves to connect Japanese free agents to the Mariners because of the Ichiro [Suzuki] connection, but they haven\u2019t really dipped into that market very heavily in the last 10 to 15 years,\u201d\u00a0Feinsand said in a video from the MLB Network posted on December 5<\/a>. \u201cThey had some guys earlier in the century, but not recently.<\/p>\n \u201cThat said, Murakami is a great fit there. They need to replace Eugenio Su\u00e1rez at third base \u2014 big power bat. Murakami was one of the best home run hitters in Japan. It seems like a good fit.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tEduardo Razo<\/a> Eduardo Razo is a sports journalist covering the NFL for Heavy.com. He previously covered the league for NBC Sports Washington and NBC Sports Bay Area & California, and has contributed as a freelance writer for The Sporting News. He also served as an editor for Athlon Sports and Heavy Sports focusing on MLB and the NFL. More about Eduardo Razo<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Red Sox\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty (Photo by Eric Espada\/Getty Images) The sweepstakes for Japanese free agent Munetaka Murakami, who is linked to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-342310","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}