Chicago White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami has been one of the better stories around baseball this season. After coming over from Japan this offseason, Murakami has showcased his talent early in the year, proving many teams wrong.
When Murakami came over, multiple teams across the league believed that his power wouldn’t translate to the big league level. Like many other Japanese hitters, Murakami struggled at times with increased velocity at the plate, and this caused organizations to look the other way in terms of signing him.
One of these teams was the San Diego Padres, who, like others, were concerned about his power problems. But it seems that San Diego was also in a spending freeze this winter, and this ended up causing them to not fully pursue the slugger, according to Jesse Rogers of ESPN.
“The San Diego Padres also liked him but were in a spending freeze for most of the winter, according to league sources,” Rogers wrote. “In fact, many teams believed adding Murakami would be ‘buying a DH,’ according to one National League executive.”
Added Jon Heyman of the New York Post: “The White Sox made the best free agent signing, getting Munetaka Murakami for $34M over two years. The Angels and Padres showed interest but couldn’t find the loot.”
On the year, Murakami has hit .237 with 15 home runs and 37 runs batted in, while posting an OPS of .948. The breakout star for the White Sox has proven himself in the big leagues, making just about every front office in MLB look bad in the process.
His two-year, $34 million contract with Chicago now looks like a steal, and teams such as the Padres are left wondering what could have been. Murakami could have been a perfect addition to the Padres lineup, which has been mising slug all year.
San Diego’s offense has been extremely inconsistent this season, despite manager Craig Stammen’s efforts to continuously tweak things. The White Sox took a gamble on Murakami, and it has paid off greatly for them so far, helping the team be much more competitive this season.
If Murakami were to keep up this type of performance at the plate over the next year and a half, he could be in line for a massive deal when he re-enters free agency. The Padres would likely be one of the teams going after him, and maybe the front office could rectify the mistake from this past winter.
The Padres’ spending freeze could come back to haunt them, especially with Murakami now taking the league by storm. But for now, San Diego will look at Murakami from afar and see if he can keep up this level of hitting moving forward.
