{"id":56972,"date":"2025-05-23T08:04:50","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T08:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=56972"},"modified":"2025-05-23T08:04:50","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T08:04:50","slug":"ex-mlb-gm-links-red-sox-to-japanese-power-hitting-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=56972","title":{"rendered":"Ex-MLB GM Links Red Sox To Japanese Power-Hitting Star"},"content":{"rendered":"<article id=\"post-2030524\"><!--?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ??--><!--?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ??-->Triston Casas\u2019 season-ending knee injury exposed the lack of depth the Boston Red Sox have at first base.<\/p>\n<p>But could the Red Sox find a solution to that issue in the free agent market in the offseason?<\/p>\n<p>Former MLB general manager turned analyst Jim Bowden believes there\u2019s an answer for the Red Sox out there in Japanese power-hitting corner infielder\/outfielder Munetaka Murakami.<\/p>\n<p>Bowden noted reports out of Japan suggest the 25-year-old Murakami could leave Nippon Professional Baseball following this season and be ready to make his MLB debut in 2026. Murakami\u2019s elite power is eye-catching, especially when looking at his 2022 campaign when he won the Triple Crown by batting a career-best .318 with 56 home runs \u2014 a NPB single-season record \u2014 and 134 RBIs.<\/p>\n<p>That wasn\u2019t just a flash in the pan season from Murakami, either. The left-handed slugger has belted at least 30 home runs in four straight seasons.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Murakami figures to be commanding a lot of attention if he hits MLB\u2019s open market and Bowden sees the Red Sox being in the mix for him.<\/p>\n<figure>https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/4y69aNqdShgxo9NmKSSpbe<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cMurakami profiles as a .240 to .260 type hitter in MLB with legitimate 30-home run power,\u201d Bowden wrote. \u201cDefensively, he\u2019s below average at third base and adequate at first base. He\u2019s also played some left field this season for the first time in his career. Teams such as the Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers (if they\u2019re OK with him at third base), Mariners, Rangers and Padres should be interested in Murakami if he becomes a free agent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Red Sox could plug Murakami in at multiple spots next season. Alex Bregman has an opt-out in his contract so he could potentially say goodbye to Boston after one year and it\u2019s unclear when Casas will be ready to return after rupturing his patellar tendon. If Bregman leaves, the Red Sox could move Devers back to third base and put Murakami at designated hitter as well.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of where they would play him, it would be worth it to have a hitter like Murakami in the Red Sox lineup next season.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Red Sox could make a splash in free agency next offseason by pursuing a Triple Crown-winning power hitter from Japan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":56973,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ex-MLB GM Links Red Sox To Japanese Power-Hitting Star - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=56972\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ex-MLB GM Links Red Sox To Japanese Power-Hitting Star - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Red Sox could make a splash in free agency next offseason by pursuing a Triple Crown-winning power hitter from Japan.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=56972\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-23T08:04:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/avtvip-14-4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=56972\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=56972\",\"name\":\"Ex-MLB GM Links Red Sox To Japanese Power-Hitting Star - NEWS USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=56972#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=56972#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/avtvip-14-4.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-23T08:04:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-23T08:04:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=56972#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=56972\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=56972#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/avtvip-14-4.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/avtvip-14-4.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":900},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=56972#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ex-MLB GM Links Red Sox To Japanese Power-Hitting Star\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"NEWS USA\",\"description\":\"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec\",\"name\":\"MrThanh\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MrThanh\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=6\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ex-MLB GM Links Red Sox To Japanese Power-Hitting Star - NEWS USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=56972","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ex-MLB GM Links Red Sox To Japanese Power-Hitting Star - NEWS USA","og_description":"The Red Sox could make a splash in free agency next offseason by pursuing a Triple Crown-winning power hitter from Japan.","og_url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=56972","og_site_name":"NEWS USA","article_published_time":"2025-05-23T08:04:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/avtvip-14-4.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"MrThanh","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MrThanh","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=56972","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=56972","name":"Ex-MLB GM Links Red Sox To Japanese Power-Hitting Star - NEWS USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=56972#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=56972#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/avtvip-14-4.jpg","datePublished":"2025-05-23T08:04:50+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-23T08:04:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=56972#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=56972"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=56972#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/avtvip-14-4.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/avtvip-14-4.jpg","width":900,"height":900},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=56972#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ex-MLB GM Links Red Sox To Japanese Power-Hitting Star"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/","name":"NEWS USA","description":"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec","name":"MrThanh","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MrThanh"},"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=6"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56972"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56974,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56972\/revisions\/56974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/56973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}