Munetaka Murakami came into the offseason as one of the more intriguing names on the free agent market. He slotted in at No. 4 on our annual Top 50 MLB Free Agents list. Despite Murakami’s prolific power in NPB, the reported interest around the young slugger was minimal as the winter progressed. The White Sox and Red Sox were among the only known suitors. Murakami ultimately went to Chicago on a modest two-year, $34MM deal.
The Diamondbacks were among the teams interested in Murakami, reports John Gambadoro of 98.7 Arizona Sports. Gambadoro added that the former Japanese star was “one of a few of the Asian players” the Diamondbacks were considering. He didn’t mention any other names, but the free agent market includes several notable players making the jump stateside, including Tatsuya Imai and Kazuma Okamoto. MLBTR’s Anthony Franco predicted Okamoto would sign with Arizona in the aforementioned Top 50 FAs piece.
Arizona’s connection to Murakami makes sense given the state of the club’s corner infield spots. First baseman Josh Naylor and third baseman Eugenio Suarez were dealt to Seattle in separate deals at the trade deadline. That left Pavin Smith and Tyler Locklear (who came over in the Suarez trade) to handle the majority of the first base reps. Blaze Alexander stepped in as the primary third baseman.
Top prospect Jordan Lawlar is slated to step in at the hot corner in 2026, but first base is a question mark. Locklear had surgery on both his left elbow and shoulder in October. He’s a candidate to begin the season on the injured list. That leaves Smith and utilityman Tim Tawa as the current options at first base. Arizona finished with the 5th-lowest OPS at the position last season. With Murakami off the board, the club could look to pursue at least a right-handed complement to Smith, and perhaps an upgrade altogether.
On the pitching side, Gambadoro mentioned he expects the team to look into the closer market. Arizona will be without top closers Justin Martinez and A.J. Puk for the majority of the season. Both relievers had Tommy John surgery in June. The current closer mix is an uninspiring group that includes Andrew Saalfrank, Ryan Thompson, and Kevin Ginkel.
Arizona’s bullpen ranked 25th in xFIP and 28th in SIERA last season. The club had a whopping 17 pitchers record saves in 2025. Shelby Miller led the way with 10 saves. He was dealt to Milwaukee at the trade deadline. The Diamondbacks had four saves in the final month of the season, and they went to four different pitchers (Jake Woodford, Taylor Rashi, Kyle Backhus, John Curtiss).
Martinez and Puk won’t be out forever, so Arizona doesn’t need a long-term solution. The reliever market is beginning to thin out, but there are still a handful of options with closing experience available. Seranthony Dominguez, Ryan Pressly, or Chad Green could make sense as short-term closers who have been setup men in the past. Arizona’s Opening Day closer will likely slot in behind Martinez and Puk once they return, so experience in the 7th and 8th innings would be useful.
Elsewhere in the NL West, former Giants infielder Jae-gyun Hwang announced his retirement (h/t to J.P. Hoornstra of The Big Lead). Hwang had spent the last eight seasons with the KT Wiz of KBO. He’d been in professional baseball since 2007.
Hwang made the jump to MLB in 2017 after a decade in KBO. He signed a split contract with the Giants in January that year. Hwang posted decent results in Triple-A, hitting .285 with 10 home runs and seven steals across 98 games. He was up and down a couple of times with the big-league club, with unimpressive results. Hwang went 8-for-52 in 18 games with the Giants. He did launch a home run for his first MLB hit, taking Kyle Freeland deep in his third career at-bat.
Hwang was outrighted off the 40-man roster in September 2017. After his lone season with the Giants, the Wiz lured him back to KBO with a four-year, $7.9MM deal. He was a well-above-average hitter for the duration of the agreement and remained productive at the plate for the rest of his career, including a 94 wRC+ as a 37-year-old in his final season.
We at MLBTR wish Hwang the best in his future endeavours beyond baseball.
Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images
What a world! $34MM is a “modest” deal for an MLB tryout ….
Get with the times, chico
Kid is worth more of an investment imo, so yeah that’s pretty modest.
kod – Yamamoto signed for a $325M “tryout”, so yeah $34M is quite modest.
Is this your first season?
Im guessing teams were few because they predict he will have a hard time batting in the mlb
He’ll figure out how to handle MLB pitching.
Even if it’s just a .200 average.
Maybe it was the only offer he had and his deadline was fast approaching.
I dont think his approach lends itself to hitting high fastballs / inside fastballs, with how he holds his hands so far out from his body.
Similar to Julio Franco. Franco had problems with the high heater too. Franco also hit .298 for his career and could make the adjustment but that was his “cold” zone.
Pitchers didnt throw the heater back then like they do now.
It will be interesting to see how he fairs against the high heater.
When you have Bregman asking for 40 million per annum, the deal for a *potential* 30 homer guy who is in his prime looks modest/good. Obviously, he is betting on himself by going to a Rebuilding team where the pressure is less. Personally, I think the Red Sox « fluffed » this as it would/could have solved 2 problems in 1 go – need for a 3B and a short term deal for a power bat. After, maybe they did offer more or longer . At the end of the day it’s the player’s decision where he signs if he has multiple offers .
@French, The RedSox have no intention of signing anyone. They’re going with what they got and seeing what happens. The only way fans can show their displeasure is to cancel tv, not buy merchandise and don’t go to games. The and only then will their wallet open. Making money is the watchword in Sox nation.
The Red Sox just took on a one year, $40 million commitment to Sonny Gray (which they can stretch to 2 years for an extra $25 million).
They’ve committed $170 million to Garret Crochet as a floor amount – there are further escalators for top 10 mvp finishes.
They are blessed with a deep young OF (no need to throw away money there), and they still owe a minimum of $55 million to Trevor Story for the next 2 seasons of what’s left of a $100 million+ commitment.
You’re acting like the Red Sox are the Pittsburgh Pirates – which flies in the face of reality.
Forgot the $41.5 million they just took on for 2 years of Willson Contreras at 1B (they can get a third year for an extra $12.5 million).
dos – Sorry bro, that’s incorrecto.
Red Sox are paying Gray just $11M this season, and they can buy out next year’s option for an additional $10M. Therefore the Sox are on the hook for $21M only, not $40M.
So they replaced Buehler’s $22.5M contract with Gray’s $21M contract., and they replaced Giolito’s $19.25M salary with Oviedo’s $2M salary.
They also have yet to replace Matz’s $12.5M salary or Wilson’s $3M salary.
Add it all up, they have reduced the pitching staff payroll by approx $34M.
Sure there’s plenty of time to spend more, but so far at least on the pitching side they have been extremely CHEAP.
May fortune been your favor in your future endeavors Hwang.
“experience in the 7th and 8th innings would be useful.”
Why do people think like this?
“Red Sox were known suitors” from Article
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Im not saying the Red Sox didnt kick the tires, but saying they were a “suitor” has to be an exaggeration. If they had any real interest, they could have easily beaten the WS offer. The reality is they didnt need another Left-Handed DH type who strikes out too much. No matter how desperate for HRs they are.
He would have solved the 3B issue at half the AAV and a third of the length off what Bregman wants. Where you are right is that we DONT KNOW if his power and K-rate translates to the MLB. That’s one of the risks of signing a known but unknown talent. But 17 million on a 2 year deal is way better than 200 million over 5 to a guy who could have stayed if he *liked the setup*
You think they wanted another Left handed hitter? Even though they clearly are targeting RH hitters.
A poor Defender? When every other move they’ve made is to improve defense (Bregman, Narvaez, Devers, Contreras).
More strikeouts? 23rd poorest in the league in 2025, you think they want to add more.
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28 other teams said no thanks. Red Sox clearly did too. And rightly so. Okamoto is a much more likely target.
There was no chance they were interested. If they thought he was better than Contreras, they’d have signed him.
They’re in on everyone and sign no one.No longer a big market team, money making yes.
Again, since you keep repeating yourself
They just took on $61 million in commitments to Gray and Contreras with options that take those 2 to just under $100 million.
Does that not count in your world?
Still $170 million owed to Crochet and $55 million owed to Story.
they’re happy to make money. winning is secondary.
short term does not faze this club.. it;s the long term that wreaks havoc
Hwang’s first mlb hit was a home run off Kyle Freeland? Did he run right out of the batters box?
He deff got the “POWA”💪🏼