Toronto Blue Jays Linked To Japanese Infielder Munetaka Murakami

[Matthew Lenz]

The Toronto Blue Jays will have money to spend this winter and have choices to make on how they spend it. The team will undoubtedly try to bring back infielder Bo Bichette while also targeting pitching. However, a Japanese infielder who was recently posted may also be in the fold.

Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet has linked the Toronto Blue Jays to Japanese infielder Munetaka Murakami. As of the posting of this, teams will have 44 days to reach an agreement with the superstar from Japan.

The 25-year-old Munetaka profiles as a big bat with a decent amount of swing-and-miss. Do you think the Blue Jays should target him?

View full rumor

[hanton]

another DH, maybe if they find a way to move Santander

[Jonn]

His power is intriguing but his numbers falling off a cliff when he faces fastballs over 93 MPH is concerning. I mean the average MLB Fastball was over 94 this Season.

Huge whiff rate vs velocity and breaking balls. Crushes everything else. Perhaps Popkins can help fix his swing but I don’t know if you want to shell out the money he is going to command for a project. He’s also unlikely to play 3B at the next level.

[thatoneguy]

Not this s*** again before he ultimately signs with the Dodgers.

[abola2121]

f*** that, let him sign with LA.

We need Imai far more than this guy

[SeranthonySantander]

I don’t want any Japanese players.  You commit too much money and they like to gamble.  They are addicted to it.  If you commit to one and they get suspended for gambling then you have to fill that hole.

[VladdyAlomar]

2 hours ago, SeranthonySantander said:

I don’t want any Japanese players.  You commit too much money and they like to gamble.  They are addicted to it.  If you commit to one and they get suspended for gambling then you have to fill that hole.

Honestly the Asian players should be banned from MLB. I think MLB should only be "The Americas". It's like men competing in women's sports.

[SeranthonySantander]

17 minutes ago, VladdyAlomar said:

Honestly the Asian players should be banned from MLB. I think MLB should only be "The Americas". It's like men competing in women's sports.

Either that or the dodgers can go join the NPB
 

[Scionz]

I'm not falling for this a fourth time...

[bronson44]

Okamoto is interesting too. Lower ceiling but higher floor. better defense (I think he can even play some outfield), better strikeout rate, cheaper.

[jmomcc]

He supposedly has true 80 grade power. Its all about if you look at his swing and see a way to get to more contact, and think he can play third. 

That's one too many variable for me. 

[Joltin Joe]

4 hours ago, Matthew Lenz said:

The Toronto Blue Jays will have money to spend this winter and have choices to make on how they spend it. The team will undoubtedly try to bring back infielder Bo Bichette while also targeting pitching. However, a Japanese infielder who was recently posted may also be in the fold.

Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet has linked the Toronto Blue Jays to Japanese infielder Munetaka Murakami. As of the posting of this, teams will have 44 days to reach an agreement with the superstar from Japan.

The 25-year-old Munetaka profiles as a big bat with a decent amount of swing-and-miss. Do you think the Blue Jays should target him?

 

View full rumor

 

Doesn't Barger do that ?

[Spanky__99]

Too many red flags with this guy, the Slg is intriguing but the risk far outweighs this type of move.

[G-Snarls]

IDK 

Fine with keeping Bo and adding another starter and closer 

I also think Santander bounces back big this year 

[Terminator]

The upside with this guy is crazy. He could be Schwarber with the stick and he might be able to stick at 3B. And you’d get him in his prime years.

Jays need to do their due diligence on him but if it checks out they should try to get him. I don’t think the Dodgers have a spot for him so we might have a chance. 

[Nexii]

I can't wait for the Jays to be 'linked' to just about every FA on the entire market this offseason

[hanton]

LA can't fix him, LA has no room

[jmomcc]

1 hour ago, Terminator said:

The upside with this guy is crazy. He could be Schwarber with the stick and he might be able to stick at 3B. And you’d get him in his prime years.

Jays need to do their due diligence on him but if it checks out they should try to get him. I don’t think the Dodgers have a spot for him so we might have a chance. 

It just seems so much has to be right with no floor. Like if he doesn't stick at third he can't play first for us. Some of the scouting reports i've seen doubt whether he can even play first. You'd almost have to toy with the idea of playing vlad at third. 

Then the big comp is joey gallo as in gallo is the only guy who swung and missed that much who turned out to be a success. There is talk that he needs to shorten his swing. And even that he might be strongside platoon year one while he acclimates. 

It's a lot. Maybe if the price is right but i don't see how a team with a clear need at first doesn't outbid us. Seattle for example. 

[hanton]

3 hours ago, Scionz said:

I'm not falling for this a fourth time...

s*** is it really the 4th?  lol

[Spanky__99]

35 minutes ago, hanton said:

LA can't fix him, LA has no room

If LA wants him, Muncy's remaining one year deal won't curb it, they'd just move him.

[hanton]

2 minutes ago, Spanky__99 said:

If LA wants him, Muncy's remaining one year deal won't curb it, they'd just move him.

corner outfield, he can't be worse than Teo

 

[Terminator]

52 minutes ago, jmomcc said:

It just seems so much has to be right with no floor. Like if he doesn't stick at third he can't play first for us. Some of the scouting reports i've seen doubt whether he can even play first. You'd almost have to toy with the idea of playing vlad at third. 

Then the big comp is joey gallo as in gallo is the only guy who swung and missed that much who turned out to be a success. There is talk that he needs to shorten his swing. And even that he might be strongside platoon year one while he acclimates. 

It's a lot. Maybe if the price is right but i don't see how a team with a clear need at first doesn't outbid us. Seattle for example. 

Yeah I agree he’s risky, that’s why I mentioned the Jays needing to do their due diligence. I’d only want them to sign him if they felt confident that they could help him make the adjustments to MLB pitching and that his defense was good enough to stick at 3B for a couple of years.

I don’t know anything about swing changes and can only rely on what I read with regard to his defense. But I trust that the Jays FO can evaluate those things and if they like him I hope they are aggressive.  

Also, I’m not worried about outbidding the Mariners for anyone. They are notoriously cheap! 

[Terminator]

1 hour ago, Spanky__99 said:

If LA wants him, Muncy's remaining one year deal won't curb it, they'd just move him.

Good point Spanky. If the Dodgers are even mildly interested I’m out. He’ll sign there for 70 cents on the dollar if the Dodgers come calling. 

[Stangstag]

I have 0 interest in this dude and im pretty sure the front office doesn’t either. 

[glory]

Know nothing about this guy but reading about him makes him sound like the least likely Jays target out there. 

[Brownie19]

9 hours ago, Jonn said:

His power is intriguing but his numbers falling off a cliff when he faces fastballs over 93 MPH is concerning. I mean the average MLB Fastball was over 94 this Season.

Huge whiff rate vs velocity and breaking balls. Crushes everything else. Perhaps Popkins can help fix his swing but I don’t know if you want to shell out the money he is going to command for a project. He’s also unlikely to play 3B at the next level.

I wonder if part of this is simply because he doesn't see high velo as consistently as ML players do.  Obviously the big question is can he adjust or not.

[SeranthonySantander]

At this point we get him just to say we got 1 of em.  It's like boardwalk and park place.  You get one and hes not that valuable, but you get Imai too, thats monopoly.  Well that's what worked for the dodgers anyway.  These little f***ers don't even know what their missing by not coming to Toronto.

[G-Snarls]

1 hour ago, glory said:

Know nothing about this guy but reading about him makes him sound like the least likely Jays target out there. 

Yeah he just doesn't seem like a likely target at all 

[Spanky__99]

1 hour ago, SeranthonySantander said:

At this point we get him just to say we got 1 of em.  It's like boardwalk and park place.  You get one and hes not that valuable, but you get Imai too, thats monopoly.  Well that's what worked for the dodgers anyway.  These little f***ers don't even know what their missing by not coming to Toronto.

Give me 6 of what you're on, man, lol.

[BlueJays]

Is this basically a Japanese Schwarber? No, thanks.