One of the biggest surprises of the offseason was the White Sox landing Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami on a two-year, $34 million contract.
It was so uncharacteristic for the White Sox that Chris Getz admitted during Murakami’s introductory press conference that he worked closely with the club’s marketing team to persuade Jerry Reinsdorf of Murakami’s significant international impact, helping push the deal across the finish line.
Weeks later, Getz gave further insight into just how close the deal came to falling through during an interview with MLB.com. According to Scott Merkin, in the early morning hours of December 20, Getz was on a Zoom call with Murakami’s representatives from Excel Sports Management. The call wrapped up just after midnight, prompting Getz to call Reinsdorf with the good news: Murakami had agreed to join the White Sox.
But the deal took months of groundwork. In the middle of the 2025 season, David Keller, the White Sox’s top international scout, traveled to Japan. Getz said that he and Keller discussed the top talent expected to be available in the offseason and circled Murakami as a potential target. At the time, however, Getz admitted he didn’t believe it was a realistic option.
Signing free agents from the Pacific Rim is rare for Chicago; the last Japanese-born player to wear a White Sox uniform was Kosuke Fukudome, who appeared in just 24 games during the 2012 season. Murakami was also rumored to be in line for a massive payday, likely outside the White Sox’s typical budget.
Still, Murakami was widely regarded as one of the most captivating players entering free agency. In eight seasons with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, he compiled 246 home runs, drove in 647 RBIs, won two MVP awards, and led Nippon Professional Baseball in home runs, RBIs, walks, slugging percentage, and OPS.
At just 25 years old, he was also the youngest free agent on the market and already carried a proven track record, hitting 36 homers as a teenager in 2019 before following that up with a 56-home run season in 2022, breaking the record for a Japanese-born player.
When free agency opened, Getz still felt the odds were long. The organization continued evaluating other first-base options, knowing that any deal could potentially take them out of the Murakami sweepstakes.
Confidence began to build during the final week of Murakami’s 45-day posting window. On December 18, Getz spoke with Murakami’s representatives and resumed discussions the following night. Those talks extended into Saturday morning, December 20, when Getz realized the deal was done.
Finalizing the contract required a flurry of last-minute effort. The White Sox needed to complete Murakami’s physical on short notice, so Getz reportedly called in a favor to a friend at a hospital to secure an MRI. He also consulted with Chief Marketing Officer Brooks Boyer to understand the potential business impact of signing Murakami before taking the final proposal to Reinsdorf.
From a marketing standpoint, international stars can be transformative. The Dodgers, for example, reportedly recouped much of their investment in Shohei Ohtani within just two seasons of his 10-year, $700 million contract, largely due to the surge of attention and fan interest from Japan. While Murakami isn’t as dynamic as Ohtani, he is still a proven star—one who delivered a clutch walk-off double against Mexico in the World Baseball Classic to send Japan to the championship game.
Murakami’s two-year contract cost the organization $40.5 million, carrying an average annual value of $17 million, in addition to a $6.575 million posting fee paid to the Yakult Swallows for his transfer to Chicago.
By the early hours of December 20, after the Zoom call concluded, the deal was officially in place, capping months of careful planning and signaling the White Sox’s rare move into the international free-agent market.
