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This is nothing but a huge positive for the Sox and their fans. I don't care to hear about anything negative related to this. This signing combined with getting the No1 pick has been more than welcome positive news and no fan base deserves this more than White Sox nation.

Lmao

We can all stand to take a hint from Muni

You put Sosa in Cincy and he’s a 30 homer 2nd baseman

They don’t have anywhere near enough pitching to compete if they kept Robert. None of this is about 2026.

Go look at Baltimore’s return for Mullens at the deadline. Those were the Robert offers before. Basically nothing. This is much better

Yes, high profile Japanese talent Jorge Polanco. Totally the same thing.

Kyle Tucker.

Count me in as another person done with the Robert era. I’m over gambling on the resurgence and don’t want to be left holding the bag of just paying him to continue to be bad on a bad team. Get what you can and continue to turn the page of the dreadful past few years of this organization. Jerry needs to not be Jerry and eat $ to maximize the return though

Burke was in the 11th percentile in pitching run value. 25th in fastball run value (his best pitch), 4th in off speed run value. Walk rate was in the 15th percentile and barrel rate the 17th. Fastball ranks in the bottom 15% in multiple metrics available (stuff+, value added). After the first time through the order, the league had an 813 ops and he had a 4.81 era. Compare that to the first time through where Burke allows a 737 ops with a 3.4 era. Worst though, his first time through he struck out 66 guys in 252 batters faced. The second+ time, he only struck out 67 guys in 344 batters faced. That was with some good batted ball luck too the second time through which is pretty crazy to think about. Burke stinks. I hate breaking seasons up and finding good periods. It exists with every pitcher in the game. You are the culmination of your stuff throughout a season. His stuff stinks, and he stinks. When I use that word I mean relative to the rest of the actual mlb starters.

Petty couldn’t have been worse last year. I would hate it if he was the key part coming back.

Gimme that draft pick.

This honestly isn't a terrible add. He has solid K% & BB% at AAA, steals a crap ton of SB's too. Better than many of the stiffs they've had stashed in Charlotte last few years.

From a WAR perspective, the collective output of some of the worst bats who saw considerable playing time - Vaughn, Rojas, Palacios, Amaya put up a whopping -6.0 WAR, while Civale and Cannon accounted for another -1.0 WAR on the starting pitching side. Replacing those with Murakami, and current projected bench players Sosa, Lee, Hill who all were on positive side of the WAR ledger, along with Kay who should at least be better than Civale or Cannon, could be a 10 WAR swing in itself. What I had noted in the OP, beyond Kay, we need a solid #2 or 3 type of guy along with another late inning high leverage arm to make this at least a respectable staff. Of course, a bit part of getting back to playing winning baseball would rely some of the other young, core guys taking another step forward, and building a winning and competitive culture in the clubhouse to maximize the talent on the roster. This to me would be the biggest factor in how fast this team can get back on track. I was using the 2022 Orioles as an example, but of course that level of win increase doesn’t happen often. However I do see the pieces being in place along with 1 or 2 more key FA additions that could make it a possibility.

Presser has me fired up. Mune ends it by saying "let's get to work." Guys who have accomplished what he has want to be good. I believe he'll work hard to make adjustments to eventually be good. It may be like Ohtani where it takes a little time and the Sox may not get his absolute peak, but I love the storyline. Much better than hoping O'Hearn's fade will be gradual, as far as entertainment value.

Call him Mune

So much of the last rebuild had planned around the competitive window starting around 2020 when young guys like Moncada, Eloy, Robert, Cease, Kopech, and Dunning supplementing vets like Abreu, TA, Gio, and Reylo. But players failed to live up to the hype and/or stay healthy, clubhouse lacked leadership, team also got expensive quickly with no one from the farm ready to step up, and the window was slammed close before you know it. As for the current direction of this team, initially many had expected that this team couldn’t compete until 2028 at the earliest given the historically bad the 2024 team. Twelve months later, with the arrival of Colton, Teel, and Quero, supplemented by a couple of solid, if unspectacular young bats, in Vargas, Sosa, and Baldwin, and hitting a homerun with the Rule 5 pick of Smith, and top prospects poised for getting the call, Sox looks like they have a chance to compete by 2027. My question here is could the Sox be competitive even in 2026, play .500 or better ball and stay in the WC hunt for better part of the summer? Some of this could reactionary to having Murakami on the roster for next 2 years, and huge question mark on whether he even makes this team any better. But if say a couple of young hitters takes a step forward, the likes of Burke, Martin, and Cannon continue to put up 4.20 ish ERA despite questionable peripherals, and we get second half re-enforcements from likes of Braden, Schultz, Hagen, Thorpe, how far off is this team from being .500 team or slightly better? I’m using 2022 Orioles as a recent comp. They got a +31 win YoY (52 to 83) with arrival of Adley and increased contributions from younger guys having mini breakout (Santander, Urias, Mateo), and going from the worst rotation in the league to having a below average one. They then went on to win 101 games in 2023 with arrival of Gunnar. As it stands the 2026 Sox is sitting at $96M payroll factoring all the benefits, that’s about $40M lower than their 2024 OD payroll for context. It’s not crazy to imagine having room to spend on a #2 or 3 starter along with a late inning option to solidify the bullpen, especially with some level of financial backing from Ishbia this year. If we could do just that, this team could become competitive a lot sooner than we had originally thought, perhaps as early as this year. If there is one thing the last rebuild has taught us, expected the unexpected, the “competitive window” could come and go a lot sooner than what we’re planning for, we need to consistently accumulate assets at both major and minor league level to stretch this window and avoid spending years as a bottom feeder.

Sure. You'd get the same type of return at the deadline anyways. He's not even close to blocking anyone yet you're trading him for the sake of trading him. Any protection and stabilization he can offer to the younger players is worth more than these names.

Feel like we’ve tried that like 3 times already.

That seems to be selling incredibly low on Sosa

This pitcher throws 105MPH and has a titanium UCL...and is a lifelong White Sox fan and will take a discount to come here.....can he play shorstop? Is he a grinder....Getz...yes...yes he is. In fact....100 out of 100 of his comps are David Eckstein.

clown ass article and a perfect example of why legacy media is dying. You get better analysis here in one page of this thread of random sox fans.

I really need Mune to be good cause Vaughn broke up the Frank-Paulie-Abreu run of great first basemen.

Ah, forget about Jerry and join me in ordering Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas Day in honor of this joyous occasion..............."Kurisumasu ni wa Kentakkii"

You gotta wonder how much is left of JRs brain after that quote.

I am more bullish than most on the Sox pitching depth. The guys you get off the garbage pile rarely tend to be that good, while good arms from the minors can often help right away -- look at Yeasavage, Schlittler, McLean, the two Boston lefties etc. I believe in H. Smith, McDougal, and Schultz. I think Oppor is gonna come fast. They have a ton of depth arms like Murphy, Schweitzer, and Davitt who may be able to soak up innings. Then, after the break, Mason Adams, Drew Thorpe, Carela, and Ky Bush become options. I think they'll be able to patch something together. If they score runs like they did in the second half, I'm beginning to see a .500 team developing. In this division, a .500 team can compete.

Seriously, what an embarrassing quote

this was really unexpected...and amazing. Mlbtraderumors had him as the #4 FA with a 8/180 deal prediction. I get the stats at FBs above 93...but so many MLB pitchers dont have the off-speed movement so common in Japan that I think he will be able to focus a bit more on the heaters...or just become really efficient at crushing bad curves and sliders.

I'm pretty sure I am in Love with this guy

I'll be honest, there was a part of me that was a little worried he was going to pull a Zava and say "I will not be signing with the White Sox today."

Per Chuck Garfien, Murakami is donating 100 $100 grocery gift certificates to the St. James Food Pantry as well as $10,000 to the Food Pantry. The Pantry serves people in need in the neighborhoods around the ballpark. This guy is already awesome.

Which never has to happen if Rick gets his first choice, Bryce Harper.

No more line ups of 6 number 9 hitters.

It's nice to be a fan of a team that makes a move like this while seeing fans of other teams publicly say things like "That's too much for unproven talent" or "I'm glad my team didn't pay this guy". Meanwhile we know they're pissed. $17 million committed for two years is a risk you take every single day. The Sox desperately need power, and this guy could bring it in droves. The marketing rewards alone will likely pay for a lot of the contract. This guy is huge in Japan and will have a big following in the US, too.

Man, this was great. It really did satisfy the itch I had for the Sox to just declare that they did still want to be a baseball team. Looking forward to my big boy swinging out of his shoes. What a wonderful change. Last year out 1b when you stared into his eyes was like looking into an abyss. And he sucked. But looking into murakamis eyes I see mountains. Our big boy is going to crush or die swinging. Down with the nerds. Zrate, vectors, dimensions. Big boy hit ball.

I'm excited...would be nice if they had a few more solid moves - even if it meant signing a player or two to decent money that could be good flip candidates. It isn't like losing really helps the club this upcoming season given they can't pick in the top 10.

Was just about to post this. This kid just wants to fucking hit bombs and win ballgames. And the fact he’s already making adjustments for the MLB is fucking impressive. I haven’t been this excited about a White Sox player in years.

I realize he has a lot of money, and donating $20,000 isn't going to hurt his wallet. My point was he's already doing something for the community around the ballpark.

If they sign on the wrong lines, does Murakami have to pay Getz $34M?

A couple years ago, I was getting a cup of coffee or buying cigarettes or something on 53rd street and witnessed the "fire department" heroically "rescuing" someone from the top floor of a burning hotel only to discover I had wandered onto a movie set.

He might genuinely be the worst defensive left fielder in the league (of anyone who hasn't been entirely moved off the position). Statcast has him at 4th percentile for both range and arm value. Fangraphs notes he was good for -16.5 dWAR. It's pretty surprising because he used to be kinda good there before joining the Sox. I'm not even sure you want him as part of a DH platoon because he posted some pretty extreme, likely unrepeatable, reverse splits last season (.276/.286/.563 vs Left, .231/.312/.396 vs Right). I think his role is pinch hitter and maybe you stick him in left when whoever is out there needs a day off. To his credit, he was technically an above average hitter last season, but I think I'd still want any number of our young players DHing ahead of him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DnDIm8EBNwEM&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiYsZmzwNGRAxVJIkQIHcOqGYUQFnoECAsQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3ye749KOw0AwwDf4I9ENz6

If you keep Quero, you have to give him consistent at-bats at DH when Teel is catching. As such, it really limits how much Benintendi can also DH. Something has to give there IMO or you have to accept shitty LF defense next season to ensure Quero’s bat can develop. As for Sosa, we now have four LH hitters in our lineup and one switch hitter who is far better from the LH side than that right side. Sosa as the 10th man who fills in at multiple spots (especially against LHP) can work. Meidroth being able to cover SS allows us to carry a non-traditional backup infielder like Sosa. Honestly, if he can learn some LF, he should be able to get plenty of playing time. It’s actually Mead who seems kind of pointless as the roster is currently constructed.

Last year yes, but I don’t believe he’ll ever replicate a .287 ISO again (his career avg against LHP is .134) and his defense is god awful. Candidly I don’t want him on team as I think he’s got a 1 win ceiling at this point in his career and gun to head I’m taking the under on that for sure.

I love that you spent that much effort on this post and all my other posts you meltdown over. I own you, and never forget it as you seeth over the next one, and the ones after that.

We should call him El Caballo