Signing Murakami is the best decision by Sox front office in ages. There is Murakami fever in Chicago, with attendance up. Attendance for all Sox games on the road will also increase from the dismal past numbers. Murakami will continue to be the talk of baseball. The Sox are also now in contention in the weak AL Central, with Murakami leading the way along with our good young prospects. There is hope in the South Side. Let’s not trade him at the deadline. Let’s enjoy the moment with our Japanese Aaron Judge. IMO.

3 hours ago, hankchifan said:

Signing Murakami is the best decision by Sox front office in ages. There is Murakami fever in Chicago, with attendance up. Attendance for all Sox games on the road will also increase from the dismal past numbers. Murakami will continue to be the talk of baseball. The Sox are also now in contention in the weak AL Central, with Murakami leading the way along with our good young prospects. There is hope in the South Side. Let’s not trade him at the deadline. Let’s enjoy the moment with our Japanese Aaron Judge. IMO.

Next trade deadline or perhaps after the lockout is resolved.

Although there’s a theory teams will try to lock in all their young players with extensions before new CBA rules are applied and the old system grandfathered in.

Which means a team would want logically want to bowl over the Sox with an offer to acquire and extend him before December 1st….and after the last out of the World Series, só basically a two month window opens up for the Sox to extend as well as other teams to present their best offers if a Sox long-term deal can’t be agreed upon with agent Casey Close.

So are there any scenarios that the White Sox extend Mune? My guess is that Ishbia has some say in the matter and somehow persuades JR. Another scenario might be that Mune really likes Chicago and his teammates and sees a bright future for White Sox baseball with a hometown discount.

The worst possible outcome would be Mune signing with the Cubs.

Edited Tuesday at 12:36 PM2 days by The Mighty Mite

43 minutes ago, The Mighty Mite said:

So are there any scenarios that the White Sox extend Mune? My guess is that Ishbia has some say in the matter and somehow persuades JR. Another scenario might be that Mune really likes Chicago and his teammates and sees a bright future for White Sox baseball with a hometown discount.

The worst possible outcome would be Mune signing with the Cubs.

There HAS to be scenarios where the Sox extend him. It's early, but as each day goes by, I think the league is realizing Mune was a risk worth taking. Some teams are kicking themselves, I'm sure. This is a very rare occurrence for the Sox - taking a chance on a player, and that chance paying off. Trading him at the deadline or even this coming off season would be a huge PR disaster, especially if he keeps hitting the way he is. If the Sox want the fans to believe that they are building to a competing team, extending Mune to be a part of that team is a no-brainer.

Even Jerry isn't dumb enough to not extend him. Murakami is making him so much money this season

16 minutes ago, hogan873 said:

There HAS to be scenarios where the Sox extend him. It's early, but as each day goes by, I think the league is realizing Mune was a risk worth taking. Some teams are kicking themselves, I'm sure. This is a very rare occurrence for the Sox - taking a chance on a player, and that chance paying off. Trading him at the deadline or even this coming off season would be a huge PR disaster, especially if he keeps hitting the way he is. If the Sox want the fans to believe that they are building to a competing team, extending Mune to be a part of that team is a no-brainer.

The thing that sort of bothers me is that didn’t the Sox want to sign him for 3 years and it’s Mune that wanted only 2 years.

6 minutes ago, reiks12 said:

Even Jerry isn't dumb enough to not extend him. Murakami is making him so much money this season

We are talking about JR here with of some of the most disastrous moves in White Sox history.

Edited Tuesday at 02:25 PM2 days by The Mighty Mite

If Mune continues to be what he has been. This might be the dumbest organization in the world if they trade him or let him walk after the 2nd year.

People should line up outside Jerry's house if that happens

The team should be boycotted

47 minutes ago, reiks12 said:

Even Jerry isn't dumb enough to not extend him. Murakami is making him so much money this season

Jerry let the best player in franchise history walk away over money, after insisting on, and then invoking, the diminished skills clause in his contract. Jerry is quite dumb enough.

42 minutes ago, The Mighty Mite said:

The thing that sort of bothers me is that didn’t the Sox want to sign him for 3 years and it’s Mune that wanted only 2 years.

My impression is that the two years thing made it easier to sell to Jerry.

1 hour ago, The Mighty Mite said:

So are there any scenarios that the White Sox extend Mune? My guess is that Ishbia has some say in the matter and somehow persuades JR. Another scenario might be that Mune really likes Chicago and his teammates and sees a bright future for White Sox baseball with a hometown discount.

The worst possible outcome would be Mune signing with the Cubs.

I would bet on there being a sweet spot in the middle. Obviously he can't fall apart, but he also can't turn himself into the $300 million hitter that was being bandied about before his price in the offseason. He has to be good, but not Aaron Judge good.

I just want to enjoy this ride and not immediately turn it into something to be nervous about. He could have easily been awful.

10 minutes ago, bmags said:

I just want to enjoy this ride and not immediately turn it into something to be nervous about. He could have easily been awful.

Also fair. This has been a fun ride so far.

I dunno, are you sure we shouldn't have paid more money for Jorge Polanco? I heard that's a thing great GMs do.

15 minutes ago, nrockway said:

I dunno, are you sure we shouldn't have paid more money for Jorge Polanco? I heard that's a thing great GMs do.

I'm old enough to remember when signing Anthony Santander to a $200M contract was going to save the franchise.

3 hours ago, The Mighty Mite said:

My guess is that Ishbia has some say in the matter and somehow persuades JR.

The current White Sox ownership headed by the Reinsdorfs will make every effort to keep this very competitive team intact. If they can do that it will boost revenues and consequently, the price of shares in the White Sox..

24 minutes ago, tray said:

The current White Sox ownership headed by the Reinsdorfs will make every effort to keep this very competitive team intact. If they can do that it will boost revenues and consequently, the price of shares in the White Sox..

C’mon tray, where is the historical evidence of Reinsdorf coming up big and signing a star when he needed to? Signing Machado or Harper? I think it’s pretty fair for most Sox fans to say, “I’ll believe it when I see it…”

Edited Tuesday at 04:36 PM2 days by WhiteSox2023

4 hours ago, The Mighty Mite said:

So are there any scenarios that the White Sox extend Mune? My guess is that Ishbia has some say in the matter and somehow persuades JR. Another scenario might be that Mune really likes Chicago and his teammates and sees a bright future for White Sox baseball with a hometown discount.

The worst possible outcome would be Mune signing with the Cubs.

I'd love to extend him, but I think the team needs to think real hard about giving him a mega deal. Guys with his hitting profile do not age well. We saw it with Adam Dunn. He aged horrifically after 31. Joey Gallo fell off right after 27. Mune is not the same as those guys and I think the league's assumptions about him have been wrong so far, but he would have to be a true unicorn to not fall into a similar pattern. Mune still has another 5 years before the usual fall off age for his archetype, but if you sign him to a 10 year deal, he might be useless for the latter half of it. This is usually the case for most big free agent contracts. Whether or not he gives you the value prior to his fall off will be the key.

I hope they can work something with Murakami and some of our other young guys.
But the key is a prosperous farm. Can't win without it. And that will require a willing FO (which we seem to have) and a willing JR to invest in it.

I've never thought that JR's lack of FA spending was the major problem. Just make sound decisions. Yea, Murakami could have flopped, but the money and term were modest, and the potential upside huge. The list of flopped FAs is long (and the Sox are enduring one now).

2 hours ago, 2Deep said:

If Mune continues to be what he has been. This might be the dumbest organization in the world if they trade him or let him walk after the 2nd year.

People should line up outside Jerry's house if that happens

The team should be boycotted

First off the player has to want to be extended. Without that there's nothing that can make a guy who wanted to prove himself and get a big contract stay .

If that's the case and it's impossible to sign him , it would be very smart to trade him.

However ,there's always a chance he is open to it but we can't assume just because they make a very fair offer that he still want's to choose Free Agency.

But to your point, I don't think JR is capable of a fair offer when he clearly doesn't want to go out owing any player $150M or what ever kind of contract he ends up signing.

Just let it play out for better or worse and enjoy it while he's here. Plenty of time to sharpen your pitchfork.

Once JR is gone the Sox will most likely have a top 10 or at least a top15 payroll under Ishiba.

15 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

First off the player has to want to be extended. Without that there's nothing that can make a guy who wanted to prove himself and get a big contract stay .

If that's the case and it's impossible to sign him , it would be very smart to trade him.

However ,there's always a chance he is open to it but we can't assume just because they make a very fair offer that he still want's to choose Free Agency.

But to your point, I don't think JR is capable of a fair offer when he clearly doesn't want to go out owing any player $150M or what ever kind of contract he ends up signing.

Just let it play out for better or worse and enjoy it while he's here. Plenty of time to sharpen your pitchfork.

My pitchforks have been ready for 3 years

7 minutes ago, chw42 said:

I'd love to extend him, but I think the team needs to think real hard about giving him a mega deal. Guys with his hitting profile do not age well. We saw it with Adam Dunn. He aged horrifically after 31. Joey Gallo fell off right after 27. Mune is not the same as those guys and I think the league's assumptions about him have been wrong so far, but he would have to be a true unicorn to not fall into a similar pattern. Mune still has another 5 years before the usual fall off age for his archetype, but if you sign him to a 10 year deal, he might be useless for the latter half of it. This is usually the case for most big free agent contracts. Whether or not he gives you the value prior to his fall off will be the key.

Schwarber is going strong. Mune's advantage is he has a quick bat . The whole "profile doesn't age well" is overblown. Most players don't age well except perhaps the very elite or as you say unicorns. But Free Agency means that in order to get younger guys at a high level you almost always overpay. Harper got 13 years til age 38. Schwarber is signed to age 38. Machado signed into his 41st year. Freeman got 6 years starting at age 31 and his contract ends after 2027 the same as Mune's does. Coincidence ?

It's quite conceivable that Mune get's 10 years especially if the Dodgers are involved. But still another 1.75 years left to see if Mune will deserve that kind of contract. Or with Mune's permission he gives the Sox a window to make an offer big enough to make him feel he's really wanted.

8 minutes ago, 2Deep said:

My pitchforks have been ready for 3 years

Then I suggest that you start going to games ,if you are in the Chicagoland area, so you can say you saw the Great Munetaka Murakami and let JR and Ishbia know that you will support them with your honored presence and your money . If you can't attend games then your pitchfork is meaningless.

1 hour ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

Then I suggest that you start going to games ,if you are in the Chicagoland area, so you can say you saw the Great Munetaka Murakami and let JR and Ishbia know that you will support them with your honored presence and your money . If you can't attend games then your pitchfork is meaningless.

Japan is definitely not meaningless for the Dodgers and Ohtani/Yamamoto.

TV/ad revenues are one driver of the revenue equation...as well as jersey hat souvenir sales.

Then you have corporate sponsorships like UNIQLO Field at Dodgers Stadium.

Edited Tuesday at 07:05 PM2 days by caulfield12