Every winter, there’s a rumor that wanders into the Phillies’ universe and makes you stop and ask the most important Hot Stove question: Wait… what?
This year’s first nominee arrived from Nikkan Sports, which reported that the Phillies are “particularly keen” on Munetaka Murakami — the 25-year-old corner infielder from Japan with mountain-moving power, red-flag swing-and-miss concerns, and enough volatility to make any scouting director reach for the antacids.
And here’s the part that makes this so perfectly Phillies: the interest somehow makes sense and absolutely doesn’t make sense, all at the same time.
Murakami was officially posted last week by Yakult. Several MLB teams have already checked in. And for a club that could lose Kyle Schwarber in free agency, it’s not hard to understand the logic behind at least doing homework on a left-handed bat capable of rearranging a game with one swing.
His résumé reads like someone stitched two scouting reports together and dared front offices to sort out which one is real. He blasted 22 home runs in just 56 games this past season and has already piled up 246 career NPB homers before turning 26. Across eight years he carries a .951 OPS — the kind of number that makes evaluators straighten up in their chairs.
But then there’s the other side.
He also struck out 64 times in 224 plate appearances, the sort of ratio that can turn a routine winter meeting into a group therapy session. That blend — the thunder, the volatility, the uncertainty — is exactly why half the league is intrigued and the other half is terrified.
Everything the Phillies do this winter, though, flows through one decision: Schwarber.
Re-sign him, and the path is obvious. DH is locked. The middle of the lineup is intact. The identity of the team — that stubborn, left-handed, take-aim-at-the-second-deck identity — remains untouched.
Lose him, and suddenly there’s a loud, expensive hole to fill — the kind Murakami could theoretically patch if the Phillies believe the swing can catch up to major-league velocity.
But there’s a timing issue here, too.
Murakami can sign through Dec. 22.
Schwarber is likely to still be on the market come Dec. 22.
Which means committing to one may end the pursuit of the other before it ever truly begins.
There’s also a broader strategic thread.
People around the game believe the Phillies want to deepen their presence in the Japanese market. Showing real interest in Murakami, even if it never leads to paper and ink, signals that the club intends to be a more serious player internationally. Sometimes “interest” is about the player. Sometimes it’s about the market. Right now, it might be both.
Though, Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Daily News reported that John Middleton and Co. offered Dodgers' ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto more cash than any other team when he was on the market prior to the 2024 season.
Still, the simplest read remains the truest one: the Phillies want Schwarber back. There’s a wide gap between that plan and any alternative. If he re-signs, Murakami becomes more curiosity than fit, because a lineup with Harper, Schwarber, Murakami, and Turner would tilt so far left you’d need to anchor it to keep it upright.
If Schwarber leaves, everything looks different in an instant.
And that’s why this rumor, logical, illogical, intriguing, confusing, and somehow all of the above, fits so perfectly into a Phillies offseason that’s just beginning to get weird.
Still, the simplest read remains the truest one: the Phillies want Schwarber back. There’s a wide gap between that plan and any alternative. If he re-signs, Murakami becomes more curiosity than fit, because a lineup with Harper, Schwarber, Murakami, and Turner would tilt so far left you’d need to anchor it to keep it upright.
If Schwarber leaves, everything looks different in an instant.
And that’s why this rumor, logical, illogical, intriguing, confusing, and somehow all of the above, fits so perfectly into a Phillies offseason that’s just beginning to get weird.
The kind of story where every answer leads to another question, and where the contradictions are half the fun.
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