YANKS "LINKED" TO, THEN SAT OUT ON MUNETAKA MURAKAMI

The Yankees were as rumored to kicked the tires, squinted really hard, and—shockingly—did absolutely nothing.

Munetaka Murakami, the Japanese masher who was loosely, vaguely, technically connected to the Yankees in the most non-committal way possible, has officially moved on. He’s headed to Chicago. The other Chicago. Yes, the White Sox.

According to Yahoo Sports’ Russell Dorsey, the Yakult Swallows’ star third baseman agreed to a two-year, $34 million deal. Murakami is just 25 years old, absurdly young for a free agent with this kind of résumé, and brings the kind of raw, terrifying power teams usually claim doesn’t exist anymore.

This is the same Murakami who obliterated Sadaharu Oh’s NPB single-season home run record in 2022 with 56 bombs, became the youngest Triple Crown winner in Japanese baseball history, and won Central League MVP at 21. Sure, there’s risk. There’s always risk. But there’s also upside—and that’s apparently a foreign concept in the Bronx these days.

So while the White Sox actually took a chance, the Yankees did what they do best: watched from a safe distance, nodded thoughtfully, and congratulated themselves on not “overpaying.”

Another bat with real upside gone. Another opportunity missed.

Oh well. Onto the next “we were linked” headline... and it doesn't surprise you if you are a Yankee fan these days.

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