Munetaka Murakami

[Juanmacker2]

Murakami 3rd basemen superstar from Japan…bats lefty…great bat…average third baseman should be

pursued by the Cubs next year…make hoerner the everyday 3rd baseman…until we get murikami…move happ to 2nd base…Suzuki to left field…

‘make Carson Kelly permanent DH…emergency catcher…bring up ballesteros to be 2nd catcher…

[Brock Beauchamp]

11 minutes ago, Juanmacker2 said:

Murakami 3rd basemen superstar from Japan…bats lefty…great bat…average third baseman should be

pursued by the Cubs next year…make hoerner the everyday 3rd baseman…until we get murikami…move happ to 2nd base…Suzuki to left field…

‘make Carson Kelly permanent DH…emergency catcher…bring up ballesteros to be 2nd catcher…

Welcome to NSBB!

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, Juanmacker2 said:

Murakami 3rd basemen superstar from Japan…bats lefty…great bat…average third baseman should be

pursued by the Cubs next year…make hoerner the everyday 3rd baseman…until we get murikami…move happ to 2nd base…Suzuki to left field…

‘make Carson Kelly permanent DH…emergency catcher…bring up ballesteros to be 2nd catcher…

Welcome, but no. Not a good idea. I mean maybe next year discussing a 3rd baseman(hopefully they won’t have to.) But “no” to everything else. 

Edited April 23, 2025 by Rcal10

[JBears79]

Doesnt Murakami have pretty bad K issues? Not saying he cant succeed or be a good player but I thought one of the major concerns with him is that he wont hit enough.

[Jason Ross]

Murakami has monster contact concerns. He struck out 180 times last year in 500 PAs, or in percentages, 36% of the time. That percentage, if it stayed flat (which against the jump in pitching, is unlikely) would lead the league in 2024 for all qualified hitters by 1.5%. Against the level of pitching of the NPB this is a massive red flag. 

Maybe he can fix it, but even one year of improved data isn't going to quell that concern. 

[thawv]

1 hour ago, Juanmacker2 said:

Murakami 3rd basemen superstar from Japan…bats lefty…great bat…average third baseman should be

pursued by the Cubs next year…make hoerner the everyday 3rd baseman…until we get murikami…move happ to 2nd base…Suzuki to left field…

‘make Carson Kelly permanent DH…emergency catcher…bring up ballesteros to be 2nd catcher…

Hoerner is one of the best second baseman in the game.  He should never move.  Happ can not play 2B at all.  IF they were going to make one of Kelly or Moises the DH, it certainly wouldn't be Kelly.  

 

Welcome 

[JBears79]

3 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

Murakami has monster contact concerns. He struck out 180 times last year in 500 PAs, or in percentages, 36% of the time. That percentage, if it stayed flat (which against the jump in pitching, is unlikely) would lead the league in 2024 for all qualified hitters by 1.5%. Against the level of pitching of the NPB this is a massive red flag. 

Maybe he can fix it, but even one year of improved data isn't going to quell that concern. 

Thank you. I knew I had read that somewhere during the Othani saga. 

[Rcal10]

6 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

Murakami has monster contact concerns. He struck out 180 times last year in 500 PAs, or in percentages, 36% of the time. That percentage, if it stayed flat (which against the jump in pitching, is unlikely) would lead the league in 2024 for all qualified hitters by 1.5%. Against the level of pitching of the NPB this is a massive red flag. 

Maybe he can fix it, but even one year of improved data isn't going to quell that concern. 

Didn’t bother to even look up Murakami. To me that was the least of the problems with the idea. And, hopefully the Cubs won’t be looking for a 3rd baseman next year, anyway. I think moving Hoerner to 3rd, Happ to 2nd, Suzuki to left and Kelly becoming the permanent DH was a far worse idea than that. 

[Hot Sauce]

1 hour ago, Juanmacker2 said:

Murakami 3rd basemen superstar from Japan…bats lefty…great bat…average third baseman should be

pursued by the Cubs next year…make hoerner the everyday 3rd baseman…until we get murikami…move happ to 2nd base…Suzuki to left field…

‘make Carson Kelly permanent DH…emergency catcher…bring up ballesteros to be 2nd catcher…

I appreciate your creativity, but this is an awful idea. 

[Jason Ross]

37 minutes ago, JBears79 said:

Thank you. I knew I had read that somewhere during the Othani saga. 

He's a name I keep checking in on when NPB names get brought up coming over, but the pre-WBC hype seems to have waned. He's kept the K% in check this year so far per-B-R, but it's like, 16 PA's of reported data, not enough to make even a drop in the pan, really. 

[Tryptamine]

Murakami 2022 and 2021, absolutely bust out the checkbook and pay him a lot, but that guy has been replaced by one with significant swing and miss issues. 

[BigbadB]

Just bring Shaw back. He looked fine defensively, and he's still adjusting to major league pitching, which most rookies end up doing. If it weren't for this crazy schedule, he'd probably still be here. Instead, he was facing Cy Young caliber pitching daily. 

Now is the time to work on things and get that confidence going and be ready when called upon. I don't see a reason to wait much longer unless he's struggling in Iowa. I feel like the collective 3b stats in Chicago so far isn't much better than just having a pitcher bat. Shaw has an excuse. The others not so much, other than they just aren't major league starting talent.

Personally, I wouldn't have sent Shaw down. Once they start facing weaker competition, he'd going to get his hacks. His walk rate was pretty decent. And I don't think his being in the line up was costing the team games like Workman.

[squally1313]

34 minutes ago, BigbadB said:

Just bring Shaw back. He looked fine defensively, and he's still adjusting to major league pitching, which most rookies end up doing. If it weren't for this crazy schedule, he'd probably still be here. Instead, he was facing Cy Young caliber pitching daily. 

Now is the time to work on things and get that confidence going and be ready when called upon. I don't see a reason to wait much longer unless he's struggling in Iowa. I feel like the collective 3b stats in Chicago so far isn't much better than just having a pitcher bat. Shaw has an excuse. The others not so much, other than they just aren't major league starting talent.

Personally, I wouldn't have sent Shaw down. Once they start facing weaker competition, he'd going to get his hacks. His walk rate was pretty decent. And I don't think his being in the line up was costing the team games like Workman.

I'm optimistically hoping that Shaw to AAA was more for Shaw's benefit than it was to maximize the output at the major league level. The team was (and is) doing just fine offensively through a very tough stretch, and no realistic metric would have told them that Berti/Workman/40 year old Turner at third was going to spark some huge improvement. There's a bunch of examples of guys getting a taste, getting sent back down, and coming back better for it. 

Now, do I wish Shaw wasn't 1/13 so far in Iowa so we can fast track this process? Sure, for my own personal benefit and enjoyment mostly. But he's walking and not striking out, so it seems like the approach is there. And the Cubs are still doing fine. Baseball is weird. The Cubs were 5-0 in games that Workman started. One guy just isn't going to matter much unless it's early April Carson Kelly or late April PCA or all the time Kyle Tucker. 

[Jason Ross]

1 hour ago, squally1313 said:

I'm optimistically hoping that Shaw to AAA was more for Shaw's benefit than it was to maximize the output at the major league level. The team was (and is) doing just fine offensively through a very tough stretch, and no realistic metric would have told them that Berti/Workman/40 year old Turner at third was going to spark some huge improvement. There's a bunch of examples of guys getting a taste, getting sent back down, and coming back better for it. 

Now, do I wish Shaw wasn't 1/13 so far in Iowa so we can fast track this process? Sure, for my own personal benefit and enjoyment mostly. But he's walking and not striking out, so it seems like the approach is there. And the Cubs are still doing fine. Baseball is weird. The Cubs were 5-0 in games that Workman started. One guy just isn't going to matter much unless it's early April Carson Kelly or late April PCA or all the time Kyle Tucker. 

So, I'll preface this with two things:
1. I'm captain of the SS. Shaw
2. I initially thought sending Shaw down was bad

I think Shaw belongs in Iowa for a few weeks. Mechanically he's not right. There's a disconnect between his lower half and his upper half. It's why so much is going on the ground - he's just not timing things well. The approach is good - he really has spat on everything since going back with a 12% chase rate. He's also swinging more in the zone and has increased total contact so far. What it says is that the time in the MLB has probably paid off. He's making more contact in the zone while ignoring out of the zone stuff. The stuff at Triple-A isn't fooling him. 

Everything he's hitting, though, is weak as hell, though. Just really horrid pitch contact. And that's not normal. So him in Iowa really, and probably is for his benefit right now. He needs to find the mechanics again. He shouldn't be struggling this much for contact quality. 

I think it'll be like two to three weeks. Once he figures the connection between top-and-bottom again, I think he; will cruise through Iowa. Probably best he makes that connection between weaker pitching.