WHEN MURAKAMI MAKES ONLY $34 MILLION, BASEBALL DOES NOT NEED A SALARY CAP
Forget thoughts that his lowball contract will soften a labor crisis — if anything, players will argue that a ridiculous White Sox bargain should benefit them when the slugger deserves seven figures
There is one side of me — gracious, a former Chicagoan, the South Side is equivalent to the North Side, knowing why unabashed White Sox guy Ozzie Guillen lives in a suburb called Homer Glen — who believes Munetaka Murakami’s two-year, $34 million contract will save baseball in the upcoming labor crisis.
Then there is another side of me. I am perceptive. I don’t listen to sports talk and think in the bigger picture, unlike most media in a parochial, mushy-gushy, Midwestern city. That side of me thinks major-league players already are looking at Murakami’s deal, along with his 17 home runs, and realize what they’ll say in stonewallish meetings that already have started with the owners.
If Chris Getz and Sox management could reward Murakami with a lowball offer, why would the sport need a salary cap to maintain “competitive” balance? Why should a good call by one general manager mean baseball should limit salaries? Getz finally was smarter than other executives when the Orioles signed Pete Alonso (eight homers, .220 average, 47 strikeouts) to a $155 million deal and the Mariners signed Josh Naylor (five homers) to a $92.5 million deal. If an owner needs a GM to find a hot bargain, hire the right GM — even if it’s Getz, who struggled since assuming the position in August 2023. If an owner wants a potentially ugly deal, hire Mike Elias in Baltimore.
Murakami has nothing to do with the collective bargaining agreement. If nothing else, he should make a ton more money and rescue himself from future dealings with the Sox, who should be paying him seven figures when they’ve never crossed $75 million. The same sum should go to shortstop Colson Montgomery, who has homered every 12.45 times in 415 career at-bats — behind only Kyle Schwarber, Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh and Shohei Ohtani in that period — after he was drafted 22nd in the 2021 amateur draft.
Don’t blame players for the cheap signing of Murakami. With or without a salary cap, Jerry Reinsdorf would have extended the same contract because bosses elsewhere were concerned he’d strike out too much and didn’t play defense. When the owner is thrilled as he walks through Rate Field — “Big win,” he said to employees after an 8-3 win over the Cubs, reported the Sun-Times — he should not be applauded when Getz and international scouting director Dave Keller did the real homework. As Reinsdorf clears his voice for conversations with the MLB Players Association, understand this: He agreed with Getz and pulled out the $34 million — Monopoly money — which remained $41 million less than his highest-paid free agent ever (Andrew Benintendi).
In truth, the Sox tried to sneak one past the big spenders. Getz was fortunate, but next year, after a lockout of the players, Murakami will be looking for a new deal with a team that will spend much more than Reinsdorf. As I’ve written, it would be nice if Justin Ishbia took over primary ownership by then. It won’t happen for a long time. Reinsdorf is loving a 23-22 record after losing 324 games the previous three seasons.
To his credit, Murakami is enjoying his new life on 35th Street. He has bonded a broken ballclub with his personality and turned on Sox fans, who haven’t been forgotten quite yet. He hasn’t pondered 2027 and said this to The Athletic about management: “If they do offer something and feel that they would want me still, I would love to have that talk.” They want him, sure. The offer will be somewhere around $75 million. Other teams will offer two times the amount, three times the amount, providing he hits more than 40 homers.
Is he a superstar? After 45 games? “He’s a superstar. “There’s no other way to do it,” pitching ace Davis Martin told the media Saturday. “You play against guys like (Mike) Trout, you play against guys like Judge and Yordan Alvarez, and he’s doing the same things that they are. It’s an incredible thing to watch. … From a starting pitcher’s perspective, you have four nights where you’re not throwing, where you have front-row seats and you’re expecting him to do something crazy.”
“Obviously,” said manager Will Venable, “he sets a real high expectation, continues to have good at-bats, makes good swing decisions and gets really good swings off and when he does, they usually go over the fence.”
The Sox are marketing Murakami with “Mune Mania.” Home runs still sell in Chicago, even after Sammy Sosa sprinkled substances over his. This is a way for fans to rally and head to an archaic ballpark. “It’s just not one person,” Murakami said via an interpreter. “It’s the full lineup, one through nine. Feeding off each other. It’s a great confidence builder, seeing other players get good results. I just want to be that contributor and contribute to the lineup and contribute to the team’s wins.”
But the contributor wants to be paid real money, like Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, maybe beyond $200 million. Reinsdorf does not pay money to baseball players. In the end, the hoots and hollers in the stands will be replaced by pleas.
Pay The Man.
Before the Cubs, who have Shota Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki from Japan, reach out and buy another. Enjoy the rest of the Crosstown Classic.
Sooner or later, Sox fans will loathe the owner. That’s the other side of me.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host.