Dodgers haters found a way to drag LA into a signing that had nothing to do with them

Munetaka Murakami's signing with the White Sox proved that the Dodgers don't have a monopoly on Japanese players coming from NPB. In fact, there's not a great fit in LA for any of the top Japanese free agents — Murakami, Tatsuya Imai, or Kazuma Okamoto — and the team hasn't been mentioned alongside any of them this offseason outside of the general "never count the Dodgers out" warning.

But Dodgers haters still found a way to make the signing — with a team on the opposite end of payroll rankings from LA and who were historically awful just one season ago — about the Dodgers, somehow.

Two things can be true at once. The teams that don't spend money can be ruining baseball, and we can be baffled that Murakami decided to go a team that set a new record for regular season losses just one year ago (to which he said, "I heard the club has lost a lot of games in the past but that's in the past"). Even the Pirates would've been a more understandable destination.

But shouldn't everyone else just be happy that he didn't end up on the Dodgers anyway?

Baseball fans somehow found a way to make Munetaka Murakami's White Sox signing about the Dodgers

National media outlets' responses to Murakami signing with the White Sox have actually been generally positive. Jeff Passan noted that Murakami, who still has a lot to prove coming off of an injured season in NPB, can use Chicago as a low-stakes landing spot and re-enter free agency when he's still just 27 years old, and it gives the White Sox something to show for their offseason.

Maybe it's just overoptimistic White Sox fans, but responses online have also been up on their roster with Murakami in the mix. Chicago has some promising young talent in Chase Meidroth, Kyle Teel, Colson Montgomery, and Edgar Quero. Murakami, while still very young, has far more years of professional experience to bring to that club.

And, let's be honest, the White Sox didn't actually have to spend that much to get Murakami (two years, $34 million), and they might've been the only ones even willing to take a flyer on him if the stagnancy of his market was any indication.

You won't find Dodgers fans complaining about this signing. Good on the White Sox; keep LA out of it.