Dodgers Rumors: Insider hints top Japanese slugger might favor rival in free agency

The Dodgers collecting Japanese stars and building their brand in Japan is by no means accidental or reactive; it's a stated, intended mission for the franchise, and Andrew Friedman said as much on The Athletic's "Starkville" podcast. The Dodgers want to be the premier destination for Japanese talent looking to make the move to MLB, and they want to capitalize on the fervent baseball fandom that already exists in Japan.

Roki Sasaki's signing confirmed that the Dodgers really have their pick of the litter when it comes to NPB stars, and that those stars are getting hungrier and hungrier to make the transition, even if it means taking a massive pay cut.

The next guy to look out for is 1B/DH Munetaka Murakami, a teammate of Sasaki, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Shohei Ohtani on Japan's 2023 World Baseball Classic team. He's a Triple Crown winner, two-time MVP, and four-time All-Star with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, and he's expected to be posted after the 2025 season.

He's a natural target for the Dodgers, but Dodgers Nation's Doug McKain predicted that he'll land with a major rival instead.

"I was talking to some Japanese NPB insiders, and they told me that he definitely would prefer to play on the west coast, but it's going to be west coast teams versus one team on the east coast, and it's the Yankees," McKain said. "So he'd prefer to be on the west coast, but he would definitely be willing to sign with the New York Yankees."

Possible Dodgers free agent target Munetaka Murakami may prefer Yankees

It would be uncharacteristic for the Dodgers to just sit on their hands and let a guy like Murakami go to another team without putting up a fight, but they may have no other choice. Murakami is expected to move to DH full-time when he comes to MLB, and the Dodgers have already settled on a DH through 2033. Even if the Dodgers wanted to keep him at first base, that's locked up by Freddie Freeman.

Still, the Dodgers will stop at nothing to optimize their lineup, so it wouldn't be surprising if we see them in the conversation when the offseason arrives. They chased Juan Soto despite Mookie Betts' presence alongside the efforts to re-sign Teoscar Hernández, and they moved Betts back to shortstop anyway to accommodate Michael Conforto.

So, while it's hard to imagine how they might accommodate Murakami now, you just never know with the Dodgers.