Yoshinobu Yamamoto doing his part for Dodgers recruitment over dinner with free agent

When Roki Sasaki decided to sign with the Dodgers, his first call wasn't to Andrew Friedman, Brandon Gomes, or anyone else in the front office; it was to Shohei Ohtani. Friedman said that it was Ohtani who broke the news to the team.

Dodgers fans don't call Ohtani "ShoGM" for no reason. Sasaki is just the latest in a growing list of free agents that Ohtani has had a hand in courting. Of course, he was there when Yoshinobu Yamamoto was being courted, and he advocated heavily for the Dodgers to sign Hyeseong Kim.

This offseason, Yamamoto might be taking on some recruiting responsibilities himself. He was photographed at dinner with top Japanese free agent Munetaka Murakami this week.

Of course, Yamamoto and Murakami's friendship predates Murakami's posting to MLB, but the timing of the dinner is ... conspicuous. Murakami was officially posted on Nov. 7, and his 45-day window to sign opened the following day. He has to sign by 2 PM PST on Dec. 22.

Everyone will read into everything during the offseason, but with Murakami almost smack-dab in the middle of his signing window, it's impossible not to read into this.

Dodgers fans are hoping Yoshinobu Yamamoto's dinner with Munetaka Murakami was a recruitment play

The Dodgers, whose infield is mostly locked for 2026, haven't been called favorites to land Murakami, but they were always going to be lurking in the background.

There are ways they could make it work if they wanted to. Freddie Freeman might be getting more regular days off from first base, and Max Muncy could also be sidelined a little more at third in what might be the last season of his Dodgers career. As soon as Muncy officially leaves in free agency at the end of 2026, there'll be an opening at third base for Murakami.

He's not the ideal defensive third baseman, but Muncy has never been ideal either, and we all know that the Dodgers would take stellar offense over stellar defense any day. Then again, it's been said Murakami profiles as more of a first baseman in MLB. Freeman won't be departing until after 2027, but there definitely will be room for reps if the Dodgers move some pieces around.

Contract predictions for Murakami are scattered, but Jeff Passan is certain he'll make over nine figures. The Athletic predicts $158.5 million over eight years, while MLB Trade Rumors has $180 million over the same length of time.

There are plenty of reasons to be wonder if Murakami is really the best fit for the Dodgers (and vice versa), but it's hard to believe that they'd say no if he really wants to join them. After all, what are sushi dates even for?!