A few months ago, Munetaka Murakami looked like the kind of player a team locks up early and never looks back on. The White Sox had reason to feel that way, too. Even after a long stint on the IL, the Japanese slugger had made a smooth, loud entrance in the majors, pairing big power with a sharp eye at the plate and giving Chicago a major boost in its breakout.
Back then, extension talk was very much alive. When Chris Getz was asked in late August about Murakami’s future in Chicago, he didn’t dodge the subject.
He praised what the first baseman had done and said there had been conversations about a contract extension. The interest appeared to go both ways.
That mood has shifted in a hurry.
Murakami has slid into one of the roughest stretches of his season, and the numbers are ugly. Over the last 30 days, he’s hitting .115/.281/.231 with 57 strikeouts. Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported this weekend that the White Sox no longer feel urgency to get a deal done, writing:
"The Chicago White Sox say there is no urgency in signing Munetaka Murakami to a contract extension considering his recent struggles. He’s hitting just .107 with 54 strikeouts in 103 at-bats in his last 29 games."
There have been a few small signs of life lately. Murakami has driven in a run in three of his last four games, including a three-RBI performance with a homer on September 17.
He also drew two walks in the series finale against the Tigers. Whether that’s the start of a real turnaround or just a brief pause in the skid is still unclear.
What is clear is that the White Sox don’t have to rush. Murakami is on a two-year contract, and his camp has had every reason to wait while he still held the leverage.
That balance may be changing now. The White Sox can point to the slump in negotiations, and they have good reason to be careful before committing to a major long-term payday.
That doesn’t mean Chicago has lost interest. Quite the opposite.
A player who can launch 32-plus homers is not easy to replace, and the White Sox would still like to keep him around. But they also know better than to jump into a big overpay, especially with the rebuild in a place where patience matters.
For now, the next few weeks should tell the story. If Murakami heats up again in the final two series and the postseason, this whole conversation could look very different. If the slump lingers, extension talks may stay quiet well into the winter.
In Other News...
Former White Sox Players Are Fueling A Playoff Push Chicago Can Feel
A late-season surge in San Diego has a familiar Chicago footprint to it, with three former White Sox players helping push the Padres into the kind of form that can change a playoff picture in a hurry. The Padres have won 13 of their last 14, and the run has included meaningful contributions from Gavin Sheets, Austin Hays and Dustin Harris, each of whom reached this point through a different path away from the South Side.
Sheets is on the injured list but expected back for the postseason, while Hays has carved out a part-time role after being designated for assignment by the White Sox. Harris has become an everyday piece for San Diego after a series of transactions that also involved the White Sox and Astros, giving the Padres another useful bat at just the right time. For Chicago, it is the kind of reminder that roster churn does not always end when a player leaves town, especially when those players suddenly become part of a contenders most important stretch. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Wild Card Cushion Suddenly Feels Less Comfortable
The White Sox have spent much of the stretch run in a more comfortable position than some of the clubs chasing them, but the picture is getting tighter as the Astros keep hanging around the postseason race. Houston still has two ways in, either by catching Texas in the AL West or by climbing past Chicago for the final American League wild card spot, and the fact that the Astros own the tiebreaker in both directions adds another layer to the pressure on everyone involved.
For Chicago, that means the cushion in the wild card standings can no longer be treated like firm ground. Houstons path depends on a combination of its own remaining games and results elsewhere, with Texas, Toronto and Baltimore all part of the larger postseason puzzle, but the White Sox are the team most directly in the crosshairs. The margin is still there for now, yet it is the kind of lead that can shrink quickly when one contender is playing with multiple routes and every game around them starts to matter. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Suddenly Have A Breakout Problem Fans Will Love
Chase Meidroth and Sam Antonacci have become the kind of young hitters the White Sox have been waiting for, and both have done it in ways that make the present feel a lot more interesting than the rebuild chatter around them. Meidroth has taken a major step forward from his 2025 debut, while Antonacci has settled in as a top-of-the-order type who can get on base and is also learning how to handle the outfield.
The good problem is that Chicago may not have an easy path to fitting both players into the same long-term picture. Their skills overlap in some ways, the roster already has other young options in the pipeline, and the White Sox could eventually have to sort out whether either player settles into a platoon, a utility role or becomes part of a bigger trade discussion. [Read more 🡒]