Pirates' $12 million offseason mistake could've landed them Munetaka Murakami instead

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Pirates' $12 million offseason mistake could've landed them Munetaka Murakami instead originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are a team on the rise.

They are in the mix for one of the National League's three Wild Card spots, despite sitting fifth in the NL Central.

However, one of their offseason moves has not panned out the way they hoped it would.

Giving designated hitter Marcell Ozuna $12 million for one year already seems like a mistake. The three-time All-Star is hitting just .186 with five home runs while carrying a ghastly 29.2% strikeout rate.

Bleacher Report's Tim Kelly argues the Pirates should have been more aggressive in the pursuit of a slugger who signed with the Chicago White Sox.

"Imagine what the Pirates could look like if, instead of giving Ozuna a one-year, $12 million deal, they instead signed the aforementioned [Munetaka] Murakami to the two-year, $34 million deal the White Sox did," Kelly wrote.

Murakami's 20 home runs are tied for the second most in the AL with Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros. Like Ozuna, he also strikes out a lot. But you can live with the strikeouts if he hits over 40 homers.

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"Even if that meant not signing [Ryan] O'Hearn, our view of the Pirates would be so much more positive if Murakami was part of a young core that includes Paul Skenes, Oneil Cruz, Konnor Griffin and Braxton Ashcraft," Kelly added.

Naturally, Ozuna will be hard to move at the trade deadline. His poor numbers are unattractive for a contending team, so the Pirates will either have to stick it out with the once formidable Atlanta Braves slugger or eat the remainder of his contract.

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