MLB Notebook: Munetaka Murakami is breaking records, closer chaos across the league, more

That record also presents a bit of the conundrum with Murakami. There is no doubting his power; however, he still has a 32.5% strikeout rate and a 72% zone contact rate that is well below the league average. He has 14 barrels on the season, but only three of them have come on pitches that were thrown 95 mph or faster. By contrast, he has seven “poorly hit” balls off of pitches 95 mph, which means, according to Statcast, balls in play that are either weakly hit or with an exaggerated launch angle that lead to an easy out.

Still, Murakami is also walking 17.5% of the time, which is the 9th-best rate among qualified hitters in baseball. When you pair that with his ability to do damage on pitches he does connect with, Murakami has also posted the 9th-best OPS in baseball. So despite his weakness as a player, the MLB debut for the 26-year-old has been tremendous. He may be a .230 hitter, but he seems like a perennial lock to hit 30 home runs, and we have seen players like that, like Kyle Schwarber, for instance, who make adjustments as their careers go on and unlock seasons with great batting averages. Any way you slice it, that profile is going to earn Murakami a big payday in two years when he’s a free agent again.

Closer Chaos Reins in April

Closers are not usually the most stable position in baseball. If they were, we wouldn’t have the term “Closer Carousel.” However, this season seems to have brought that level of chaos to another level. If we take into account injuries, benchings, and just run-of-the-mill uneven performance, there are now 19 teams that either still don’t have a closer or have a different closer from the one they went into the season counting on. That’s 63% of the league.

For starters, let’s look at the preseason projected saves leaders using ATC projections, which is an aggregate of all the projection systems, and see how those guys have fared to begin the season.

1. Edwin Diaz – Dodgers: Currently on the 15-day IL after surgery to remove loose bodies in his elbow. He’ll be out for three months

2. Mason Miller – Padres: Just had perhaps the best run ever for any closer. Leads baseball with 10 saves and has 28 strikeouts in 14.1 innings

3. Andres Munoz, Mariners: Has a 6.55 ERA in 11 innings. Does have 5 saves and only one blown save, so maybe it’s not awful

4. Jhoan Duran – Phillies: Currently on the 15-day IL with an oblique injury. There is no set timeline for his return

6. Cade Smith – Guardians: Has a below-average 4.15 ERA. Does have six saves but has also blown two saves, which is one behind the league leader.

7. Devin Williams – Mets: Has a 9.00 ERA in eight innings. He has struck out 15 batters, but he’s also walked six and allowed 14 hits.

8. Daniel Palencia – Cubs: Currently on the 15-day IL with a lat strain. There is no set timeline for his return.

9. Ryan Helsley – Orioles: He’s tied for 6th in baseball with six saves. Has a 2.79 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 9.2 innings

11. Carlos Estevez – Royals: Began the season on the 15-day IL with a shoulder injury. Still has not made his season debut.

12. Jeff Hoffman – Blue Jays: Leads the league with 3 blown saves and has a 6.94 ERA in 11.2 innings. Has been removed from the closer’s role

13. Pete Fairbanks – Marlins: Has a 10.00 ERA in nine innings. Left Monday’s start after experiencing pain/discomfort in his thumb and was placed on the IL

14. Raisel Iglesias – Braves: Currently on the 15-day IL with a shoulder injury. Should return soon, but there is no set date

15. Ryan Walker – Giants: Is maybe the closer, but also has been used in the 4th inning, so maybe he isn’t. Has just three of his team’s six saves.

Yikes. When you also factor in that the Rays lost their potential closer, Edwin Uceta, to a shoulder injury, the Astros lost their closer, Josh Hader, also to a shoulder injury, and the Angels already waived Jordan Romano, who started the season as their closer, that adds more chaos to the landscape. The Brewers also seemingly demoted their closer, Trevor Megill, from the closer role, while the Rangers, Twins, Rockies, and Athletics can’t seem to decide on a closer, and you have very few stable closer situations in baseball.

In fact, half of the closers in baseball with at least six saves weren’t supposed to be their team’s closer. Riley O’Brien in St. Louis had the best chance at the job, but nobody really expected Paul Sewald in Arizona to be third in baseball with seven saves, alongside Bryan Baker, who took over in Tampa Bay. Lucas Erceg has filled in for Carlos Estevez in Kansas City and snagged six saves, while Seranthony Dominguez was always likely to be the closer for the White Sox, but wasn’t expected to sniff the league lead in saves.

Perhaps May will bring us some stability, or, more likely, even more chaos.

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Nolan Schanuel, Randy Vásquez and Jordan Beck

A surprising Padres starter and two early bat speed gainers are recommended grabs this week.

Surprising Manager Firings in the Season’s First Month

Speaking of chaos, we rarely get two manager firings in the first month of the season, but it’s even more rare that those managers come from teams that both made the postseason the year before. Yet, within four days, both Alex Cora of the Red Sox and Rob Thomson of the Phillies were let go by their teams.

Cora was fired on Saturday, in addition to five members of the coaching staff: hitting coach Peter Fatse, third-base coach Kyle Hudson, bench coach Ramón Vázquez, assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson, and major-league hitting strategy coach Joe Cronin. Considering the Red Sox won 17-1 that day, it’s clear the move had been decided on beforehand, when the Red Sox were 9-17 with the second-worst record in the American League.

During his tenure in Boston, Cora posted a .534 winning percentage with the Red Sox and won a World Series in 2018. However, his tenure was not without its hiccups. In 2020, he was suspended for the entire season for his role in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal. The Red Sox have made the playoffs only twice since winning the 2018 World Series, and after their 2021 playoff appearance, they had three straight losing seasons before finishing 89-73 and making the playoffs last year. They lost in the Wild Card Round to the Yankees.

Yet, not all of that can be placed on Cora’s shoulders. Their playoff drought seemed to coincide with the organization scaling back its payroll compared to other “big-market teams.” While it was thought that the Red Sox were just waiting for their core of young prospects like Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, and Ceddanne Rafaela to reach the big leagues to spend, the financial restrictions seemed to carry over to this season as well.

Still, Cora signed a new three-year deal in 2025, and he seemed to be in Boston long-term before things soured this season. Cora’s managing also took a step back this season. He seemed to pull the wrong levers with his bullpen moves, and his team was making plenty of bad mental mistakes. Perhaps his struggle behind the scenes with the president of baseball operations, Craig Breslow, and the rest of the front office had just reached a point where it was too much for everybody to continue to endure.

The situation in Philadelphia was not that different.

Thomson’s .568 winning percentage in five years with the Phillies is the best mark of any of the team’s managers since the 19th century, and the second-best of any manager they’ve ever had. He was only the fourth manager in MLB history to reach the postseason in each of his first four full seasons as a manager, and he is one of only three Phillies managers to win division titles in consecutive seasons.

Still, the Phillies have “championship or bust” expectations like the Red Sox supposedly do, and the team entered Tuesday with a 9-19 record that was tied with the Mets for the worst record in baseball. Perhaps more importantly, they have just been unable to win in the postseason despite strong regular-season performances.

Thomson took the Phillies to the World Series in 2022, but the team then lost in the NLCS in 2023, the Division Series in 2024, and the Division Series in 2025. Overall, they lost eight of their last 10 postseason games.

Still, the Phillies made the decision this offseason to extend Thomson’s contract through 2027. They also re-signed the entire coaching staff to contracts that would keep all of them in Philadelphia through 2027, so the move was a bit surprising.

Which brings us to the last point that we have to acknowledge, which is the tie that binds these two teams. Dave Dombrowski, the Phillies’ president of baseball operations, was also in that same role for the Red Sox back in 2018 when the team won the World Series with Alex Cora as his manager. Dombrowski was fired in September of 2019, and all three of Craig Breslow’s predecessors were each fired within their first four years as leaders of baseball operations. That means both Dombrowki and Breslow will be under the microscope as the potential next man to go.

For his part, Dombrowski apparently already reached out to Cora to join him in Philadelphia, but considering Cora will still get paid his full $21.75 million deal even if he doesn’t coach, it’s not a surprise that the former Red Sox manager decided to pass. For now.