Do the Brewers have any chance of signing either of these international free agents?

While the pitching side of things is bound to dominate the headlines for the Milwaukee Brewers this offseason, with the team needing to make decisions on whether or not both Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta will be on the 2026 roster, there are also some questions facing the Brewers' position player group this winter. Most notably is the question of whether or not the front office will look to add some power to the lineup this offseason after the Brewers' lack of pop was a constant talking point throughout their postseason run.

Here's the issue: power doesn't come cheap on the free agent market. An emphasis for MLB offenses in recent years, power has become a coveted commodity in the game of baseball, and as a result, teams are willing to pay high prices for players who can consistently hit the ball over the fence. Names like Kyle Schwarber and Pete Alonso are expected to receive massive paydays this offseason after their impressive displays of power during the 2025 season.

The Brewers, hamstrung by a payroll that cannot afford to include a $40-50 million slugger, are forced to find creative, and less expensive, ways to add power to their lineup. As a result, much of the Brewers' power in 2025 came from players like Andrew Vaughn who joined the team via an opportunistic trade, or someone like Rhys Hoskins, who was a free agent, but one that the Brewers could afford only because of his unique circumstances.

Another creative method to add some pop to their lineup could be utilized once again this offseason, but even it might be a market that the Brewers have been priced out of.

Japanese sluggers Munetaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto expected to be posted this offseason, likely out of the Brewers' price range

The Brewers are no stranger to the international free agent market. Just a season ago, they signed Elvin Rodriguez after he spent two seasons playing for the Yakult Swallows in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) in Japan. Back in 2020, they signed Josh Lindblom after his stint in the Korean Professional Baseball League (KBO). However, it's not just pitchers that the Brewers have signed from the Asian leagues; they also signed slugger Eric Thames out of the KBO prior to the 2017 season, who ended up adding a ton of pop to the Brewers' lineup during his three-year stint in Milwaukee.

This season, two of the top sluggers in NPB are expected to be posted by their respective clubs, leaving them free to sign with an MLB team of their choosing. 26-year-old lefty Munetaka Murakami, who fans might remember from the 2023 World Baseball Classic, is expected to be posted by the Yakult Swallows after posting a .557 career slugging percentage in eight seasons in NPB. Kazuma Okamoto, who is four years older than Murakami, is expected to be posted by his team, the Yomiuri Giants, after carrying a .521 slugging percentage through his 11-year NPB career. Both players are corner infielders with the ability to play third base, but most likely will end up at first base in the long term.

Here's the issue, and the main difference between international free agents like Murakami and Okamoto and players like Thames or Rodriguez. The latter two went to the Asian leagues for a change of scenery after struggling in MLB, meaning when the Brewers signed them away from NPB and the KBO, there were plenty of questions regarding their ability to be successful in MLB, effectively lowering their cost. Murakami and Okamoto are, by most metrics, in the midst of their primes and have only ever had success in professional baseball throughout their careers.

While questions of whether their skillset will transfer to MLB still certainly exist, the information asymmetry that used to lower the price of international free agents no longer does. Teams now have a better understanding of how effective a player will be coming over from Asia, and it's reflected in the impressive contracts that said international free agents have begun to bring in.

The upshot is that the Brewers will have a very difficult time signing either Murakami or Okamoto despite the team's need for more power and their ability to open a spot at third base by using the defensive versatility of the rest of their infield group. Murakami is projected to bring in $160 million on a six-year deal, according to Jim Bowden of The Athletic, whereas Okamoto is projected for a somewhat more reasonable four-year, $90 million deal.

However, the cost doesn't end there. Any team that ends up signing either Murakami or Okamoto will be forced to pay their former team in Japan a posting fee, of which the amount is determined by the size of the contract that the player signs with their new MLB club. For reference, a $100 million contract signed by either Murakami or Okamoto would result in their new MLB team paying a posting fee of roughly $16.9 million.

Therefore, despite both Murakami and Okamoto feeling like an under-the-radar way for the Brewers to add some pop to their lineup, it's unlikely Milwaukee is willing to pay the price required to both lure them away from other teams and compensate their clubs back in Japan. The Brewers will more than likely have to look elsewhere in search of the power that was missing from their 2025 squad.