Braves Sign Japanese Starter

Written by Colin on January 10, 2009 – 7:04 pm

The Braves finally signed a big name starting pitcher. He’s 112-72 with a 3.22 ERA and 1,328 strikeouts in 11 seasons. He’s one of the two biggest free agents this offseason… in Japan.

Kenshin Kawakami also won the Japanese version of the Cy Young award and is 33 years old.  He’s expected to fly to Atlanta for a physical Monday. The Braves are expected to confirm the contract either Monday or Tuesday. Kawakami has an average fastball, a good cutter and a slow curve. He only pitcher 117 1/3rd innings, though, which seems low.

We’ve been at this point before, so with the way the offseason is going, I’d not get your hopes up. As long as we’re hoping just a little bit, hope that we can sign Derek Lowe as well. Lowe, Kawakami, Jurrjens, Vazquez, and Campillo/Hanson/Morton would make a decent starting rotation.

What are your thoughts? Do you like the move? Does it make up a little bit for not having Smoltzie around?


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