Tagged: Kenshin Kawakami
Braves 3, Yankees 2
The Braves did something that they only did 3 times the WHOLE season
last year by winning a game decided by one run. It seemed like whenever
we looked like we were going to win, something happened like missing an
easy pop-fly or giving up a 9th inning home run and then lose in extras
or in the 9th inning. It was horrible. It looks like we have solved the
problem now, but we will have to keep it up until April through October
if we want to compete. Today’s win was also special since it was
against the Yankees. There are 3 teams who I LOVE beating and they are the Yanks, the Mets, and the Phillies. It always makes my day special.
This is what our pitching looked like today
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|
Atlanta |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
ERA |
|
Kawakami (W, 2-0) |
3.0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
0.00 |
|
Boyer (H, 2) |
1.0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Redmond (H, 1) |
1.0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
4.50 |
|
Medlen (H, 1) |
1.0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
4.50 |
|
Bueno (H, 2) |
1.0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Gomez, M (H, 1) |
1.0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0.00 |
|
Perez, J (S, 1) |
1.0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4.50 |
A solid start from Kawakami helped. He allowed no hits, but did
walk 3 though it didn’t matter as they didn’t score any runs from it.
It was nice seeing Boyer do good today as well.
Josh Anderson hit a double
against Yankees’ Ian Kennedy to start the game and wold later score thanks to Kotchman with a 2 run double. Escobar hit a
sac-fly to score Prado from 3rd later on, and that was really all the Braves needed to do. Frenchy left after one at bat to go play
golf with John Smoltz and Tiger Woods. I would have rather had him stay
to improve that .091 batting average he has but oh well.
There is an interesting player
who played today and yesterday. His name is Reid Gorecki. Yesterday he
hit a home run and today he hit a double. He has only had those 2 at
bats the whole Spring. Anyone wanna give me a scouting report on this
guy. He looks very good so far, even though he has had only 2 at bats.
Hopefully he will get more so I can see if this guy if real or not.
Other Braves Playing For Their Country
Chipper went 0-4 and McCann went 1-2 with with a double and and run for the U.S.
Gregor Blanco went 1-3 with a run, 2 walks, and a stolen base for Venezuela
Concepcion Rodriguez went 2-5 with a run, 2 RBIs, and a triple.
Bryan Dumesnil pitched 1.1 innings giving up 2 hits (one being a home run), a walk, a run, and struck out one.
Odd Man Out?
As you know, the Braves signed Kenshin Kawakami and Derek Lowe this week. Recently, I learned from David O’Brien about Tim Hudson’s option
Almost forgot to mention this: I asked about Hudson’s option today,
and found out it’s not a mutual option, but a club option. Yes, they
fully intend to exercise it, barring some unexpected turn of events.
That would give the Braves potentially one of the most formidable
rotations in baseball, featuring five from this group: Hudson, Lowe,
Jurrjens, Vazquez, Kawakami and Hanson.
– David O’Brien
Just imagine this rotation. Hudson, Lowe, Jurrjens, and 2 pitchers out of Vaquez, Kawakami, and Hanson. That is amazing. Campillo would go back to the bullpen and one of the players in the rotation would have to get moved. There could be a chance we move one of them to the bullpen or use them in a trade, but who knows what would happen. We might even go to a 6 man rotation. There are so many things that could happen. I don’t think Hanson or Jurrjens will go back to the minors and Hudson’s option will get picked up. Who knows what will happen. There is a chance that Hanson isn’t as good as we thought, Kawakami doesn’t pan out, Hudson can’t come back after TJ surgery, or Jurrjens was a fluke last year. Anything could happen, so I am pretty sure that we will keep all of them. If one gets injured, then we have plenty of options to replace him.
I can guarantee that Morton or Reyes or even both will be gone after this season or the next. Parr and Campillo will be in the bullpen after this year. They just couldn’t make it in the rotation. I can’t imagine that Soriano will be with us after next year either. We have just completely loaded our rotation and rotation that we have to get rid of some. Good thing Chuck James left after being nontendered because there is no way he could have made this years rotation or the next, even if he went back to the 11 win man.
I am predicting that we go with a 6 man rotation with Campillo and Parr moving to the bullpen, Reyes will get traded and we will keep Morton, and Soriano will leave after this year in Free Agency. Next year the outfield will be like this with Frenchy, Anderson, Schafer, Hernandez, Blanco, possibly Jones, Heyward, Diaz, and Brandon Jones.
2009 Needs
Power hitting outfielder who hits over .250
Will Ohman
Another Lefty Starter just in case
Players I predict we will get
Andruw Jones
Nick Swisher
Will Ohman
Tom Glavine
Braves, Lowe agree to deal
I am thrilled to say that Lowe will become a Brave!
Yesterday they
agreed to a 4 year, 60MM deal. This is coming right after we sign
Kenshin Kawakami to a 3 year 23MM deal. Two great signings in a row.
Lowe,
36, is a workhorse and doesn’t really spend anytime on the DL. He can
pitch over 200 innings like Vazquez and is capable of being an Ace,
which is what we need. He has a decent ERA and is going to be a very
important part to the team this year. He’s also been in the NL long
enough to know how to hit. 
Last year he had a 3.24 ERA, 211 IP, 147 K’s, and 14 wins and 11 loses.
Next year, our rotation should look like
Lowe
Jurrjens
Vazquez
Kawakami
Campillo as of now.
Replacements- Reyes, Morton, Parr (could see bullpen time), and Hanson.
Hudson later on.
I
could easily see Glavine getting that 5th spot and Campillo moving back
to the Pen. It would be possible that Hanson will win the spot during
ST and then you would send Reyes and Morton back to AAA. I really see
one of them getting sent out of Atlanta in a trade package like to the
Yankees or to another team for other needs.
Now about the outfield…
Dunn
looked likely 2 days ago, but I would guess that Nady or Swisher will
be going to Atlanta. I would perfer Nady because he can hit just as
many HR’s and still hit over .300. Swisher hit in the low .200’s last
year but jacked over 20.
Andruw Jones will also be a Brave once he gets released from the Dodgers.
Anyways,
I had full faith in Wren and I knew he would get the job done. He will
also put a few more fans in the sets as well. If we can get a power
hitter, I think we can win the crown again as the leaders of the NL
East. We are very close.
Braves sign Kenshin Kawakami
According to multiple sources, The Braves have signed Japanese righty pitcher Kenshin Kawakami to a 3 year/23MM contract. I am kind of late on this, but for a reason. I wanted to wait at least a day or two to make sure this wasn’t another Furcal incident. It is official now.
Kawakami has spent his whole career in Japan and has decided to move to the U.S. to play ball. Yeah he is not an ace, but he is a solid 4th or 3rd mid-rotation guy. He won an award equivalent to the Cy Young in Japan, so you know he will at least be decent. More on him will come when the deal becomes official.
This does make the Lowe to Atlanta deal more possible . If we can add him, our rotation will be decent enough to compete. There is still a possible Peavy trade, but you never know with the Padres management. Dunn, Nady, or Swisher will most likely be an Atlanta Brave by Spring Training.
Good signing Wren! Keep it up!
UPDATE
Braves sign super-utility player Omar Infante to a two-year 4.35MM deal with a club option. The 2011 club option is for $2.5MM with a $250K buyout. He was a big player last year due to all the injuries. He ended up played 2nd, SS, 3rd, LF, and CF. Another smart move by Wren. Maybe a bit much money wise, but it’s good nevertheless. 
P.S. Corky Miller signed a minor league deal with the ChiSox. Now we don’t have to deal with him anymore!
Darion
Say it Ain’t So Smoltz!
Well it looks like the Braves have been punched in the face again. The Red Sox are set to sign John Smoltz to a one year, 4mm deal. Again things are not going the Braves way during this offseason I hope to forget. Smoltz, coming off of elbow surgery, will probably not pitch until sometime around June. Usually when he comes out of surgery, he is a new man and can pitch much better than he did. I’m not sure this is going to happen again, but you never know with Smoltzie. 
He has been a great leader, player, and role model for so many people and players for such a long time. A former Cy young winner, 210 wins, 154 saves, 3.26 career ERA, 3,011 strikeouts, 8 time All-Star, part of the ’95 World Series team. Wow that’s a heck of a career and no doubt Hall of Famer. I’m gonna miss him and everything he has done for our team.
Red Sox fans, you are getting a great, great player. Hopefully he can come back next year and have a good season. I am definitely going to continue to cheer him on, even if he faces us during interleague. 
Last year he got his 3,000 strikeout, but that was really the only highlight of last year until he got injured.
NOW before the other Braves fans start getting pissy and blaming everything on Wren and wanting to chop off his head, think about it. We did not need to spend more than 4 million on Smoltz just because he might not come back like everyone thinks. He will be out until June or later and might have 15 appearances at the most. Yeah Boston is taking a huge gamble (he might make up to 10mm total, 5mm guaranteed). We couldn’t afford that with all our needs. Wren will be trying to sign Lowe and with that 4 million we saved by not signing Smoltz, we will have a better chance of fulfilling our other needs (2 starting pitchers, 1 power-hitting outfielder NOT named Andruw Jones). By the way, I am not against taking Andruw back at 400k. He might have a chance at hitting .240 with 10 home runs.
Ok Don’t get me wrong. I wanted Smoltz back, but we just didn’t have that extra 3-5 million, and he wanted to play for a winner (you can’t blame him after what’s gone wrong so far). If we don’t want the Nationals being ahead of us and laughing at us while we are in last place, we need to get other players. Yeah this is a horrible offseason. Yeah we lost out on Peavy, Burnett, Tazawa, Furcal, and Smoltz. Yeah we might be in last place, but WE ARE NOT GONNA SIT AND DO NOTHING ABOUT IT!
Note to other Braves Fans
Wren has not been the greatest, but so far not many things have been his fault.
Peavy- Towers/Padres fault
Smoltz- His decision
Burnett- His decision (I am actually happy now that we didn’t sign him for 80mm)
Tazawa- His decision
Furcal– His decision/Agent’s fault
We can still be competitive by signing two good pitchers, Kenshin Kawakami/ Jon Garland and Derek Lowe, and a power hitting outfielder.
We will see what will happen. Let’s just not go ahead and say the season is over just yet. Even though it’s hard being a Braves’ fan, we will pull through. Good luck Smoltz. One of the greatest trades happened on August 12, 1987 which involved you. We wish You nothing, absolutely nothing but success in the rest of your career and future, no matter where you go.
-Darion, still a true Braves fan
Grading this Season’s Signings
I am going to give a personal grade for the players the Braves have gotten so far this Offseason.
Javier Vazquez
He has been a great workhorse and can strikeout tons of people. He had 200 K’s last year and had a ERA of 4.67 over 208.1 innings. The ERA isn’t great, but I sure love the innings he pitched. Considering how every pitcher we had was injured, having a non-injury prone guy pitching will be great. We REALLY need that. Obviously this guy is not our ace, but he is a very good player and has the veteran presences that we needed more of. He should be better than he was last season going into the NL. This guy is very good and a great pickup. 
Grade: A
Boone Logan
Ok this guy isn’t great, but he can be an option we can look for in the bullpen. Hopefully an NL move will help him, but it won’t be a huge difference. He had a not-so-good ERA of 5.95 and a WHIP of 1.68 and got sent to the minors with the ChiSox. Hopefully he can turn around and have a consistent season, but I doubt it. He might have an ERA under 5, but I still see him staying inconstant. 
Grade: C-
David Ross
Here is a decent pickup. We needed a new backup catcher BADLY! When your two backups combine to hit less than .175, you have to make some kind of move. Ross hit .225 with 3 HR’s, which happened to be 1 HR more than our backups hit COMBINED. Well anyway, he’s pretty good and can really give us a better chance of winning when McCann is taking a day off. It is also good because he is a Georgia boy. I can see him getting some good playing time during interleague games.
Grade: B-
Eric O’Flaherty
I don’t really know much about this guy, although he was picked up from waivers after giving up 15 runs over 6.2 innings. He can maybe turn around, but he has to first win a spot during Spring Training. We will see how that goes.
Grade: C
Greg Norton
We saw last year how good he did, so it’s no surprise he’s back here. Glad he’s back and I hope he can still have that .300 pinch-hitting average he had last year. He can play OF and 1st base AND he is a switch hitter. You can expect him to make a lot of late-innings appearances. He’s old, but he’s still good. 
Grade: B+
Kenshin Kawakami
Since he did come from Japan, we can not automatically say he is going to be as good as his Japanese numbers were, but I can say that he will be a solid player and can help us. He is a great player and he won’t be a bust.
Grade: A-
Derek Lowe
This is was a major signing. We needed an ace, and he can match that. A workhorse and a great guy. This, as of now, was the signing of our offseason. He had a 3.24 ERA and over 211 innings pitched. Oh did I mention he has over 75 saves as well as over 100 wins? He has what we need.
Grade: A+
Overall grade for Atlanta: A
Braves World 