The Braves are still hoping that Kenshin Kawakami draws interest from another team that's willing to take on a considerable portion of the $6.67MM he’ll earn in 2011, according to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. Kawakami lost his rotation spot last June after losing his first nine decisions.
He appeared in just three big league games after June 26th, partly because the Braves sent him to the minor leagues for five starts. The 35-year-old started today, but is not competing with Rodrigo Lopez, Brandon Beachy and Mike Minor for Atlanta's open rotation spot. Instead, the Braves will trade Kawakami or return him to the minor leagues.
Japanese teams were willing to take on more than half of Kawakami's salary as recently as last month and some MLB teams, including the Brewers, could use rotation depth. I examined some options for Milwaukee earlier tonight.
They way the front-office handled this really ruined the small amount of value he has left. No one is going to give into Wren’s demands unless KK starts pitching with an ERA around 3 in the Minors. He will start the season a Brave.
In other words, Frank Wren just came to MLBTR, saw the Brewers are looking for pitching and figured “what the hell?”
I’m not sure the brewers would be willing to give up the 3-4 million for KK unless they feel that Greinke and Marcum are going to be missing extended time.
I’d bet the Brewers would force the Braves to eat almost all of the contract just so Wren can get rid of him. Then, when Greinke and Marcum return, either put him into the bullpen, trade him or let him go.
I never realized how old KK is .
KK has repeatedly refused to be traded back to his home. He still thinks he is a major league caliber pitcher and to be honest he is better than replacement level. The Braves have better options in Beachy and Minor as well as Kris Medlen when he gets back from TJ surgery. The team and definitely the fans lost faith in KK last year but he still could be a serviceable starter in the right situation.However as most people have already pointed out, whoever takes him off the Braves hands will want a hefty portion of his salary covered as well as just giving up minor league filler in return or just the GM fave “future considerations”.
Take note that KK doesn’t have a no-trade clause, so it really doesn’t matter what KK wants.
yeah but to japanese teams involve purchasing the contract KK has to give consent to be moved internationally
I think Japanesse people/teams/etc have other things in their minds right now.
Take Carlos Guillen! Kawakami would be a fine bullpen option for the Tigers with Tigers paying 6MM. Guillen could provide depth for the Braves at First if Freeman fails, or at LF, if Chipper goes down again(likely) and they have to shift Prado to 3rd.
I’d rather have Guillen.
I’d take him in a heart beat(Guillen not KK)
why do I get the feeling this trade will never happen?
Same feeling here.. Guess it’s because we’ve been trying to unload him for almost a year now and there have been rumors all over the place.. MLBTR please no KK rumors until he is gone.. lol..
Carlos Silva for Kawakami. Straight up. 🙂
If he goes, which pitcher will Wade McGilberry use to throw his $1 million perfect game?
If Japanese clubs are willing to take on more than half of his salary then why hasn’t it been done yet? They probably won’t get a better offer, and I REALLY hope they’re not pursuing any prospects in the deal because then it’s impossible to get rid of him.
Kawakami got a bad break. Front office really jerked him around and killed his value, but on the other hand Medlen was clearly the better option for the #5 spot and they were in a playoff race.
Kawakami would have to give his permission to have his contract sold to a Japanese team. So far, he has refused to give that permission.
what about aaron rowand with the giants eating half of rowands salary and all of kk’s.
No, no, no, no. We don’t need another expensive has-been to block the way for some of our prospects coming up. We have Wilkin Ramirez, former first-round pick (DET) that’s been having an incredible spring (better than Rowand).
I think a 1-10 record speaks for itself. He had a decent ERA, but Braves didn’t score for him, he didn’t pitch a lot of innings, and when they did score he allowed a lot of runs. Tough to trade a guy that doesn’t know how to win.
“Tough to trade a guy that doesn’t know how to win.”
What? I’m sure GM’s are pretty aware of the fact that win/loss records aren’t all that relevant. His record shouldn’t(and probably won’t) influence his value.
Using a W-L record to analyze a pitcher is useless. KK was unlucky last year with his ERA and his W-L record, he got some of the worst run support in the league. His FIP last year was 4.35 and his other numbers were in line with what he did in 2009. He’s an okay #4/5 guy in the back of the rotation that should be paid about $3 mil or so.
Brewers should be willing to pay 2MM for KK. They have no depth if a starter goes down other than a bunch of guys in AA that aren’t big league ready. The guy was not THAT bad and certainly better than Milwood/Davis.