Mistreatment of Kenshin Kawakami continues
April 5, 2011 at 2:43 pm by Capitol Avenue Club under Atlanta Braves
First they bump him from the rotation when Tim Hudson came back from Tommy John surgery after telling him they weren’t going to. Then they exile him to the bullpen after throwing seven shutout innings against an AL team for Kris Medlen despite his 2.04 K/BB ratio, 0.98 HR/9, and 4.48 ERA. Then they let him face all of 7 more major-league batters for the next month and a half. Then they send him down to AAA to get stretched out–a move he had to approve and did with class and professionalism–and only let him face 22 batters over the final month of the season after his minor-league stint, double-talking their way around it the whole time, saying things like “we can’t use him because it’s been so long since he’s pitched”. As if there’s anyone to blame for that other than the team’s management.
This offseason–probably before–the Braves decided to go with their younger guys, Mike Minor and/or Brandon Beachy, as the complementary pieces to their rotation staples: Tim Hudson, Derek Lowe, Jair Jurrjens, and Tommy Hanson, which leaves Kenshin Kawakami out of their immediate plans for the 2011 rotation. That’s fine, those six starters are all probably better than Kenshin Kawakami anyway and there is certainly more to gain for the long-term health of the franchise by giving the major-league starts to them. Rather than handing him a low-leverage/long-relief bullpen role, they elected to send him to the minors to stay stretched out in case a) they need him to make a start at some point or b) someone else wants to trade for him. That’s also fine, you rarely get through the season with just five or even six starters and starting pitchers are more valuable on the trade market than mop-up men. Even considering the mistreatment Kawakami has endured, these decisions are perfectly rational and defensible.
What’s puzzling is, rather than sending him to AAA Gwinnett, the Braves have sent Kenshin Kawakami to AA Mississippi. This decision would be defensible if the Gwinnett rotation featured five younger, better pitchers who have a chance to help Atlanta now or in the future. That’s not the case. Looking at the Gwinnett roster, their rotation will include two players that the team simply can’t justify giving a spot to over Kawakami. The first one is Todd Redmond, a 26-year-old career minor-leaguer who does not have the stuff/command combo to make it as anything more than a 13th-pitcher-on-the-staff in the big leagues. Atlanta removed Todd Redmond from their 40-man roster some time ago and he is not in their short-term or long-term plans. The second one is Rodrigo Lopez, a veteran journeyman who pitched a full season in the majors last year. And guess what? Kenshin Kawakami pitched better than him! Pick any DIPS metric, Kawakami wins.
Not pictured is tRA, which Kawakami also held an advantage over Lopez in last year (5.26 to 5.57).
So why are the Braves sending Rodrigo Lopez to AAA and Kenshin Kawakami to AA? Mark Bowman from November:
Even with the possibility that he might spend this entire season in the Minors, Kawakami has indicated he wants to remain in the United States. If he returns to his native Japan, he feels he would erase his final opportunity to prove that he can be successful in the U.S.
Kawakami didn’t mind continuing to enjoy the U.S. lifestyle when the Braves optioned him to Triple-A Gwinnett last August. The ballpark was just a short drive from the suburban Atlanta mansion (formerly resided in by rapper Lil’ Bow Wow) that he has rented the past two summers.
I’m going to have to guess he won’t find these same luxuries in Pearl, Mississippi. Now that he might have realized the Braves are more than willing to keep him on the Double-A Mississippi roster, he might have to at least start reconsidering the possibility of pitching for one of those Japanese clubs that have shown interest.
Rather than working with a player who has a) shown he’s capable of being a successful major league pitcher in the past and b) wants to get back to doing so, the Braves are trying to harass him into accepting an offer to play in Japan. That, to me, is disgusting and despicable.
It is not Kenshin Kawakami’s fault that he was miscast as a top-of-the-rotation starter when Atlanta signed him. It is not his fault that the Braves evaluated him incorrectly and offered him more than they were willing to spend on a pitcher of his caliber. The blame falls strictly on Atlanta. Period. That the Braves are trying to compensate for their mistake by bullying him is… well… quite frankly I’m shocked. I’ve always thought of Atlanta as an honorable organization. These tactics are lower than low, they’re sleazy and cheap.
I didn’t want to write this article, I don’t ever want to think of the Braves as a team that would do something like this. The Braves don’t always make the correct baseball decision, but they do more than they don’t. They’re one of the best run organizations in the game, and as long as they’re winning I can look past a few screw-ups here and there. But this is something that transcends baseball decisions, this is morally wrong. And after looking at how this entire situation has been handled, most prominently the ‘sending him to AA’ part, they’ve lost some of my respect.
Two more things.
- If I were Kenshin Kawakami’s agent I would have already filed a grievance.
- Don’t think that all of Japanese baseball hasn’t noticed the mistreatment Kawakami has endured, and this is probably going to impact Atlanta’s ability to bring in Japanese talent in the future–both professional and amateur.
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You took the words right out of my mouth. I’ve been pondering this for a while, but I didn’t want to stir up Talking Chop (where 90% of the posters seem to hate KK beyond all reason) with it. Thanks for putting this up.
The Braves are a classy organization, generally, which is why their reprehensible treatment of Kawakami is all the more mystifying. He really should file a grievance.
Completely agree Pete. As classy and professional as this organization is, this is despicable. I’m most worried too about your point that the rest of Japanese baseball will notice this mistreatment. Really just shameful.
Good work here. Poor Kenshin. I feel bad for the guy. He’s not my favorite, but no one deserves this treatment.
And yeah, the Braves can probably go ahead and kiss goodbye any chance they had at Yu Darvish or any other Japanese player who’s MLB-ready.
I would also add that KK’s “visa troubles” in returning from Japan made me highly suspicious. I’m willing to bet the Braves did very little, if not nothing, to help him get back to the country.
At the end of the day, not putting him at AAA is not only disgraceful, it’s bad baseball.
I’ve had these feelings for a long time and am glad you’ve (finally) taken the time and effort to articulate your thoughts about the situation.
The Braves seem to pride themselves on being an honorable and loyal organization and the hypocrisy of how they have handled this situation is, as you’re said, “disgusting and despicable”.
On the surface, the Braves treatment of him is egregious and demands a formal explanation in front of an independent arbiter. KK has every right to file a grievance, and quite frankly, I hope he does and I hope he wins.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Blog policy:
I just commented on the last thread about my thoughts on the KK deal and this popped up right after. I am not going to consider the previous comment important enough to repost it here. I did want to add that my dislike of the KK signing, and my questioning of the need to use resources to sign Japanese players in general, is not intended to reflect badly on KK himself. I have been rather impressed with how honorably he has publicly handled the situation.
The situation is so odd, however, and so out of character compared to how the organization normally handles its players, that you almost wonder if there was something that happened privately between KK and an important person in the organization that has caused him to be punished with an assignment to AA with prejudice, and with total disregard for how the moves would affect his trade value.
This does not come across as a move that considered the organization’s best interests, but a move sparked by a personal problem with KK that was so bad the organization decided it had to punish him rather than just cut him or trade him (i.e. Y. Escobar).
They could trade Escobar because he’s talented and cheap and someone will take a chance on him getting his act together. They can cut someone like Duente Heath because he makes no money. Kenshin Kawakami is different.
I’m not going to pretend to know a lot about the grievance process, but it occurred to me that if KK does not file a grievance, could that lend some circumstantial evidence to my only way of rationalizing the organization’s treatment of him? One reason to not file a grievance could be to avoid the chance of a private incident becoming public.
Of course, he might also be handling it this way due to cultural differences, especially considering Japanese culture is more collectively oriented (looks out for best interest of group above self) than individually oriented (“I love me some me!”).
@7
It might be denial, but I feel the same way. Something had to occur.
I’m wondering if you’re KK if you go the grievance route, or you consider having your agent ask the Braves for a buyout? Could be an opportunity for all concerned to move on – (and for KK to pursue signing with a team here in the States).
Don’t get me wrong – the Braves signed him to the deal and he’s entitled to every penny … but if he really wants to pitch in the states at this point, you wonder if a grievance is really in his best interests at age 35?
I’m normally a lurker, but this has been on my mind the entire offseason, so thanks for putting this out in the open. The second time he was sent to the pen really struck me. There is no way anyone can sit back and tell us that scrubs like Jesse Chavez were better than Kawakami last summer. There were also several blowouts he could’ve been used in mop-up duty for and instead the Braves ran out their top relievers.
I agree with Micah here – it’s as though KK personally offended Bobby or Wren somehow and now it’s become some vendetta. I’ve been a Braves fan as long as I could hold a baseball and I’ve never seen anything so disturbing by this organization.
Right now, if I were a Japanese player, Atlanta would be the last place I’d want to sign now (without full knowledge of the story, of course).
I don’t understand the “Quite Frankly” blog policy with Stephen A. Smith.
What’s the deal there?
About Kawakami. I never liked him as a pitcher, but the treatment he is gotten from the Atlanta organization is bad. Kawakami is better than Christian Martinez and Scott Linebrink. He should be in the big league roster over those two guys.
It’s just a dumb joke.
Come on now, it’s not like he’s being whipped daily or anything. He’s making millions playing in AA.
Fact is if he had pitched even half-way decent last season, he’d still be the 5th starter or at the very least in the ‘pen.
Nick,
Kawakami did pitch more than half-way decently last season.
People seem to be missing the point. He is basically being punished and bullied for not accepting a deal to Japan. It isn’t about being paid millions to pitch in Mississippi, it’s about the Braves organization trying to force him into something he doesn’t want.
What exactly is so despicable about being in AA instead of AAA? Ive head that AA can be more competitive than AAA anyways. Didn’t several player bypass AAA to go strait to the majors? Also, why does any organization owe something more to a player than the dollars or clauses in a contract? The braves didn’t promise him he’d always be an ATLANTA brave, nor did they ensure a spot in the major league rotation. So while putting him in AA instead of AAA may be a little un-classy, what is soooo reprehensible about all this?
KK is NOT better than Martinez and Linebrink! His throws in the high 80′s and is just not a reliever. You don’t bring in soft tossing righties out of the bullpen these days and hope to have any success. Kenshin is only suited for starting and he is probably the 8th or 9th option for the Braves at that position. Martinez and Linebrink both throw the ball hard and have had at lease some success out of the bullpen. Linebrink has had a really nice career out of the pen and is a big-time veteran presence in the pen to help bring along our young arms (plus he speaks English). I think the Braves should have just put KK on waivers and eaten the money if they weren’t going to send him to AAA. I’m really disgusted by them sending him to Mississippi too, but that is the only thing that disappoints me. He isn’t good enough to pitch for Atlanta and obviously no other MLB club is interested or he would already be gone. We made a bad signing. Wren should just man up and waive the guy.
Also if KK was the “decent” pitcher everyone here thinks he is, why isn’t Frank’s phone blowing up with trade offers? Especially with the Braves offering to pay a big chunk of his salary. Let’s not feel too sorry for KK just because he’s from Japan. He was brought here to pitch well and he simply has not done that.
I never liked it much myself, the thing that really made me feel bad for him was an interview he did after he hadn’t been used for a while and he came off as a really nice classy guy. Hopefully he can get a chance to pitch in the major leagues again because he certainly deserves it
Players get bullied all the time when they don’t perform. What makes KK so different? Players get traded when they don’t want to be. They get sent down when they don’t want to be. This is not “just” about showing respect of looking out for KK. The Braves simply has too many starters both in the minors and bigs that are better. Bottom line, had KK pitched better he’d still be in the rotation. Period.
“morally wrong” — that seems a bit extreme.
Maybe a little bit slimy, but he is pitching and getting paid millions.
OTOH, I had always heard that in Baltimore Frank Wren had a reputation for treating players poorly.
I’m onboard with the notion that something happened between KK and Cox / Wren / Management at some point last season, not that that makes the Braves look much better in this situation.
I’ve always found it funny as well that if you take KK’s and Derek Lowe’s ’09 and ’10 seasons combined numbers, they are very similar with KK arguably performing slightly better.
I’ll agree that it’s best not to burn any bridges to potential resources but if this whole KK saga does indeed sour current and future Japanese players against the Braves, I don’t see it doing to much harm, as besides Ichiro there hasn’t been much quality coming from Japan. But again, it’s still best not to burn that bridge.
@15: I was going to not comment for awhile due to the writing I need to be getting done in the real world (and now avoiding by over-commenting on here), but I disagree Nick.
KK is not a great pitcher by any stretch, but I think the work done in Atlanta was “half-way decent,” even last season, for a 5th starter (as indicated by the numbers cac posted in this article). But I also don’t think pitching half-way decent would be enough to get him into the starting rotation as we have at least 2 other starters now who should be at least three-fourths decent (Beachy and Minor). And we have better RH pen options as well.
KK’s unfortunate situation boils down to the Braves being on the-other-side-of-the-world deeper at pitching now than when they signed him. He’s simply not needed. But at the same there hasn’t been any publicly acknowledged reason to kick him while he’s down.
The organization should talk up his decent numbers behind the wins and losses, his team first attitude, his rested arm, and at least make it appear he is in the competition for the 5th spot during Spring. Then cut their losses by taking the best offer they can get for him and wish him well. Instead, they are treating him like they found out he was some psycho-killer in Japan. They don’t want to tell anyone so they can get rid of him, but at the same time they don’t want to be anywhere near the guy. I don’t know about you, but if I think there is even a .001% chance of someone being a psycho-killer, I’m not going to hire him.
AJBravos,
What Ben said.
Ryan,
I agree that KK’s repertoire is better suited for starting. You’re wrong about his and Martinez’s velocity, though. Also, you don’t seem to understand how waivers work. Nobody is going to claim him and his entire salary on waivers, what’s the point? He already went through waivers when they took him off their 40-man roster.
SupremeBraves,
Also if KK was the “decent” pitcher everyone here thinks he is, why isn’t Frank’s phone blowing up with trade offers?
Joe Pawlikowski explains why. In short: there will be once a contending team’s starters start to go down.
He was brought here to pitch well and he simply has not done that.
Yes he did. 243 and 2/3 innings of a 94 ERA+ is fine.
SupremeBraves,
You are pissing me off.
Players get bullied all the time when they don’t perform.
No they do not. They get treated professionally and shown the same respect they show the team. Kawakami has been a professional, the favor has not been returned.
What makes KK so different? Players get traded when they don’t want to be. They get sent down when they don’t want to be.
There is a difference between sending someone down to the minor leagues when he’s not needed and sending someone to a lower-than-appropriate level just to piss him off/pressure him into doing something he doesn’t want or have to do.
This is not “just” about showing respect or looking out for KK. Frank has a responsibility to do what’s best for the Braves. Not KK. The Braves simply has too many starters both in the minors and bigs that are better.
Nobody is talking about putting him in the big-leagues. Quit putting words in our mouths. We’re talking about not harassing him.
Is this an Albert Haynesworth type deal where the Braves are trying to get him to quit rather than pay him?
Yes. Except instead of coming to camp out of shape and generally being a huge jackass, all Kawakami did was pitch well enough to be a back-end-of-the-rotation starter and get victimized by awful defense and run support.
EDIT: To be fair, Haynesworth’s employer should have known that’s what he was singing up for.
Kawakami seems like a nice guy, and while I won’t be shedding many tears for him and his millions, I agree he appears to be getting a raw deal.
For those saying that it’s not that bad to be in AA:
The Brave have no apparent baseball reason to put him in AA. There’s room for him at AAA, and if they really wanted to showcase him for trade, he’d be in AAA facing better competition. He has nothing to learn at AA.
I suppose there’s a slight chance Kenshin asked to go to AA, if he thought his stats would be signficantly better there and thought that he’d get more exposure to scouts (if there are more hot prospects and fewer lifers in AA).
Thank you for writing this post. The treatment of Kawakami has been completely beneath the Braves organization. Even if there was some sort of scenario where Kawakami angered the Braves powers-that-be, which I do not believe because there is really no reason to believe it, it would still be inexcusable to act unprofessionally in return out of nothing more than spite.
The Tom Glavine debacle comes to mind when thinking of the mistreatment of players by the Braves front office in recent memory. I think it was absolutely the right move to bring Hanson up rather than extend Glavine’s farewell tour, but it was a really shitty way of handling it. So it’s not like the KK move is unprecedented. Wren and JS usually do a good job with matters like these, but these two examples are glaring blemishes on their resumes.
I think KK is BADASS for agreeing to pitch in AA and not complaining, regardless of the fact that he wants to be successful in MLB. Very disappointing that the Braves are preventing him from doing so in the stage that he deserves to be in, so that they could recoup around $3m from a japanese team rather than about $1m (speculation) from a team here. It’s also disheartening to read fatass Bowman talk about how he won’t be enjoying the “luxuries” of the “US lifestyle,” basically parroting the front office’s chants of “KK go home.” If you’ve seen him lately, you might agree that maybe Bowman should start denying himself the US luxuries of processed and fried food at least for a few hours at a time.
My sister’s boyfriend is from Japan and Kawakami happens to be his favorite player. From talking about this with him, the cultural difference of the Japanese being more about the collective good doesn’t extend this far. I’m sure he still thinks the situation is bullshit. What would be more humiliating to KK than even pitching A ball would be to go back to the Japan league now as a failure, after his team basically forced him to leave. Pitch on in AA, KK. If you end up on the staff of another team this year and you face the Braves, it will be the only game I wouldn’t mind seeing us lose.
@18: I have lived in Jackson, MS. I have lived outside of Atlanta, GA. Trust me, there is a big difference.
@29: I have met Albert Haynesworth. “Huge jackass” is a very accurate description.
@JFH Agreed this and Glavine’s retirement are on the same terms. Glav certainly earned the benefit of the doubt, and KK might not be a legend, but I think he’s performed and more importantly acted professionally enough to have his say in this.
It just seems like there has got to be more to the story here. The Braves are completely out of character (and I agree, out of line) in sending him to Mississippi.
The fact remains he didn’t pitch that poorly last season to justify the total lack of viable offers, even with Wren willing to eat some/most of that $7 MM. I realize guys will get hurt and somebody will need him down the line, but it was a starter-rich free agent market after the first few big names this winter and I am surprised we couldn’t offload him to anyone, despite the contract situation.
I hope he can get a job somewhere, the guy obviously wants to play baseball, but I just think there has to be more to this story than is out there right now.
I have to say I don’t feel too bad for “poor” KK. First of all, poor is not an accurate adjective for someone making north of $6M/year. Many employers treat their employees badly for much less money, so my heart strings are not at all tugged.
I think this came down to two things, and both are related to business. 94 ERA+ is fine and all, but the bottom line was the Braves did not win when he pitched. Blame it on anything you want…poor offense, bad luck, whatever. The metrics just didn’t work on this one. They did not win with KK on the mound, and that’s what FW and company get paid for. That, combined with the fact that KK was just not popular in the ATL market, due to performance and probably a bit of demographics, made the decision to move him easier. He didn’t win and didn’t sell anything.
Again, if anyone wants to pay me in the neighborhood of $20M, give me an opportunity to succeed for 1.5 years, then send me out to pasture because I’m not getting the job done for the following 1.5 years, I’m ready and willing to listen to all offers. Does that make me morally reprehensible?
@JFH Agreed this and Glavine’s retirement are on the same terms. Glav certainly earned the benefit of the doubt, and KK might not be a legend, but I think he’s performed, and more importantly acted, professionally enough to have his say in this.
It just seems like there has got to be more to the story here. The Braves are completely out of character (and I agree, out of line) in sending him to Mississippi.
The fact remains he didn’t pitch that poorly last season to justify the total lack of viable offers, even with Wren willing to eat some/most of that $7 MM. I realize guys will get hurt and somebody will need him down the line, but it was a starter-rich free agent market after the first few big names this winter and I am surprised we couldn’t offload him to anyone, despite the contract situation.
I hope he can get a job somewhere, the guy obviously wants to play baseball, but there must be more to this story than is out there right now.
Well said, Peter. You know my position on KK as well as anyone, but you have managed to put it all into words so much better than anyone else could have done.
I really hope KK files a grievance, and I hope he wins it. If nothing else, we need to trade him away ASAP.
Again, if anyone wants to pay me in the neighborhood of $20M, give me an opportunity to succeed for 1.5 years, then send me out to pasture because I’m not getting the job done for the following 1.5 years, I’m ready and willing to listen to all offers. Does that make me morally reprehensible?
No, but this:
94 ERA+ is fine and all, but the bottom line was the Braves did not win when he pitched. Blame it on anything you want…poor offense, bad luck, whatever. The metrics just didn’t work on this one. They did not win with KK on the mound, and that’s what FW and company get paid for.
Makes you someone who doesn’t know dogshit about baseball.
Steve,
Contending teams don’t want back-end starters at this point, and non-contending teams don’t want to pay for them. The former will both want them and be willing to pay for them once they’re out of viable options.
Out of curiosity, why have we not heard more about this move and treatment from the KK camp? If there weren’t more to this story other than the Braves treating him like crap then why haven’t we seen a grievance? I can’t condone the Braves actions but KK has also not acted like a player scorned. Something is not adding up and it is not just his “Japanese culture” playing out. The inside business portion of this has not been aired publicly and we are drawing conclusions on half truths. We are only hearing one side of the story and you know what happens when you only hear one side.
I agree that the treatment is unfair and certainly no one would want to be put in the situation, but aren’t we constantly told that this is a business? Sure this might be horrible business practice and I’m not saying its right or how I would handle the situation, but if management believes this is the best way to run their business, then well all we can do is disagree with it from the human/business element and move on.
We don’t know what’s gone on behind closed doors and to speculate without knowing all the facts seems reckless on our parts. If I am missing some sort of facts here please forgive me and I am certainly not trying to offend/attack anyone, but it seems like all we can say is that the front office is pulling a dick move from what we know and its not something we condone?
If that is indeed the case, they will learn the hard way by potentially being cut off from Japanese players in the future. I gotta believe that if we are smart enough to come to that conclusion that so have they and they either don’t care or aren’t worried about it. I hope that this doesn’t become the norm for the people in charge (and the reminder that Glavine wasn’t treated exactly right either does make me nervous a bit) but I’m willing to move on from this and forgive not forget….
35) “Many employers treat their employees badly for much less money, so my heart strings are not at all tugged.”
Well, this is the highest stage for this particular job, where only a VERY small percentage can become the elite and get a shot here. Competition in the Japanese league is very highas well–although not to the same degree. KK won the Japanese Cy Young. You can’t compare that to some 35 year old dumbass who works at Wal-Mart because he fucked off all his life. (This comment does not apply to every Wal-Mart employee, just most of them).
Some quick notes on Pearl from my good friend who lived in Jackson, MS until he was 18:
It’s a fucking shithole…Home of the first school shooting…Kissed my first girl there. Now she’s in and out of jail cause she’s a junkie…Full of gnarly rednecks…Just a bad place.
Sounds awesome. Sure they love rich Japanese guys.
This is kind of a fundamentally unfair position for the Braves Their actions are necessarily in the public record – they can’t demote, promote, or otherwise transact with KK except in full view of everyone, while KK can say or do just about anything in complete private, especially considering that the language barrier means there’s always a filter (to some unkown, since I don’t speak Japanese, degree) on his public statements. So, without knowing the full story, you can’t really conclude that the Braves are acting unfairly. It seems like that’s the case, but we lack the info to be definitive.
It is acting unfairly when you have 2 starters in the AAA rotation who are worse. Also: see my previous notes on Pearl.
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BenS,
So, without knowing the full story, you can’t really conclude that the Braves are acting unfairly. It seems like that’s the case, but we lack the info to be definitive.
That’s a fair point, but I’m struggling to come up with a scenario in which demoting him to AA rather than AAA is anything other than a blatant attempt at harassment.
It’s pretty clear that they are mistreating him. There is no reason for him to not be in triple-A. In triple-A he can live at the house he has rented since he has been here. He can be around a city he has grown to know.
If there were at least one baseball reason to have him in Mississippi it could be brushed off and there wouldn’t be this type of backlash from those following the situation. There isn’t though, and it really looks like they are putting him there to make him uncomfortable and want to move back to Japan. Call it what you will, and maybe we are wrong and that isn’t what is going on, but it certainly has the makings for what Peter and others, including me, have suggested.
The way he was treated in spring training was insulting too. Wren and Gonzalez gave plenty of lip service to the idea that it was a “three-way race” for the fifth starter position, even though EVERYONE knew it was BS and that Rodrigo Lopez had NO shot at winning that job over Minor and Beachy. Why? Because Lopez is a major league veteran and as such deserves to be treated with respect. Why they couldn’t extend the same service to Kawakami is beyond me. What made Lopez deserving of the “we like him as a pitcher and he’s got a shot at making the roster” BS but Kawakami not? How hard would it have been for them to at least pretend he was in the running in their press statements?
And it’s not like this is just about being nice and honorable. Presumably Frank Wren actually does want to trade the guy and unload some of his salary. This kind of thing doesn’t exactly drum up a lot of interest. I’ve seen people mention the Yankees as a potential team that may need starting pitching help. Well how do you think the infamous Yankee fan base would react to learning that they picked up a $6 million pitcher who we put below Todd Redmond and Rodrigo Lopez on the depth chart? It’s not exactly intelligent marketing. Even if, as some have suggested, Kawakami did something in private that deeply offended Frank Wren and the organization– which I find pretty hard to believe– Wren’s goal should still be trying to trade him rather than trying to get back at him by dumping him in Mississippi. There’s still no excuse.
I feel bad for the guy and hope he gets picked up soon by a major league team that’s willing to treat him like a professional.
This is just the last step windy staircase of mistreatment, and CAC has covered most of it.
I think more emphasis needs to be given to how they relegated to him to the bullpen for over a month without pitching him (when do you EVER see this kind of treatment to anyone the team is not trying to get rid of?), and how they were late in applying for a Visa for him to come to ST.
Ever since his demotion the Braves have made it abundantly clear to KK that he is not wanted any longer.
1) They benched him in the bullpen and sent him to the minors in hopes he would approve of a trade in the offseason, knowing he had no future here.
2) They didn’t apply for his Visa in time to arrive to spring training, hoping he would agree to stay in Japan.
and
3) They sent him to AA, away from his city, home, and presumably friends so he would finally give in and agree to go back to Japan.
The Braves are demoralizing, intimidating, and bullying him into approving a trade to Japan, against his wishes and against his contractual right.
I think ‘harrassment’ is a bit of a stretch. Filing a grievance would be petty too. That is all baseball needs is more union nonsense.
His contract is being honored, so he really has no beef. I am pretty sure other companies do similar and even worse things. He just has absolutely no future with the Braves and they can’t trade him. I can see his side of things, but this wouldn’t be an issue if he had done what was expected of him.