The Atlanta Braves seen John Smoltz sign with the Boston Red Sox this past week and so they went out and signed Japanese pitcher Kenshin Kawakami. Kawakami has pitched the last 11 seasons in Japan’s central league and was one of the best pitchers in the league. Kawakami went 9-5 with a 2.30 ERA in 20 appearances (16 starts) and 117 1/3 innings for the Chunichi Dragons this past season. He missed nearly three weeks in September with a strained back and pitched most of the season in a six-man rotation.

The Braves are also expected to make a formal offer to free agent Derek Lowe on Monday or Tuesday. Lowe would be a great free agent pickup for the team and will make the starting rotation a lot better.

It will suck to see John Smoltz playing for the Boston Red Sox but general manager Frank Wren just couldn’t take another risk on a verteran pitcher coming off of an injury.

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The Braves have mostly struck out during the offseason so far as they have missed out on Jake Peavy and A.J. Burnett but it looks like they have found one free agent that they will be spending some money on. Rafael Furcal appears to be headed back to Atlanta once he passes a physical reports are saying.

Furcal was brought into the major leagues by Braves and played with the team from 2000-2005. He has kept his home in suburban Atlanta even though he has played the last couple of seasons out in Los Angeles with the Dodgers.

The contract is being rumored to be for three years with a vesting option for a fourth year. I expect it to be close to what the Oakland A’s were offering in the $10 million per year range.

Most Braves fans are now wondering what the teams plans are with Yunel Escobar and Kelly Johnson. Both of them have been rumored in past trades. I still expect Furcal to be a shortstop, and then Escobar or Johnson to play second base. The other player could be the main guy out and possibly still moved this off season for some starting pitching.

What’s your thoughts on the deal?

Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves and Chicago White Sox have now officialy completed a six player trade that will send starting pitcher Javier Vazquez to the Braves along with left handed reliever Boone Logan. The Braves will be sending four players to the White Sox including shortstop Brent Lillibridge, catcher Tyler Flowers, left-handed pitcher Santos Rodriguez and third baseman Jon Gilmore

The trade was first talked about earlier in the week but the Braves wanted to have a physical and mri done on Vazquez to make sure everything was ok. That all happened on Wednesday and the trade was officialy announced Thursday morning.

“It’s a fresh start for me,” said Vazquez, who went 12-16 with a 4.67 ERA in 33 starts for the White Sox this past season. “I’ve always liked the National League more than the American League. Being able to be a part of all facets of the game is important to me.”

Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves have traded relief pitcher Tyler Yates to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for pitching prospect Todd Redmond.  Yates was out of options and couldn’t be sent back down to the minor leagues unless he would have cleared waivers, which would have never happened so the Braves got something back for him.

Redmond was a pretty good pitching prospect for the Pirates.  I’m excited to see how he does in the Braves farm system this year.

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Rafael Soriano and the Atlanta Braves agreed on a two year contract on Thursday.  The contract will be pay Soriano $9 million dollars.  As long as Soriano can stay healthy I think it is a pretty good deal for the Braves.  Soriano can be lights out at times, and I think he will have very good numbers as long as he stays healthy.

What do you think Braves fans?  Is it too much money for Soriano?

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Mark Teixeira and the Atlanta Braves were able to come to terms on a deal for 2008 that will pay Teixeira $12.5 million dollars to stay with the Braves.  While most Braves were hoping that they would agree on a long term deal, they should be happy he will still be in Atlanta for the 08 season.

I expect Teixeira to play the free agent market after the 08 season so the Braves are going to have to pony up some money to keep the big first basemen around.   Tex will be hoping for a huge year so he can cash in on the free agent market.

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The Atlanta Braves and Tampa Bay Rays worked out a trade Thursday evening that sent Willy Aybar and Chase Fontaine to the Rays, and in exchange the Rays sent reliever Jeff Ridgway to the Braves.

Ayber got hurt when he first started playing for the Braves and never really got into the rotation of players.  He will get a new chance down in Tampa Bay and I think it will work out very well for him.

Fontaine, the Braves’ second-round selection in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft, hit .288 with three homers in 95 games with Class A Rome this past season. This earned the 22-year-old infielder a late-season promotion to High A Myrtle Beach, where he hit .205 in just 22 games.

As for Ridgway, he will definately add some depth to the Braves bullpen which was surely needed.  Ridgway is a 27 year old lefty that appeared in 57 games in Triple A last year and compiled a 3.06 ERA.  We will see what happens with him in the bullpen for the Atlanta Braves.

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The Atlanta Braves doctors finally had a chance to look of Mark Kotsay and said he was good to go so the Braves and Oakland Atheltics completed the the Kotsay for Joey Devine and Jamie Richmond trade.

Kotsay will play centerfield for the Braves, a spot that was handled by Andruw Jones for the decade.  Kotsay does seem to come down with injuries quite a bit, so Braves fans better say their prayers he doesn’t hurt himself to early in the season.

Going to the Athletics are relief pitcher Joey Devine and minor league pitcher Jamie Richmond.  Devine is pretty good and I like his future.  I don’t have much to blog about for Richmond as I haven’t followed his career to much.  Devine and Huston Street in the A’s bullpen really makes their bullpen good.

One thing I like about this trade for the Braves is that the Atheltics are picking up a big portion of Kotsay’s contract.  If the A’s wouldn’t have done that, I doubt the trade would have happened.

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