Friday, August 6, 2010
Sports Ben's Sports Take: Kenshin Kawakami has become the Braves' red-headed stepchild
Posted by Ben Bussard on Fri, Aug 6, 2010 at 1:15 PM
When you type the phrase 'red-headed stepchild' into that Google doohickey, the first result that pops up is from the always insightful urbandictionary.com and it reads:
"A child who is obviously not your own, a child who is treated worse than other children in the family"
- Kawakamis auburn locks might be fake, but there's no denying his "pain-in-the-ass-ness"
Former Atlanta starting pitcher Kenshin Kawakami fits the bill as the team's "ginger-bred" Brave due to his recent demotion to Triple-A Gwinnett—among other things.
With Kris Medlen being placed on the disabled list on Thursday afternoon, Braves fans were left to wonder whether or not "K.K." would earn his rotation spot back.
Well...not exactly.
In fact, Kawakami was put in baseball's version of timeout by being sent to the team's Triple-A affiliate in Gwinnett.
According to multiple reports, Kawakami will make a handful of starts with the Gwinnett team in order to build his arm strength back up after pitching just once since June 26.
Reason being: the Braves may need Kawakami to make a few starts down the stretch—God forbid—if Medlen's injury is as bad as it looks or if top prospect Mike Minor, who will be called up on Monday, struggles as the team's new fifth starter.
Kawakami has voiced his displeasure about being relegated to bullpen duty—which is becoming a more and more literal term as "K.K." has likely done more bullpen maintenance over the last six weeks than actual pitching—but with a price tag of $23 million, it's been nearly impossible for Atlanta GM Frank Wren to simply drop Kenshin off at the local park and "forget" to go pick him back up.
Talk about dead weight.
Atlanta has been trying to trade Kawakami since the off-season, but there haven't been any suitors (duh) which forces the Japanese right-hander and the Braves into an awkward situation of being stuck with each other despite their mutual disdain.
I'm not saying that Kawakami's poor treatment from the Atlanta front office isn't justified—because it is—but it's funny to think about how badly the Braves would love to rid themselves of such an overpaid and insufficient nuisance.
It'd be kinda like getting rid of....a red-headed stepchild.
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