Baseball Rumor News

Kenshin Kawakami, a 33 year old starting pitcher currently playing for the Chunichi Dragons in Japan, plans on coming to the MLB next season. This is not news to most, but it recently came out that a few teams may be leading the pack to acquire his services as a free agent. He has already completed his free agent application, so now it is a matter of where he will play in the U.S., not if he will play.

Fortunately for you, we can translate this article for you into English (If you can read Japanese check it out here) and I will just point out a few of the interesting points. Kawakami has been scouted by both New York teams for some time, due to his impressive cutter. While the Mets and Yankees are both interested, Kawakami seems to be leaning towards Boston. He has an established relationship with someone in the organization and he says he is looking forward to talking with them more. The person he is referring to is on the management level, but I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that both Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima are on the team and could ease his transition to the United States.