Comments on: Cards a finalist for Kawakami

By: cards13

cards13 — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:04:27 +0000

I just want some pitching to fill in for Carpenter and replace Pinero.

By: fpslackers

fpslackers — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:34:27 +0000

Looking at the video posted over at Brian’s site, Kawakami only topped out at 145 km/h (which is about 90 mph). He sat around 140-143 more though which is about 86-88 mph. From the video, it looks like he throws a cutter or some sort of sinking fastball (maybe both, it’s hard to tell) so he would seem to fit in with Dunc. The curve looks much like Carpenter’s big 12/6 curveball. I wonder how accurate those guns are. It would make me feel a little better if he threw harder, but I would like to see the Cards go after him. I’d prefer Sheets, but Sheets comes with injury questions and the Cards look like they want to stay away from that mess. Plus, signing Sheets means losing a draft pick and since we didn’t make the best decisions with our arbitration offers, we don’t really have the luxury of not worrying about losing a first round pick.

By: erik

erik — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:07:54 +0000

Excuse my ignorance but I’m not sure I have an answer for that. Hmmm… I’ll look into that.

By: cariocacardinal

cariocacardinal — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:56:13 +0000

Excuse my ignorance here but how does one project to have a FIP that is different than ERA? Is the predictor simply predicting that you will have good or bad luck or are there pitchers that can be predicted to consistently have greater or lesser FIP’s than their ERA’s?

By: easy

easy — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 22:33:14 +0000

Wow, this is interesting. I live in Minnesota and the Twins can always be outbid so I think we’ve got a good shot. I also think that our FO (as well as the Twins very good FO) would have researched the risk/benefit factors on this guy quite well. Could be a very good free agent acquisition that doesn’t cost us a draft choice. Does anybody know anything about Japanese pitchers in terms of how they hold up going into their mid thirties? Just wondered if there are any differences in pitching style, preparation, physical makeup or whatever that would make a difference either way.

By: erik

erik — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 22:19:41 +0000

@NPB. Sorry about that; chalk that one up to selective reading, or something. Error fixed.

By: npbtracker

npbtracker — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 22:08:08 +0000

Note that the report about the Orioles making a final offer has been debunked. The two sides are still in negotiations.