The City of Brotherly Love

I thought about writing something about the Phillies winning Game 5, but frankly it lost it's luster after it was suspended for the second time. Instead, I'm going to focus on the aftermath of Game 5. Every city has riots after their team wins the World Series, I'm not bashing Philadelphia fans. But last night's riots were especially out of control.

Cars were burned, street signs and lights were vandalized, a fire truck was stolen, store windows smashed in, police officers assaulted, and in the end 76 people were arrested. Of course it had to be 76 people in Philadelphia. But that's about the only humorous part of last night's events.

There's no excuse for the rioting. Granted, the true fans are probably in their warm homes celebrating with friends, or standing outside the ballpark celebrating. It's mostly drunk opportunists that cause the destruction. But a championship is supposed to be a celebration of a city, not an excuse to vandalize one.

Here's some of the footage from last night. It's pretty incredible.

Kenshin Kawakami Declares Interest In Sox, Hires Ichiro's Agent

Kenshin Kawakami, the ace of the NPB (Japan's equivalent to the major leagues) champion Chinuchi Dragons, has declared that he'd like to pitch for the Boston Red Sox. And two days ago, he went a step further, hiring American sports agent Tony Attanasio. Attanasio is best known for representing Japanese star Ichiro Suzuki.

Kawakami is Japans highest paid starter, earning $3 million a year. Japanese contracts are largely symbolical, and when the Chinuchi Dragons tried to give Kawakami a paycut after one of the best years of his career in 2007, they more-or-less sealed his fate. He's almost certain to head to the U.S. and cash in on our more expensive contracts.

The Red Sox, along with the Rays have expressed interest in the 33-year-old righty. And at least eight other major league teams had scouts at the Beijing Olympics, in which Kawakami pitched. But would Kawamaki be a good fit for the Red Sox?

Kawakami has a career ERA of 3.22 in 257 starts in Japan. There are concerns that he could be the next Kei Igawa, considering that he's been home run prone in Japan, and he typically throws in the high 80's. And this is a significant concern. Kawakami gave up nearly a home run every 9 innings in Japan, which was more frequent than even Igawa.

However, Kawakami's control is much bette than Igawa's. Over his career in Japan, Kawakami averaged 1.92 walks per 9 innings of work. That's signifcantly less than Igawa's average of 2.86 walks per 9 innings of work. Kawakami had a career WHIP of 1.16 in Japan compared to Igawa's 1.24.

Unlike Daisuke Matsuzaka, Kawakami is known for challenging hitters. His cutter has the reputation of being the best in Japan. He also features a very slow (think knuckleball slow) knee-buckling curve. He also features a forkball and a shuuto which is like a hard slider that breaks down and in to righties.

If Kawakami translates well to the majors, he could provide production similar to Curt Schilling on the end of his career. He has comparable gaudy K/BB ratios (6.30 K/BB in 2007). Both righties threw in their high 80's, and were home run prone. But still, but were known as crafty, big game pitchers.

But I think it's far more likley that Kawakami's production is similar to that of Hiroki Kuroda. If that's the case, he wouldn't have much use in the Red Sox rotation. But some have suggested that he could be used as a swing man, eating innings in the bullpen and providing insurance for the rotation.

Here are Kawakami's career stats, minus his 2.30 ERA in 117 innings this year. And here's a short video of him pitching. The amount of fastballs he's using is a bit concerning.

Howard Deals Crippling Blow to Rays

Last night when Ryan Howard hit his three run blast in the fourth inning, I got the feeling that the Rays were done. The next inning, when Joe Blanton became the first pitcher in 34 years to hit a home run in the World Series, I knew the Rays were done.

These aren't the same Rays that topped the Red Sox in the ALCS. Noticeably absent are the bats of Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria. Those two driving forces of the Rays offense have yet to get a hit in the World Series.

These Rays look worn out, they look inexperienced, they look sloppy. With their two errors last night, they looked an awful lot like the Devil Rays. Maybe they exhausted themselves getting past the Red Sox, or maybe they ate some bad cheesesteaks. But even for someone rooting for the Phillies, it's painful to watch the Rays play so well all year only to forget to show up to the big dance.

Maybe the real Rays will show up tonight. But with Hamels pitching, I doubt it.

Youkilis Honored, Manny Humanized

MLB handed out the Hank Aaron award today. This award is voted on by fans to honor the best offensive player in each league. National League honors were given to Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez, and American League honors were handed out to none other than Kevin Youkilis.

In February of this year, I pointed out how Youkilis' bat has improved every year with the Red Sox. This year, we finally saw Youkilis become an elite offensive force. The gold glove first baseman hit .312 with 29 home runs and 115 RBI.

In other news today, Bob Hohler of the Boston Globe reminds us that Manny wasn't all bad. When he wasn't driving in 100 runs or hitting postseason home runs, he had his moments when he was a good teammate. In 2003, he sat out the final game of the season to ensure that Bill Mueller would win the batting title.

Speaking of "The Professional", earlier this month he admitted that he's itching to suit up again. Mueller's 38 and barely has any cartilage left in his knees, but wouldn't it be great to see him in uniform just one more time? Perhaps the Red Sox could offer him a symbolic invitation to Spring Training so he could retire with the Red Sox, like the Yankees did with Jeff Nelson last year.

Free Agent Options - Mark Teixeira

Teixeira would be a welcome addition to any team. It's not too often that a gold glove caliber, switch hitting power threat comes along. And with the health concerns for David Ortiz, J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell, Teixeira would provide the middle of the Red Sox lineup with some stability. For this reason, the Sox are sure to check the price on Teixeira.

Still, I don't think the chances of seeing "Tex" in a Red Sox uniform next year are very good. Before the Red Sox get in on the bidding, they would have to find a way to move Mike Lowell and the $24 million left on his contract over the next two years. It's unlikely that the Red Sox would be able to move Lowell without paying for some of his contract, which would waste money the Red Sox could use on free agents like AJ Burnett and Brian Fuentes.

Once the Red Sox found a suitor for Lowell, they would then have to enter a bidding war with the Angels, Yankees, Dodgers, Orioles and Braves. Epstein has over payed for players in the past such as J.D. Drew and Julio Lugo. But those were moves of necessity. Going into 2007 the Red Sox were without a shortstop and rightfielder. When it comes to luxuries, Epstein has been hesitant to overpay, or give out longterm contracts as was the case with Pedro Martinez and Johnny Damon.

Another factor which makes any Teixeira deal unlikely is the prescense of Red Sox prospect Lars Anderson. Anderson is not only the team's top prospect, but also the best first baseman prospect in the game. He hit .316/.436/.526 last year in the pitching friendly environment of Double-A Portland. There's a good chance that he'll be ready to take over the job of everyday first baseman in 2010, at which point the Red Sox will already have Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz under contract. So why would Epstein overpay to add one more corner outfielder to the log jam?

Teixiera's most likely destination next year is probably the Yankees who actually need a first baseman and won't hesitate to overpay for one. While such a signing will be unpleasant for Red Sox fans, it won't do anything to address the Yankees greatest weakness - pitching.