Braves pitching staff gets a major facelift for 2009

The days of multiple Cy Young award winners and three Hall of Famers in the starting rotation are gone, but the 2009 Braves rotation is starting to take shape. On the same day that former ace John Smoltz was officially welcomed into Red Sox Nation, his former team, the Atlanta Braves added two thirty-plus pitchers to its staff. Japanese import Kenshin Kawakami and former Dodger Derek Lowe were both Braves by the end of Tuesday. Kawakami was inked to a three year deal, and the 33 year old comes to the states with 11 seasons in the Japanese Major Leagues. The righty sports a 112-72 record with a career 3.22 ERA and was named 2004 Central League MVP. Terms of the deal were not announced. Meanwhile Lowe’s deal was announced as 4 years for a total of $60M. Last season Lowe was 14-11 with a 3.24 ERA in 211 IP. For his career, Lowe is 126-107 in 12 Major League seasons.
Lowe will headline the rotation with second year sensation Jair Jurrjens in the second spot. Newcomers Javier Vazquez and Kenshin Kawakami will slide into the 3 and 4 spots with a grabbag of Tom Glavine, Tim Hudson, Jorge Campillo, JoJo Reyes, or Charlie Morton competing for the fifth spot.
The rotation certainly looks a lot better than it did just four days ago. Most of these guys are innings eaters, which should help a bullpen that was heavily relied upon last season. Will Ohman, Blaine Boyer and the rest of the bullpen tired down the stretch and it showed in the staff’s ERA. With the starting staff expected to log major innings, the bullpen, considered a big strength by GM Frank Wren, should be fresh come August and September.
Now the focus for the General Manager is some pop, preferably in the outfield. Several targets still out include Adam Dunn and Bobby Abreu. If the payroll projection from Wren’s statements made after last season remains the same, and assuming Kawakami is to make roughly 3M this season, that would leave approximately 6M left to add a LF bat. Pat Burrell was signed by Tampa Bay to a two-year/16M deal. Would Dunn or Abreu come that cheap? The team has said it doesn’t want to add a long-term deal to block the ascension of Jason Heyward, who projects to be Major League-ready by 2010.