Kenshin Kawakami (SP), ATL

News: Kawakami has reportedly agreed to a three year deal with the Atlanta Braves. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Kawakami, 33, went 9-5 with a 2.30 ERA and 112 K in 117 innings with the Chunichi Dragons of the Japanese league last season.

Views: Widely considered to be the better of the two big name Japanese starters (Koji Uehara, who signed with Baltimore, was the other), Kawakami should add a nice middle to back end starter for the Braves for next season. While I'm not particularly high on the Derek Lowe signing, I do like the combination of the two moves for Atlanta. Even having lost John Smoltz in the offseason, the Braves will enter camp with a pretty solid starting five with the two additions, as they already had Tim Hudson, Javier Vazquez, and Jair Jurrjens. Depending upon how Kawakami adjusts to the major leagues, the Braves could easily have the best rotation in the NL East this season, if not the entire National League.

As for financials, since I don't have them, I can't make the same judgments I will as I did for Lowe's deal.