Kenshin Kawakami

For several years now, it has been Major League Baseball tradition that cash-strapped teams shop one or more of their best players during the annual Winter Meetings. Lately, the biggest deals have been for elite pitchers: The Oakland Athletics traded Dan Haren to the Arizona Diamondbacks in December 2007--a deal that included current stars in pitcher Brett Anderson and outfielder Carlos Gonzalez--and the dominoes have fallen each winter since. 

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Fear not Braves fans; Chipper Jones has apparently found his stroke after a painfully slow start to the 2010-2011 season.

Extended his hitting-streak to 10 games on Saturday with a three-run home runs, and his bat is looking livelier than it has for a long time.

During the streak, he's batting .389 with 10 RBI, 6 runs, 2 home runs, and two stolen bases. He has five walks and struck out six. The streak also includes three multi-hit games.

Through his first 13 starts in 2010, the Atlanta Braves have given pitcher Kenshin Kawakami pitiful run support.

With the Braves scoring just 3.13 runs in KK's outings, it’s hardly a surprise that he is 0-9. Bad luck combined with mediocre pitching can do that to you.

It's a wonder seeing a starting pitcher winless this far into the season. After 13 or 14 starts, one would expect several wins, losses, and no decisions from them. When you're paying a guy over $7 million to pitch for your team, you expect a few wins, especially if your team's in first place.

The Baltimore Orioles feel this way about Kevin Millwood, certainly. He has 14 appearances, a 5.16 ERA, an 0-8 record, and leads the American League in home runs and hits allowed. It could be that his career is nearing his end.

Just to prove how random, and therefore essentially worthless, wins are as a statistic, check out the numbers of two pitchers below.

Pitcher #1 - 4.86 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 35 strikeouts, 29 walks and 63 innings pitched in 11 starts.

Pitcher #2 - 4.66 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 32 strikeouts, 15 walks and 56 innings pitched in 10 starts.