Devastating News: Munenori Kawasaki Is Considering Returning To Japan After Being Released By The Cubs
(Source) — Munenori Kawasaki, who is now currently a free agent infielder, is now most likely heading for a return to Japan with the news of his recent release by the Cubs organization. Multiple NPB teams have said to have shown interest in signing Kawasaki this year but the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks (his former team in Japan), have the upper hand… as Kawasaki has previously stated early in the year that if he were going to return in Japan, he will ultimately pick Softbank as his final destination to end his career.
This is absolutely devastating news. At a time when the Make Baseball Fun Again movement was just starting to gain some traction, we take one of the most entertaining players in the league and release him, forcing him to consider returning to his native Japan as his next career move. 2017 will be Kawasaki’s age-36 season, and he hasn’t been given much of an opportunity at the major league level over the last two years between the Blue Jays and the Cubs, but it’d be a damn shame if he had to head back to Japan due to a lack of interest from major league clubs.
BUT WAIT! There’s still hope that the Cubs could bring him back this year.
If you recall, the Cubs did this exactly one year ago tomorrow — released Kawasaki, only to re-sign him right after. He then rejoined the Cubs and hit a home run that day. It was awesome. Crowd went nuts. Here’s to hoping that that either happens with the Cubs or another major league team, because when it comes to the final years of Muni’s professional baseball career, I don’t wanna miss a thing.