Nope, not Kenshin Kawakami, Koji Uehara or Takashi Saito. Sponichi is reporting that the Cardinals signed former Kintetsu Buffaloe Katsuhiko Maekawa to a minor league deal. You might remember that Maekawa lost his job in Japan over a drunk driving incident (and not pitching very well), played in the Domican Winter League, signed a deal with the Nationals, and then finally couldn't get a US work visa. He never actually played in the Nats' system, hopefully he'll get a shot with the Cards.
Maekawa is in the Venezuelan Winter League this year where he's put up pretty unimpressive numbers: 0-2, 6.39 era in 4 appearances.
