The Cubs have reached an agreement in terms with Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome. Fukudome will most likely play right field in Chicago, replacing the dearly departed Jacque Jones. He played centerfield in Japan, but will likely move to right because of Felix Pie. The good news is that if Pie sucks again this year, the Cubs can just move Fukudome to center and find some other mope to play right. Possibly Matt Murton (not a mope). Either way, the Cubs get a solid left-handed bat in their lineup. Probably the top of the lineup. He can hit for average and he has a little bit of pop. He hit .351 with 31 home runs and 104 RBI and was the MVP of Japan’s Central League.

Word is that he’s a mix between Ichiro and Hideki Matsui. Umm… Ok. Yes please. If you can mention this guy in the same breath as Ichiro, I want him on the Cubs. Ichiro is the best pure baseball player I’ve ever seen play (Jerome Walton notwithstanding). Ichiro gets on base all the time, he can pick it wherever he plays in the outfield and Hideki Matsui just produces runs. If Fukudome can do those things for the Cubs, they have just improved their lineup in a huge way.

There are a couple things that scare me about Fukudome. He’s 30 and he’s coming off elbow surgery. Definitely makes a Cub fan nervous.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 at 9:47 am and is filed under Chicago Cubs, MLB. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.