Breaking News!!
The Chicago Cubs have signed Kosuke Fukudome for four years. The reported amount is around $45-50 mil.
Details are sketchy but the Sun-Times has them. Ironically at this point, the Chicago Tribune sports page does not.
Update: Here’s the Tribune article posted a few minutes later.
Tom,
I actually saw this first on TBZ — so you broke it for me. Love the new layout by the way. Keep it up man.
-Sam
Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome and the Chicago Cubs reached a preliminary agreement Tuesday on a $48 million, four-year contract.
First reaction: Is Jon Coutlangus still a member of Dusty Baker’s Reds bullpen? I wish Harry Caray could come back for one day to announce that pitcher-batter matchup.
Serious analysis: Fukudome is a left-handed hitter and a fast outfielder, both of which the Cubs need. I’ll bet he plays right, with Pie in center…Those who expect another ICHIRO will, I think, be disappointed. There is only one ICHIRO. But Kosuke might be another Shemp (Hideki Matsui), and that would be a very good thing…Isn’t the price tag kind of low for modern baseball? I wonder why.
DonS.
haha, love the Harry reference.
And agree with your analysis of the Ichiro comparison. Somewhere i read that baseball pundits and fans too often compare hitting/fielding/pitching abilities of players along racial lines.
Maybe we could come up with some comparisons of Fuk that don’t necessarily draw on the Japanese factor.
TBZ