The Cubs signed Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome to a four-year deal late Tuesday, outbidding San Diego and the White Sox to gain the services of their primary off-season target.
Terms of the deal were not immediately known, though it’s believed to be $50 million-to-$56 million.
Cubs general manager Jim Hendry was not available for comment to confirm the deal, but it will be announced on Wednesday.
The Cubs’ pursuit of the 30-year-old outfielder began in earnest at the end of the ’07 season, even though they weren’t certain Fukudome was willing to leave Japan, where he was a popular figure and considered one of the league’s best hitters.
The deal has some inherent risks, as most do. Fukudome also is coming off surgery in his right elbow, an injury that sidelined him in August. He missed the final two months of the Chunichi Dragons’ first championship season in 53 years.
But if Fukudome is the real deal, as most scouts believe he is, the Cubs think he can be the missing piece to their championship puzzle.
Fukudome would give the Cubs a prime-time right fielder for the first time since Sammy Sosa’s departure and a left-handed bat with some power. He’s an above-average fielder with a good arm who also can play center if the Cubs get a second baseman and want to play Mark DeRosa in right on occasion.
Not only will Fukudome be a vital cog for the Cubs on the field, but also the Cubs organization would gain an international following on the centennial anniversary of its last World Series championship, and they were willing to spend what it would take to get him with the knowledge he can help sell Cubs caps and jerseys in Japan.
In a strange twist of fate, Fukudome could be saying hello to the Cubs just as Mark Prior likely will be waving good-bye.
Hendry must offer Prior arbitration Wednesday or non-tender him and make him a free agent. Barring a last-minute trade or the unlikely occurrence of Prior signing a one-year deal with an option, the one-time ace and building block for the future seems headed for the non-tender list.
The Cubs felt like they were in good position to outbid the Padres, who do not have a history of paying for the big-name free agents. The White Sox could have matched the Cubs, but general manager Ken Williams didn’t seem motivated to get into a bidding war with his crosstown rivals, focusing instead on former Sox outfielder Aaron Rowand.
Signing Fukudome to a four-year deal is something of a risk because no one knows if he’s really a combination of Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui, as manager Lou Piniella compared him to after talking to Cubs scouts. But the fact he has a .397 career on-base percentage suggests he has a good knowledge of the strike zone, and he figures to be a doubles hitter who will adjust well to Wrigley Field.
