How Would Harry Say It?

Kosuke Fukudome is a Chicago Cub. I only wish Harry Carey was still around to butcher a name like that. In the only significant acquisition so far this offseason by the Cubs, they signed right fielder Kosuke Fukudome. Kosuke is a 30 year old, 6'0", 187 pound, right-handed throwing, left-handed hitting, on-base machine. He comes in as a free agent from the Nippon Professional Baseball League. Early reports are that he was signed to a 4 year, $48 million contract.

Here's what I wrote about him a month ago:

A career on-base percentage of .400 and slugging of .550 are both awesome. Obviously he won't put up numbers like that in the MLB, but an OPS of .960 last year and 1.100 the year before is pretty stellar. Some of that should translate. The Cubs need guys who can get on base and Fukudome is one of them.

The Cubs have been obsessed with finding a left-handed hitter (rightfully so, [haha, get it? Right fully?]). There really aren't any others available via free agency. The big 3 of Rowand/Jones/Hunter are all rightys. I know Lou wants a lefty to break up the Soriano/Lee/Ramirez combo. I think Fukudome projects to a perfect 2-hole hitter. He has a little power, but mostly doubles power (think D.Lee-type power from last year).

There has been talk that he can play Centerfield, but I haven't seen much about it. Probably not the best of ideas. That leaves Felix Pie as the everyday Centerfielder. I don't really like the sound of that. There has also been a lot of talk about getting the switch hitting second baseman Brian Roberts from the Orioles. I've always liked the guy, but DeRosa looked great last year, posting a 800 OPS from Second Base. There was talk they'd move DeRosa to the outfield if they brought in Roberts, but now I don't see where you would put him. DeRosa would need to be a corner outfielder. He doesn't have the speed/range to play center.

Right now the lineup looks something like this:

Position	Name (Bats)	AVG/OBP/SLG
LF	Alfonso Soriano (R)	299/337/560
RF	Kosuke Fukudome (L)	294/443/520 * in Japan
1B	Derrek Lee (R)	317/400/513
3B	Aramis Ramirez (R)	310/366/549
2B	Mark DeRosa (R)	293/371/420
C	Geovanny Soto (R)	353/424/652 * in AAA
SS	Ryan Theriot (R)	266/326/346
CF	Felix Pie (L)	215/271/333 * in 177 AB