The White Sox announced that they have agreed to sign Kosuke Fukudome to a one-year, $1MM contract that includes a club option for 2013. The outfielder will earn $500K in 2012 and the $3.5MM option for 2013 includes a $500K buyout.
Fukudome posted a .262/.342/.370 line for the Cubs and Indians in 530 plate appearances last year. The 34-year-old posted career-lows in on-base percentage and slugging percentage while playing right and center field. The Mets had some interest in him earlier in the offseason.
All in!!!
That campaign was a disaster. It could prove to be the worst in-season promotional idea of all time.
Better than “Come Hungry.”
It’s F-u-k-u-d-o-m-e fever! Oh. Whoops. I thought it was 2008 all over again. My bad
Not the player many thought he would be when he first signed with the Cubs, but nonetheless, he does a pretty good job at getting on base and is pretty good defensively. He may not have much power nor does he steal a lot of bases, but for what it is, this is a pretty low risk deal for the White Sox.
I
also think Fukudome is pretty good. There’s a difference between a bad
player and bad value; I think Fukudome suffered from the latter.
A career .260/.360/.399 slash line isn’t amazing, but it could be decent
as the #2 hitter in the lineup. Now, if Fukudome can play good defense,
then that would literally seal the deal. Great move by the White Sox.
Reminds me a lot of the Andruw Jones deal a few years back.
That’s a pretty awesome deal. There will be bounce-back in his game.
Bounce Back? To What? Has he ever been good?
He’s good at getting on base and has been an above average defender for the entirety of his MLB career (according to bbref. UZR says different). Has he been an amazing player? No. Certainly not worth the $13-14MM the Cubs were paying him, but it’s a good bet he’ll be worth more than $1MM this year.
Wonder if he still has a place in Chicago…
I was wondering the same thing.
I was wondering the same thing.
It’s a no win situation – Cubs fans are going to give him pure hell and Sox fans will NEVER embrace him.
What? He is going to be a bench player. Do people normally embrace bench players?
Of course people embrace bench players. Pablo Ozuna is a perfect example. He was completely, whole-heartedly, loved on the Southside while there.
The meatball fans won’t but the fans that understand the importance of OBP and a strong arm in LF should have no problem.
He will be fine on the South Side. Only a few idiots might have a problem with him being a former Cubs player. Keyword being: Idiot. Most Sox fans will see him as a bench player. Who gives a crap what a few homers think. Certainly not the Sox.
He could be the next Omar Vizquel.
I think KW is either drunk, or letting the guy who broke into his house a while back make moves. How does this help your team now or in the long term?
You can never have too many backup outfielders when you have Alex Rios on your roster. This is a cheap pickup with little risk for the Sox, I have no problems with it.
My issue is that this doesn’t help you either short or long term. When KW has come out to say that they are rebuilding, and letting the kids have a chance, moves like this are counter productive. The OF was filled with Rios – De Aza – Viciedo, with Lillibridge and the younger Danks off the bench. There is no real reason to waste a 1MM when players like Viciedo, Beckham, and Flowers are going to need to be locked up before too long.
I agree with your sentiment of letting the kids play, especially when Williams has announced he’s rebuilding. However, Fukodome is only under contract for $500K in 2012, which is about 60K over the league minimum. Secondly, there’s no guarantee Fukodome will even start over De Aza or Lillibridge–heck, I could see Ventura using him as a LH bat off the bench. Thirdly, if Fukodome has his usual hot start in April & May, he becomes an easily flippable (and dirt cheap!) commodity for KW at the trade deadline.
I don’t see the point of moving up the Jordan Danks to come off the bench. That is a move that would truly not help short or long term. He has hit right handers well for the majority of his short career so I can see him playing for Rios a few times. $1MM dollars is nothing to Major League teams so it is very, very low risk.
There’s your problem. You thought that a guy who needs as much work as Jordan Danks was going to be a bench player on the big league team, pretty much ensuring that he won’t make the improvements he needs. When you consider that there’s a high chance that at least one outfielder between Rios, De Aza, and Viciedo will struggle mightily or get injured, there was absolutely a need for a guy that could step in to multiple outfield spots and not stink. Lillibridge will get his at bats regardless.
Part of going with the kids involved filling gaps with short term vets. The Whilte Sox aren’t going to stagnate Jordan Danks on the bench, are they?
And since the White Sox aren’t exactly loaded with upper minors talent, this move makes sense becuase if Kosuke gets off to a fast start – which he always does – it makes dealing him for more minor league depth even easier.
The $1mill salary is hardly an obstacle in signing Beckahm and Flowers to extensions. The play of those two is a far bigger obstacle…
It helps your team NOW because the Sox OF defense is pretty awful (save De Aza and Lillibridge, who are 4th OF type guys), gives the Sox a lefty bat that they needed, and gives them a good OBP guy. When you are talking a $500K deal, it’s hard to ever disagree with the move. Fukudome needs to put up like 0.1 WAR to earn that cash, and just being in the OF will earn him that.
Wow…seems like the Sox really muscled this player financially. The league mimimum is roughly $400K. They pay him $500K during the season and the other $500K comes in the form of a buyout of a 2013 option. Fukudome will be subsisting on rookie pay as the season progresses. He isn’t great but he is an established major league baseball player.
Hope he saved all the millions the Cubs unwisely paid him for his first three years.
I’m amazed he even got a major league deal. Stange signing.
What?? Why? Vicedio, rios, de aza, lilibridge, danks and now koske…. What’s the point. I understand it’s a low risk medium to high reward signing but still why? Soler is still available even though the cubs supposedly have him locked up.
There’s a difference between picking up Soler and picking up Fukudome…
If you think Soler will contribute to a major league team in 2012 you are sorely mistaken.
No I don’t but I would rather Jenny spend the white sox money on improving the team
For the future. Let danks be the 4th/5th out fielder. I understand it’s a 500k signing and he is a good hitter against righties and gets on base a ton which is solid for a back up and he is exactly that a back up. His stats say he will he a great back up for the price. I just dont think it makes sense to sign a late 30’s player
guess they’ve definitely written off jordan danks
Jared Mitchell
white sox’s first dollars on the free agent market this off-season and it’s only one million and people are crying madness.
He was a bum as a cub but for $500k I’d take a shot in case De Aza doesn’t work out, or Rios has a productive year and you can unload and eat a lot of his contract at the trade deadline.
For the money, I see nothing wrong here.
He was a bum as a cub but for $500k I’d take a shot in case De Aza doesn’t work out, or Rios has a productive year and you can unload and eat a lot of his contract at the trade deadline.
Makes up for the donkey signing.
It’s not about the money It’s about the signing. It makes no sense.
It makes perfect sense. Lefty hitting OF who draws a lot of walks and is a plus defender. Who would you rather have on this team, Fukudome or Jordan Danks? The answer is obvious.
But they are not going to compete this year. Granted it’s baseball anything can happen. If Dunn rios peavy and beckahm bounce back yes the sox could compete. But the whole point of this season was letting the kids okay. Koske does exactly the opposite if that. Let Mitchell or dank or Thompson play.
Danks, Mitchell, and Thompson are going to develop better getting full playing time in the minors vs. being the 4th or 5th OF in the majors. It’s the same reason Viciedo did not make the team last spring, even though he was ready.
And at one point he made 12 million dollars a year!? Only the Cubs…..I guess the White Sox are the smarter team in Chicago
Ehh I don’t know about that…
Ehh I don’t know about that…
No longer
It must be awesome living in hindsight.
It must be awesome living in hindsight.
yeah, like signing Adam Dunn 🙂
You’d be singing a different tune had the Sox succeeded in signing him years back. Remember, they did offer him more money than the Cubs, but he found the Northside more appealing for whatever reason.
Fukudome signed with the Cubs because they never had a Japanese player and he wanted to be the very first. The White Sox had already had Tadahito Iguchi and Shingo Takastu at that point.
I agree with your sentiment about letting the kids play, especially when Williams has already proclaimed he’s rebuilding. One thing about this deal signed by Fukodome…it’s only $500K this year which is about 60K above league minimum. Secondly, there’s no guarantee that he’ll start over De Aza or Lillibridge….heck, I could see Fukodome coming off the bench as a PH. Thirdly, if Fukodome gets off to his usual hot April & May, he becomes a very flippable (and dirt cheap!) commodity at the trade deadline.
Kenny Williams always gets his man. It may take him a number of years , griffey, manny, koske, but he always gets him man
I was gonna say the same thing. Doesn’t matter how old or bad the guy has become. Kenny will get him. Look for him to pick up Torrii Hunter next year.
And soriano in 4. Arod in 7 nomar he will convince to
Come out of retirement. Haha
Also hunter could be a possibility. With konerkos contract up vicedio could
Move to first and hunter could go to
Right only of cheap. Haha won’t happen but could b
Why?
sweet, now white sox fans can experience the wrath of prince, and the sloth of fukudome!
Why is everyone so mad about this? He’s cheap and gives us another plus fielding OF who is a LH bat? Jordan Danks and Mitchel aren’t doing anything of much value in the minors; De Aza and Viciedo are definitely not proven; and Rios is a huge question mark. Why not sign a guy like Fukudome who you know is capable of a decent OBP, who you know can LEAD off if necessary? Worst case he’s not needed and he doesn’t get a lot of PA’s. Best case he plays great and forces the youngin’s to focus harder.
Still… it’s $1mil!
Good point 424, and the Sox could always use another vet who approaches the game the right way. See him as another grinder in the mold of Aaron Rowand, getting the most out of a modicum of talent. Could easily see Sox fans warming up to him the way they did Shingo and Tad.
I’m not sure what I’d do if I were in Kenny Williams’ seat. I’d have started by paying Buehrle, though. I don’t see Rios or Dunn rebounding to anything close to their former selves, and the system is bereft of talent in the minors. Fukudome replaces Juan Pierre, then? They need to rebuild, but they have no building blocks. And they’re talking about trading the few good pitchers that they have? I don’t see the plan, here.
Just worry about the Tigers buddy, there are no guarantees, still have to play the games.
Like that year in 2008 when the Tigers were supposed to score 1,000 runs? lol
So, no one should opine about a team they don’t root for. Seems logical.
There is no plan. That’s why Kenny Williams’ days with the White Sox are numbered.
I guess Kenny Williams has moved on from taking the worst of KC’s garbage every year to taking the worst of Jim Hendrys, that should work out fine for him.
Fantastic buy low for the Sox here
Fantastic buy low for the Sox here
Cespedes will be fukudome 2.0
Contrary to people’s HILARIOUS “All In!!” comments, I think that this is a great deal . The guys has proven he can get on base at times before, albeit not necessarily consitently. But its not like you can really go wrong with a $1M deal… Low-risk potential medium-reward
Kenny Williams had to do something. This is terrible for fukudome. He’s in a no-win. Cubs fans will finally be able to unleash their frustration against him everytime they play in the crosstown classic and I guarantee White Sox fans will NEVER embrace him as one of their own. BAD IDEA KENNY!
If it’s so bad for koske then why did he sign? This was probably the only
Major league deal offered to him. Also if he plays well his option could get picked up by the sox. If he plays really well he will get traded to a contender. And believe me us sox fans, and I mean real fans as in baseball fans who cheer for the whitesox could care less that he came from the north side first. Meatball fans yes will make a big deal about it but real baseball fans won’t care. If he plays well abs gives his all he will be fine. If he is horrible. He will be dfa’d It’s not as big of a deal as you seem to want to make it
Out to be
Sox fans won’t embrace him because of the disinterested, uninspired, style of play.
When he’s on a baseball field, it usually looks like there are a thousand places he’d rather be.
Hope this is a good signing for the Sox.. Maybe a come back season for him!
Go Cubs, he didn’t work out on the north side.
Waste of $$$ at any price.
Hey, I kind of like this signing, this may pan out. He’s no Iguchi though. KW always gets his guy, love to see him get Cabrera from Detroit, that was once on his wish list of players besides Tori Hunter. Maybe he’ll go after Mags Ordonez, he’d be cheap. I wonder what Cubs fans think about Fuke signing w/Sox?
good riddance. he is only good for one month out of the season. don’t get too excited, the only reason he signed with the white sox is because he couldn’t sell his house in chicago, and the cubs didn’t want to bring him back.
Hey, I kind of like this signing, this may pan out. He’s no Iguchi though. KW always gets his guy, love to see him get Cabrera from Detroit, that was once on his wish list of players besides Tori Hunter. Maybe he’ll go after Mags Ordonez, he’d be cheap. I wonder what Cubs fans think about Fuke signing w/Sox?
I see Kenny Williams found a way to replace Juan Pierre’s slugging percentage.
No brainer. Sox needed OPB and another lefty to platoon with Rios/Viciedo. And if he does anything at all during the Cross-Town series, it will be the sugar on top.
It also may have been a cheap deal in case De Aza doesn’t do as well this season.
It also may have been a cheap deal in case De Aza doesn’t do as well this season.
Remember when we drafted Jared Mitchell (primarily a football player at LSU) over Mike Trout (#1 prospect in MLB)? Kenny Williams is the worst GM in the game at building and/or finding young talent. Now that we went “All-In” and got called on our bluff, KW should go. The Danks extension, Quentin trade, Santos trade, now this chump. For the price, the move really doesn’t matter, but it just portrays how abysmal this offseason has been.
Yeah, and there were 21 other players not named Stephen Strausberg taken over Trout as well. It’s not like the Sox had the #1 pick and Trout was taken #2.
Danks extension is widely looked at as fair not overly team friendly and not
One that is an albatross it’s a very solid contract for a 26 year old consistent lefty with one bad year. The quentin trade was a salary dump 100% Carlos was coming off a weird year he had good power numbers but everything else was down and remember he was hurt and missed the last month? No team ever gets value in a salary dump(same with the swisher deal salary dumps are meant to lower team salary if you get a decent prospect back it’s an added plus). The Santos deal made sense. Trade away a closer for a starter. Addison Reed is a top 100 prospect that will close by mid season easy move there.
Remember when every team passed on Albert pujols like ten times each!!!
Exactly. Hindsight can make a genius or imbecile out of anyone. This wasn’t a Reggie Bush vs. Mario Williams type decision where he picked the wrong guy.
No one can reasonably argue about Kenny Williams being the worst GM in baseball, but using a single draft pick to illustrate it undermines just how consistently bad he has been all these years.
He isn’t the worst gm in baseball he is very very very mediocre. People seem to foreg that Kenny got Jim thome
For nothing, Gavin Floyd for nothing, John danks for nothing, picked jenks in the rule 5, got got Quentin for nothing, got Thornton for nothing, drafted sale, beckham, reed, was able to convince konerko to take not one but two home town discounts, got pods for lee( huge win for the whitesox) yeah he has bad moves recently but I think it evens out. Every gm has a bad trade and signing to their credit. Kenny is very average
Remember when we drafted Jared Mitchell (primarily a football player at LSU) over Mike Trout (#1 prospect in MLB)? Kenny Williams is the worst GM in the game at building and/or finding young talent. Now that we went “All-In” and got called on our bluff, KW should go. The Danks extension, Quentin trade, Santos trade, now this chump. For the price, the move really doesn’t matter, but it just portrays how abysmal this offseason has been.
as a sox fan im not excited about this season at all, and this just lowers that level even more.
Why? It is a bench player signed for chump change. Kenny actually tends to do very well when picking over the scrap heap. I understand not being excitied for the season, but I do not see this as being a big disappointment.
If most of the veterans have an average year (I’m thinking Konerko, Dunn, Pierczynski, Ramirez, Rios, Floyd, Danks, Humber, Peavy) and some of the younger guys develop (specifically Viciedo, Beckham and Morel), this could be a good year.
Plus, Kenny Williams isn’t adverse to going after a big name if things start off well and the Sox are in it at the All Star game.
I was kinda hoping the Tigers would sign him. I like the OBP and defense if nothing else
his defense was good in right. center is a completely different story. i think he will struggle all year because i highly doubt that he is getting any of the incentives his cubs contract had. flights home, translator, his japanese hitting coach coming to chicago for most of the season.
If he were on the Tigers, he’d play RF/LF with Austin Jackson in CF
Also considering it’s only 1million there is no guarantee he will make the 25 man out if spring.
KW is just trying to add more suck to his current stockpile of suck.
A little worried Tigers 22??? Sox may give you some trouble this year!
yeah, real worried haha… we better watch out!!
The FOOK!!!