According to John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle, the Giants are "seriously interested" in Kosuke Fukudome. The Padres will be in on him as well. Shea picked up this chatter from Japanese media at the World Series.
McCovey Chronicles is cautiously intrigued, but only around a 3/24 level. Mike Plugh has speculated that Fukudome could cost $12-15MM over three or four years, but that was written in May. Fukudome saw his power production decline and finished the year with elbow surgery. Still, .294/.443/.520 is a great baseline even if it translates to 15 HR power.
This isn’t the first time the Giants have been linked to Fukudome. Susan Slusser mentioned the possibility in early September. Other teams said to be in the mix: the Red Sox, Yankees, Cubs, White Sox, and Padres. I’m sure that list will continue to grow. Perhaps the Yanks will exit the picture since they plan to exercise Bobby Abreu’s option.
