2008 Cubs Preview - Right Field

I'll finish up the position players today by previewing the Cubs biggest free agent signing of this past off-season, Kosuke Fukudome. Don't forget you can go to the archives to check out the past previews. The pitching staff will be posted the next two days....
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Kosuke Fukudome comes to the Cubs with high expectations after being a four time Gold Glove Award winner, Central League MVP Award winner, and an Olympic/WBC Team Member in Japan. Fukudome started out his career in Japan, at the age of 21, as a shortstop but fielding woes soon moved him to third base and then to right field. Since moving to right field, Fukudome and his laser rocket arm have held down opposing offenses while his excellent hitting in Japan has helped lead him to America.

Offensively: Oh boy, where to start. Fukudome is going to try to be the left handed hitter that the Cubs need in the middle of their order. While he won't provide a lot of power by hitting home runs, he should hit a lot of doubles and be on base often. Fukudome built up a career .397 ob% in Japan because he was able to take walks even though he struck out frequently. His ability to take walks and work the count should be very valuable in the Cubs lineup.

As stated above, Fukudome strikes out a lot and he could strike out a lot more if he doesn't learn how to hit, or lay off of, off-speed pitches. He has pretty good bat speed, but struggles on inside fastballs and balls on the outside corner of the plate. That is where his ability to foul off multiple pitches comes into play.

Another part of Fukudome's offensive arsenal is his speed. While he doesn't have the speed that Felix Pie has, Fukudome is a good baserunner and will steal a base from time to time. He's a fundamentally sound player on the bases and Cubs fans will welcome that after years of seeing runners picked off base when they weren't paying attention.

There has been a lot of attention given to Fukudome this off-season and the expectations are high for him. Even though I'm not as optimistic as others, I think he should put up a line similar to .275/.340, 15 home runs and 65 RBI's.

Defensively: He's not going to be Ichiro, but Fukudome should be an improvement over what the Cubs have thrown out in right field in the past. He has an excellent arm and with his speed he's able to run down balls in the gap. Right field at Wrigley is one of the toughest positions to play in baseball, so it will be interesting to see how he deals with the padding down the right field line and the bullpen mounds.

In the video I've watched on Fukudome he seems to charge the ball extremely hard, but his failures as an infielder can't be forgotten. While the new playing surface they've put in at Wrigley in the off-season should make the field better, the ball will still bounce around a little bit. He'll probably make a few mistakes at the beginning of the season but by the time August rolls around the Cubs should have an outfield with some of the strongest arms in baseball.

Depth Chart: Matt Murton will fool around in right field from time to time and that's always an adventure. If Fukudome goes down for an extended period of time Daryle Ward and Sam Fuld could split time with Murton. All of them will be less productive than Fukudome but should be OK to hold the fort down.

If Fukudome comes over the America and becomes the next Hideki Matsui or Ichiro, then the Cubs have it made. If he comes over and struggles they can still be a good team, but he'll have to find a way to contribute whether it's with his bat, arm or legs. While Fukudome was treated as a national treasure at times in Japan, dealing with the Wrigley faithful is a whole different animal. It will take him time to get acclimated to MLB, so hopefully the Cubs can win some games early and take the pressure off of him.

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