The Fuk u dome!

[Dan Michler]

Its anybody's guess as to what this dude will do next year.  All we have to look at are his Japanese numbers which mean nothing.  I've obviously never seen him play.

[stpitner]

Hopefully his numbers won't be like what they were in the World Baseball Classic... he was 4 for 22, although 2 of those 4 were homers, 2 walks, and 2 strikeouts.  That WBC was whacky though, I didn't like it played in March right as everyone is coming in from their offseason.

The nice thing is that if he really is like a mix of Ichiro and Hideki Matsui, then you'll see some slap shot hits but also some nice power in it as well.  Hopefully he'll be somewhat patient at the plate... his career stats indicate 1 strikeout every 4.99 AB's+walks, but that's better than some Cubs players (ie. Soriano)

The nice thing is that he has had a grand total of 5 errors combined over the past 4 seasons.  That's awesome.  He also has had double digits assists in 2 of those 4 seasons.  No one is going to try to score from second on Soriano and Fukodome unless the ball was hit extremely deep.

If Pie starts swinging the bat?  Yikes, that is going to be one very strong outfield!

[stpitner]

and btw, a comparison - Sammy So-so's career strikeout's to AB's ratio is 1 in every 4.22 AB's+walks, so 1 in 4.99 is definitely improvement.

And ok, Soriano isn't *that* much worse (eep!) over the career.  He is 1:4.90 AB's+walks for every strikeout.  For 2007 Soriano was 1:4.69, so that's not a happy stat.

Some comparisons:
DLee is 1:4.73 career
Aramis is 1:7.14 career.  WOW. 
Ichiro is a ridiculous 1:11.07 for his career.  Sheesh.
Hideki is 1:7.90 career.

Aramis is definitely a contact hitter that doesn't strike out a lot.  I'm happy with DLee though, so Fukodome should be alright.  He seems to be more of a strikeout victim than Ichiro and Hideki Matsui, but hopefully he'll show plenty of patience while on the Cubbies lineup.  They need that badly!

[Jon Brakel]

I would sign him based on his name alone. You gotta have some big wood with a name like that! 

[Chainmeister]

Could it be that Wrigley, which has horrible food, might upgrade in anticipation of increased Japanese attendance? "Get yer Sashimi.  Sashimi  here.  Are they fresh?  Lady, they are fresher than a rookie on a road trip.  Saaaaaaashimi here..."

[damonshort]

'08 is the Cubs year. Always has been..... 

[Dan Michler]

and btw, a comparison - Sammy So-so's career strikeout's to AB's ratio is 1 in every 4.22 AB's+walks, so 1 in 4.99 is definitely improvement.

Yeah Sammy "So-so" totally sucked Scott.  All he did was hit 66 HR, 63 HR, 50 HR, 64 HR while hitting well over .300 and driving in over 130 every year with on base %'s in the .400 area.

If Fukudome is half the player Sammy SOSA was for the Cubs for a 10 year stretch, he'd be surpassing everybody's expectations.

If anybody responds to this and mentions anything about steroids then I'm coming to your house to punch you in the face because I really don't care! 

[Tom McManus]

and btw, a comparison - Sammy So-so's career strikeout's to AB's ratio is 1 in every 4.22 AB's+walks, so 1 in 4.99 is definitely improvement.

Yeah Sammy "So-so" totally sucked Scott.  All he did was hit 66 HR, 63 HR, 50 HR, 64 HR while hitting well over .300 and driving in over 130 every year with on base %'s in the .400 area.

If Fukudome is half the player Sammy SOSA was for the Cubs for a 10 year stretch, he'd be surpassing everybody's expectations.

If anybody responds to this and mentions anything about steroids then I'm coming to your house to punch you in the face because I really don't care! 

Jeez Dan, lay off the juice. You got some serious roid rage working.

[Jon Brakel]

I'd like to suck like Sammy at anything! 

[damonshort]

I'd like to suck like Sammy at anything! 

...set to the tune of "I Wanna Be Like Mike"?

[airspuds]

all i could think when i saw that name was
"harry carry would have had a hard time with name"

and fukudome pronounced backwards is "em odu uk uf  "

steve stone  well thanks harry that was just wonderful

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quKraecWnTs

and think of the chants 
oh the chants

when do you think the first game that the people in the stands will boo him ?

[stpitner]

and btw, a comparison - Sammy So-so's career strikeout's to AB's ratio is 1 in every 4.22 AB's+walks, so 1 in 4.99 is definitely improvement.

Yeah Sammy "So-so" totally sucked Scott.  All he did was hit 66 HR, 63 HR, 50 HR, 64 HR while hitting well over .300 and driving in over 130 every year with on base %'s in the .400 area.

If Fukudome is half the player Sammy SOSA was for the Cubs for a 10 year stretch, he'd be surpassing everybody's expectations.

If anybody responds to this and mentions anything about steroids then I'm coming to your house to punch you in the face because I really don't care! 

hehe, I didn't think I'd get you that quite riled up over Sosa.  I was cheering on Sammy just as much as anybody else back in those years.  I was at the Sept 13th '98 game when he his #61 and #62.  It was un-freaking-believable.  It was so loud that we had to scream in each other's ears in order to hear what the other person was trying to say.. .and it stayed that loud throughout his entire trot around the bases, after the curtain call, and partially into the next at-bat of whoever was up after him as well.  It was INSANE.  Everyone there was happy yet upset that Grace hit the homerun to win the game in extra innings because Sammy was on deck and didn't get to hit again.

What I don't want is a player that is similar to Sosa where it feels like it's either a home run or a strikeout is all you get.  I want one of those pesky hitters similar to pudge rodriguez (oh I can't stand him).  In 2003 after Pierre and Castillo were pains in the butt and getting on base with bunts and small ball, Pudge would slap a shot into the gap for a double.  That's the kind of hitting I was hoping for from Murton, but while he was patient at the plate, he was often too patient and would let way too many borderline balls go by for a called strike 3.

My hope for Fukudome is productive outs, getting a bat on the ball, and not all of these rally killing ground ball double play balls that the Cubs hit into all season long last year!