Snobs vs. Slobs

The Cubs outbid the San Diego Padres and the White Sox (suck it, Ross, and other Sox fans) to land Kosuke Fukudome (pronounced KOH-skay foo-koo-DOH-may… good luck with that, Ron Santo), a career .305/.395/.543 hitter in Japan. (Click here to see his Japanese League stats).

The biggest attraction of Fukudome is that he provides the Cubs with a much-needed patient hitter in the lineup. In 2006, the Cubs only had one regular hitter in the entire lineup who averaged 4 pitches per plate appearance, and I bet you all can guess that it was Derrek Lee. (Though let’s give credit to Mike Fontenot and Mark DeRosa, both of whom saw better than 3.9 pitches per plate appearance). Just to give that stat some context, the World Champion Red Sox (who actually know how to construct an offense) had three regular players that saw more than 4 pitches per plate appearance (plus two more backups who got regular playing time, Doug Mirabelli and Eric Hinske), and two more regulars that saw better than 3.9 pitches per plate appearance (and Coco Crisp was right on the cusp at 3.89 P/PA).

The point of all of this P/PA business is that the Cubs have acquired a player that, unlike most Cub acquisitions, will help work the count, tire out starting pitchers, and perform that ever-elusive of offensive activity of drawing walks.

Fukudome also has power, but not tremendous power. He has hit more than 30 homers twice in his career in the 140-game Japanese League, but considering he will turn 31 on April 26 coupled with the adjustment to the major leagues, it’s reasonable to believe his power may start dwindling. He profiles to be more of a doubles hitter in the majors. However, the power hardly matters in a lineup that already has three players with 30-homer potential. What does matter is having someone on base in front of those guys. And fortunately for the Cubs, Fukudome’s On-Base Percentage has climbed each of the past three years, to a whopping .443 last season (albeit in just 81 games; Fukudome had season-ending elbow surgery with two months to go in the season). I would love to see Fukudome batting (don’t plotz, Lou Piniella) leadoff in this lineup, with Soriano batting second. He’s going to work the count, he’s going to get on base, he’s going to hit doubles but not lots of homers. He’s the perfect guy to have batting in front of Soriano. However, logic has never been the Cubs’ strong suit, so that’s probably not going to happen. Failing the leadoff position, Fukudome would be great in the #2 spot.

Assuming Felix Pie starts panning out this year, the Cubs are a shortstop away from actually having a really solid lineup 1-thru-8. Let’s take a peek at a semi-projected 2008 Cubs lineup, with their 2007 OBPs:

LF - Soriano, .337
RF - Fukudome, .443
1B – Lee, .400
3B – Ramirez, .366
2B – DeRosa, .371
C – Soto, .424 at AAA, .433 at MLB (!!)
CF - Pie, .410 at AAA, .271 at MLB
SS – Theriot, .326

I have to admit it’s getting better (though Soriano, Lee, DeRo and Fukudome are all entering that wrong-side-of-30 time when things can start to get dicey, but that’s a different conversation for a different day).

There’s been talk of moving Fukudome to center and sticking DeRosa in right, but I really hope the Cubs decide to give Felix Pie the playing time he deserves to get. As indicated by his OBP, he tore it up in AAA last year, and really has nothing left to prove down there. All he needs is some time (like a half a season getting 4 AB’s a game) and some patience from the Cubs, and he’ll start to hit. Soto was the PCL MVP last year and deservedly had taken over for Jason Kendall by the time the playoffs came around. He probably just had his career year, but he should be a solid, league-average to above-league-average catcher for the Cubs for the next few years.

For more info on Fukudome-San, check out this piece, which I wrote a couple of weeks ago after this rumor first surfaced.

Breaking news out of Houston: The Astros have apparently landed Miguel Tejada in a trade with the Andy McFail-run Orioles. I would be more worried about this if the Astros hadn’t just signed Kaz Matsui to be the other half of the double-play combo with Tejada. Any benefit the Astros get by landing Tejada will probably be offset by the offensive black hole that will be provided by Kaz Matsui. Also, last time I checked they are still lacking decent hitters at catcher, third base, right field, and the entire bench, not to mention they have no starting pitching after that guy named Oswalt. So, good job, Astros. Way to throw good money after bad.