Kosuke Fukudome Coming To MLB

UPDATE, 12-11-07 at 8:27am: Official word comes from the man himself – he’ll try his hand in the Majors in 2008.

UPDATE, 12-10-07 at 10:04pm: Here’s the latest from the Sun-Times.  Urbon won’t hear from Fukudome until sometime later tonight.  He’ll contact MLB teams on Tuesday at the earliest with the news.  From that point, a deal might only take a day or two.

UPDATE, 12-10-07 at 2:30pm: This is getting annoying…Fukudome will decide whether to come to MLB tonight.  We all expect him to come, so it’s been a lot of back and forth for nothing.

UPDATE, 12-9-07 at 12:14am: He’s coming this time, for real.

UPDATE, 12-7-07 at 8:08pm: Just listened to Dave Kaplan talking to Fukudome’s agent, Joe Urbon, on Sports Central/WGN 720.  Urbon says Fukudome may decide whether to play in the U.S. on Monday.  The process would move "very quickly" soon after that for Fukudome to decide on a team.

UPDATE, 12-7-07 at 8:03pm: Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times spoke to Fukudome’s agent.  He hasn’t decided yet.  He will make a choice Monday or Tuesday, and would let the interested Japanese teams know first.

FROM 12-7-07 at 2:40pm:

In case there was any question, Ken Rosenthal reports that Kosuke Fukudome will announce that he’s leaving Japan for an MLB team.

Rosenthal says it’s down to the Cubs, Padres, and what I like to call a Mystery Team.  The Rangers, Giants, and White Sox are candidates.  And although Rosenthal doesn’t mention them, the Royals could be in the mix.  Ken Davidoff reported on Wednesday that Fukudome had narrowed his choices to the Cubs and Royals (though it’s known that the Padres made a substantial offer). Note that Davidoff’s article came out after news of the Royals’ Jose Guillen signing broke.