The Yankees have released outfielder Kosuke Fukudome, according to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Director of Media Relations Mike Vander Woude (via Twitter). Fukudome's stint in the Yankees organization was short-lived after signing a minor league deal back in mid-July.
The White Sox cut Fukudome loose in June after signing him to a one-year, $1MM contract in over the winter. The 35-year-old would play in just in 24 games for Chicago while posting a .171/.294/.195 slash line in 51 plate appearances. In five big league seasons, Fukudome owns a .258/.359/.395 batting line for the Cubs, Indians, and White Sox.
Wow he has made 42 Million with below leauge average numbers
Wouldn’t call a .369 OBP below league average.
People just want to look at his BA or SLG and not his OBP.
He’s a bad player there’s nothing else to say. I mean Foukudome is in the minor leagues and he was never that good of a player. Doesn’t matter what his on base was he was never that good.
I think they had to bid a dollar amount just to offer him a contract. The Padres and Cubs were both vying for his services. Glad he chose the Cubs.
Wow, look at that OBP in AAA. Some team should sign him up.
That catch knocked him outta pro baseball
I think that Kosuke Fukodome will get another opportunity. He did well with The Cubs. He just needs playing time.
He’s headed back the same place as “Aki” iwamura and “Oki Doki” Okajuma are currently playing when they were finished here. Only difference? They didn’t get a huge, cushy, well over paid contract by an inept GM (hendry) 1st.
And people wonder why Hendry is not around any longer.. Tsk,tsk…
For starters it’s Okajima, whose function also included being a buddy for Matsuzaka.
And while we’re on the subject of Matsuzaka.. Shame that Epstein has no job any more after splashing 102 mil on him. Oh wait, he actually got a promotion.
You also are aware that Hendry is working as a special advisor to Cashman, so he’s still around?
A couple of bad signings aren’t good indicators for a GM’s job performance. You have good signings and bad signings around. Hendry failed horribly with Soriano and Fukudome but he also signed/drafted guys like Starlin Castro, Aramis Ramirez (who did pretty well at a not-too-bad salary), etc. He may be a bad GM but he doesn’t have that many bad, costly signings. If making a couple of bad signings cost GMs their job, guys like Epstein (Do I even need to say them?), Cashman (Igawa, Pavano, et al) and Sabean (Zito, Rowand) would have been fired long ago.
And lastly, check his OBP. He isn’t exactly starter material but he might be of use as a bench piece or a cheap stop-gap for injury-plagued teams or teams looking to keep their top prospects in AAA for a few more months.
hendry had a big payroll. won some trades, lost some. ran a bad farm system. facts. the end.
and now he is with the Yankees
“A couple of bad signings aren’t good indicators for a GM’s job performance.”
You got to be kidding… I realize that you troll around here and post nothing but negative rubbish, but this one is way, way over the top as for absolutely flabbergastingly.. Horse hockey.
Hendry signed Fukodome, gave Soriano a huge contract when it is probable nobody else in the game would have approached that length. Gave a LT deal to a head problem then in Zambrano, Milton Bradley.. Another social issue player.. I can continue with players he signed with known problems he signed???
the poster below mentions how he spent poorly on the draft, yet seemed to always have a few million left over to waste on players with mental issues…
Nah… Hendry (other than perhaps Minaya) was the worst GM in the game for years and there ain’t no way to pretty that up..But you are more than welcome to try…
As for Okajima?? you bet he was good..For 3 seasons and went back to Japan, which is what my post was all about.. Where fukodome is headed and yeah.. As a Sox fan I knew it was why he was signed all along…
Funny tidbit on when he 1st came over and when Epstein was trying to ink him he reported to the media as to if Oki-Doki had signed:
“not reporting yet, but there isn’t any lobster left in the city”
okajima reportedly loved Lobster.
removed.. Point is made in post below.
While I do speak in a negative manner I am not a troll. You however at times match my negativity. And no, I don’t post “nothing but negative rubbish”. I am very critical of certain players while am guilty of willful blindness on some others, what I say are no less true than your posts. Please, be more negative.
While Zambrano had his temper tantrums and did cost the Cubs a fortune he was regarded as one of the potential “ace” guys, throwing a lot of innings, striking out guys and made headlines, both positive and negative. Just because guys are headcases or have bad reputation doesn’t necessarily mean that they cannot provide value to the club. Josh Lueke, who was first traded to Seattle (a team that supposedly didn’t do their homework on him) for Cliff Lee, then to Tampa for John Jaso, is a rapist and lied to the police about it. (He got a lesser charge through plea bargaining) Milton Bradley on the other hand seemed like he was breaking out in his age 30 season, finally flashing his former 2nd rounder potential, posting .436 OBP with a .999 OPS. His breakout wouldn’t be that much different from the one Melky Cabrera had last season, and obviously if it weren’t for the banned substance stuff the Giants would love Cabrera at 10 mil a year. Soriano is unforgivable but back in the days the different between 18 mil and maybe what he would have gotten from other clubs weren’t too much of a dent in the Cubs’ budget.
I am not trying to establish that Hendry is a good GM, but I am just trying to say not all of his bad signings looked bad from the start.
And Okajima? I was just trying to say that people really didn’t have high hopes for him in the start, therefore he signed for less money than Fukudome did. If you would take some time and stop calling out posts in negative tone, you’d notice that majority of the people here still see a future in him somewhere, not back to Japan, which I originally tried to argue with you, but you were too focused on my alleged “troll” words. Please, do keep ignoring half my posts while posting a wall of text to pretend that you have thoroughly comprehended my post.
I don’t blame you for having favorite team bias, but for Pete’s sake please lighten up, don’t be so negative. I’m only negative because I’m a pessimist. What’s your excuse?
Actually, Hendry did not sign or draft Aramis Ramirez. The Pirates traded him with Kenny Lofton to the Cubs in a MLB-mandated salary dump. They don’t allow links to espn’s website here, so google the phrase ‘Pirates prez says debt is manageable’ for more details.
It’s worth noting that the Pirates GM at the time (Dave Littlefield) was even less competent than Hendry, but was not fired until 2007. He currently works for the Cubs as Special Assistant to the GM.
This man started in the All-Star Game in 2008. Pretty much all the proof a person needs that the fan voting system is a joke.
The fans just vote their teams best player, but the other thing that is a joke is the one player from every team rule. I mean if Jose Altuve was hurt, who would the Astros have sended to KC?
Brett Myers?
::shudders::
Meh. Yeah, he wasn’t that deserving in 2008, but he did have a .383 OBP in the first half that year. He just fell on his face in the second half, mostly due to a .248 BABIP.
Agreed. It was a bad selection, but it wasn’t atrocious. Fukudome in his prime was a good fundamental player. I can think of far worse ASG starters.
He just wasn’t very good
Okay, so how many of us, upon reading this headline, went “I didn’t even know Fukudome was with the Yankees in the first place”. I know I did.
Did MLBTR even state it when he signed?
I forgot about Kosuke Fukudome. I remember he was with the Sox earlier in the year and I completely forgot about him til now. He is better off going to Japan. He never really panned out for the MLB.
Funny thing is, I am not surprised he was with the Yankees briefly. Jim Hendry does work there now.