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Since the Rotoworld article this morning, we have heard a lot of questions about Japanese OF Kosuke Fukudome.
With that in mind, check out Fukudome’s page at ArmchairGM for more information, as well as a host of video clips.
In August, the 30-year old Fukodome underwent endoscopic surgery to remove bone fragments from his right elbow. It is not expected to affect his value on the open market, as he should be ready for Spring Training.
Teams with interest in Fukudome will not have to go through a posting system, as the Red Sox did with Daisuke Matsuzaka last winter.
we should sign him based on kaz matsui’s recent success
How quaint.
Just to add to the Hot Stove-ness any word on what Florida may do with Miguel Cabrera. THAT would be a pretty solution to our corner OF issues….
please god, i do not want the incredible growing man anywhere near the Mets line up. sure Cabrera’s bat is fantastic, but the guy doesn’t know how to properly condition himself. i’ll pass.
Considering he’s a lazy, sulking, fatty who can’t get along with his teammates, the dude can hit and the dude is young, and I think any franchise would be crazy to pass up on him.
heres the thing, the marlins aint giving him to us, and even if they did whered we put him, hes a terrible defender and is 2 yrs away from not being able to bend over to reach grounders. In the OF unless the ball is hit right at him i dont see many would be doubles being held to singles or being caught. this guy has DH written all over him. I wouldnt mind him at 1st but a couple of nights at the buffet and he could eventually make ryan howard look like keith hernandez.
Yeah. I HATE guys who consistently hit .320, 30 HR, and 115 RBI, but are out of shape and can’t play first base.
Thank GOODNESS we have Carlos Delgado!
Miguel Cabrera may be the best pure hitter in the NL, but he seems to be a bit of a head case. Plus he looked like he dogged it this weekend a few times in the field.
Cabrera plays 3rd and not well. He’s destined for DH-hood in the AL.
can this team really take a risk on fukudome? next year is too important. if he flops: imagine the signs at shea or comments on here with that last name.
glavine declined his option. mets have to pay him $3m.
it’s time for tommy to move on
EVERY ONE CELEBRATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Zen
I can’t find that report on Glavine anywhere (ESPN, Mets.com). do you have a link?
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/mets/
Thanks Zen.
That report said all signed pointed to him returning to the Braves. Why would they want him, all signs point to a disgraceful retirement.
glavines a money-driven scumbag. you should forfeit those 3 million dollars for your last start with us.
If he’s a money-driven scumbag, why is he passing on an easy $10M? He’ll likely take less to pitch in Atlanta.
The Mets show absolutely go after this guy for 2 reasons:
1) It will free up Milledge to be traded for pitching
2) Signing a Japanese free agent will not cost the Mets their 1st round pick in the 2007 draft like it would signing a MLB free agent.
If the projections are accurate, he could bat 2nd with a .375+ on base %.
Reyes
Gotay
Wright
Beltran
Delgado
Milledge
Gomez
Castro
Martinez
I could live with this as my opening day lineup. Focus on pitching and maybe an upgrade at catcher or second base. I dont think outfield is so pressing right now. Not trading Milledge may have been a blessing in disguise. I can see him hitting .280 with 25 hr and 100 rbi.
Nice lineup if you want to finish 3rd. unless we are getting santana, halliday and mariano. milledge and gomez, yeah.
are you kidding me with gomez and milledge as our every day OFers? unless the team era is under 3 we would finish in 3rd.
So you would rather re-sign Moises Alou, get Aaron Rowand or gamble on the Japanese player? Because that’s the realistic options. Carlos Gomez is good enough defensively. Chavez is still on this team and a power bat could come off the bench. Is Hernandez really a better option than Castro? I’d rather trade for a Mauer type. Castillo is nice but I’m not sure Gotay combined with a slick fielding 2nd baseman isn’t better. There you have a ton of money to grab bullpen help. I guarantee we still have enough prospects to land an ace. The Mets are so far ahead in this division that proper coaching, improved pitching and a steady not spectacular line-up should win it. IMHO we added too much uncertainty to the batting order. It never settled.
You’d rather trade for a Mauer type, would you?
You can forget that, seeing as how Mauer is the only Mauer-type catcher in MLB and the Twins ain’t giving him up. For anything.
Mauer is the only slap hitting, good defensive intelligent catcher in all of baseball? He’s the best… that’s why I said Mauer type, but not the only. He is easier to get than Santana. I like LoDuca but I’m just not convinced he has two good years left. I’d rather keep Castro cheap than throw big money at Hernandez. Either way we wanna argue, I think the Mets are better served not spending tens of millions in Japan for an outfielder who will give us Milledge numbers.
Milledge yes. Gomez no.
Yeah, This would be a great move! Considering our
success with other great japanese stars like
Matsui, Shinjo and Yoshii as well as the great
success with players coming off “minor” injuries
like saberhagen, vaughn and Floyd, PLUS—
I’m sure the languge and cultural barriers won’t
present any problems, right?—
This kind of move would have Little Stevie (can’t keep-
–my hands off the interns) Phillips or “Right Place–
–Wrong Time Duquette written all over it !!
Omar knows better , on so many levels.
don’t forget about Kaz Ishii!
remember the japanese lefty we had who hit a triple off randy johnson in the subway series? what was that guys name?
koo. he was korean.
You are soooo right InsaneMetFan. I mean…look how GREAT Tiyoshi Shingo played for us. Look how well kaz Matsui adjusted to life in New York.
But most of all, “Dome’s” current teammate, Alex Ochoa says he’s really good. And we all know how good Alex Ochoa was for the Mets. 5-tool player!
These projections are right on. Dice-K is a Cy Young award winner, Fat Toad was a three-time 20 game winner and Kaz was the most celebrated leadoff hitter the Mets have ever had. I mean, he started all THREE of his Mets seasons with a home run. All you need to do is stop right there and know what an amzing impact player he was. Trading him was as bad as trading Seaver!
Btw…JK in case you havent realized it.
I sensed the sarcasim hendu. Thanks!
I liked Shinjo.
no thank you, like zen said we cant afford to risk it. Alot of us say “no more experiments in the rotation” well im gonna expand that to no experiements ANYWHERE. give me a proven commodity.
I just HATE giving up draft picks to sign MLB players.
it is a kick in the pants but this isnt the NFL where draft picks can have immediate impact, i personally think the rule is kinda silly esp if youre signing a guy like say carlos silva who isnt exactly the difference in not making the playoffs and winning the world series.
Unless those draft picks are for pitching. Look at the teams winning now in the off season. With the exception of the Redsox who have both pitching and hitting…the teams have pitching. Good pens and starters that get the job done. We have plenty of offense.
Pitching, pitching, pitching.
more importantly its all home grown pitching, except for the Sox and Livan.
Sabathia and Carmona, Francis and the two Rox rookies, Webb and Davis. even some of the losing starters, Wang, Lackey, Weaver going today…
Its all about developing pitchers, and bringing in the crafty veteran to fill out the rotation. That is why Omar cant give up on Maine, Pelfrey, Humber, etc.
To be fair, Shinjo was a career .253 hitter in Japan, and Irabu a mediocre pitcher whose winning percentage there was barely .500, before coming over
.
And Dice-K may have some very good years ahead.
Fukudome is a career .300+ hitter. He might not be the reincarnation of Ichiro, but he should be pretty solid. Teh Matsui brother has comparable BA stats: Hideki 3.04 and Kaz .305. But Kaz’s implosion may have been largely psychological, as his resurgence suggests.
Kaz and Hideki aren’t brothers.
Um. Yeah. I know.
Sorry. I didn’t realize the context there until I read it again.
Apologies.
No worries
Kaz is in the post season …and doing well…and we’re not.
*The Matsui brothers
So is Jorge Julio!—Want him back?—I’m sure he’d help the Pen.
This guy was a .300 hitter striking out 120 times in
Japan, about AAA baseball in the states—SO—
I guess we could expect about .270 and 150 Ks here, NO?
Plus as stated above, what would be the over/under date
in April as when we’d some calling him “Dome” AND
start chanting FU-KU FU-KU ???
He seems comparable to Shinjo or the guy the Cards have had for the last 5 years. 4th OF types. I’ll stick with Endy, and having Gomez at AAA for depth.
The Mets OF is one area they really dont need to work on assuming Alou comes back. If they want to bring in a Rowand and trade Milledge thats a nice upgrade, but its not a pressing need.
Julio actually isn’t on the post season roster.
so some people dont want to experiment? would u like to stay with our proven veterans that we have now and see what they can do next season? no experiments? are we just going to sit here complacent with the team we have now and hope for the best? i think we need to get some young guys who just want to play. a japanese player may be good for us. or you can just stay with last years team and hope the phillies magically lose some of their hitters so we can beat them
This has nothing to do w/ standing pat. The off-season is
here, there are openings and within the next month or so the team will be free off 40-45 million dollars in contracts.
With so many options, why would you invest in a totally
unprover player w/ again all the potential problems of Japanese players i.e. culture, language and competition?
no experiments doesnt mean standing pat, no experiments means not signing a guy whos never played baseball in america and never faced MLB pitching vs getting someone with a track record of success. read the posts.
If Miguel Cabrera is available to Mets , Omar will jump on it.
He can’t be worse than Wight on defense. Wright will be a very good 1st basemanwhere he won’t be making errant throws to the 1st which is mental .
He is much worse then Wright, won’t be coming here and
if by some chance did would be put in left or @ first.
dude wright is 10 times better at fielding, cabrera is immobile. omar would definitely love to get cabrera for obvious reasons (jk hes nasty i know), but why would florida trade him honestly the guy almost won the batting title this yr hes one of the best pure hitters in the NL.
I’d say this Fukudome looks like a Japanese version of Carlos Beltran. He can run, field has a cannon and can hit. I just dont want to take the risk
Unless the Japanese player’s name is Ichiro Suzuki, I don’t want to see any Nippon ballers on our team next year
Cabrera is not coming here but that kind of player is needed in terms of his ability to hit. I would love to add any of the infielders (except Mike Jacobs) from Florida and find a home for them. How great would Cabrera’s numbers look coming from LF? How great would Uggla or Ramirez’s numbers look from 2b?
Cabrera can rake
Ramirez’s numbers would look shocking coming from second base, mostly because he is not ever going to play there.
And if you want to see how great Uggla’s numbers would look coming from second base then just take a look at them, they do come from second base.
THanks CW. But the context was his numbers from 2b for the METS. Thanks for the quality add though with your post. Also, Ramirez could play 2nd but my post suggested his play would be in the OF.
Sorry. Cabrera was the OF suggestion I made. My bad. Still I think Hanley is not an infielder and has all the tools to be an OF in this league. Cabrera is really not an OF but is a 1b waiting to happen
Can Wright play 2nd?
Cabrera ,Reyes,Wright and Delgado is not a bad infield.
Tthe problem with his defense is throwing. Throwing from 2nd will be shorter ,but more often which is not a good news.
Wright will be a very good 1st baseman.
That certainly doesn’t shore up the D at the hot corner. Cabrera is an awful defensive player. He makes David Wright look like Brooks Robinson, why would you even consider moving Wright to make a spot for Cabrera?
actually it is an awful infield, defensively. I doubt Wright will take to 2nd as well as Alfonso.
They would have to put up 600 runs produced between the 4 of them just to make up for the hidious defense that will be played on a daily basis.
Cabrera is a young Manny who can rake.And Mets need a real cleamup hitter.
My batting order for Mets will be Reyes, Wright ,Beltran and Cabrera.Alou and Delgado.
Good post. The Mets don’t have a cleanup hitter.
They have a few pretending to be, and a few that used to be 48 years ago.
This team needs a power bat who consistantly hits for power and is young.
if he sux in a big spot the chant will be
Fuc U FUC FUC U
He cant came to Ny
Since he started, Omar has wanted to bring in an Asian Star. That would bring more Asian fans in and $$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Look at the last few years, we were the SECOND highest bidder for DiceK. It’s about money, just as much as him being good. If the Mets could steal some of the Asian fan base, Omar is all for it. I like the idea, so what about the past, this guy is not those guys. DiceK is surviving in a big city, HMatsui is thriving in New York. I say go after him, and make sure the contract has incentives rather than a complete guarnatee.
Can Willie manage Asian position players.Were BV tte manager of Mets,K Matsui would’ve thrived.
Umm…did I read that article right? Alex Ochoa gave him the stamp of approval? Yeah, I think I’m going to pass on that one. Why was Alex Escobar unavailable for comment?
Move Wright to make room for Cabrera.
Now I’ve heard everything.
Not only is Wright 10 times the defensive 3B that Cabrera is–he also put up near identical #s (and I would bet better park-adjusted #s) on offense.
I’ve even heard give up Delgado and Prospects and sign Adam Dunn. Nuts. Adjusted for the Park, Delgado’s #s may be almost as good as Dunn’s. If you don’t count the first month and a half, where Carlos was recovering from surgery, he put up .280 and 38 HR adjusted for a 162 game season.
The Indians obviously need a power bat and can play for next year. If we took some of Delgado’s contract, they might jump on it and give us a prospect or 2.
Even then, how do we replace him?
Forget I said that.
Uhhhh…is it REALLY necessary to post information about prospective Far east players? the answer is NO.
We have seen plenty of asian players come to the Mets and suck. Shinjo, Koo, Matsui…and the list goes on. No no no non HR hitting corner outfielders that are from japan and have no idea how to play MLB. Not even an option.
And all you people debating Milledge and Gomez and all these combinations…heres a life lesson for you. NEITHER is that good. NEITHER can start for this team to win a title….and BOTH are probably trade bait. I know its hard to let go of the prospects Omar claimed are oh so good…but they arent that good. The Mets need a slugging corner outfielder with some youth, and some health. A guy that has been in the league for a while…not someone from freakin Japan.
Milledge and Gomez could be a package for that guy. I don’t care how much you love them….those 2 playing every day gets you no playoffs. Unless you you buy yourself like 3 aces and become the Padres.
Is Jack Parkman still available?
That guy hits a ton.
Have to disagree. If you project Milledge’s numbers out to 550 ABs you get 21 HR and 29 doubles as a 22 year old. I bet he hits more if he gets regular PT as a 23 year old. I could see at least around around .280 / .345 / .455 with 25-30 HR and 30-40 doubles. Combine that with Alou who will probably be in the same general neighborhood (at least in averages) with more batting average and you’ve got a pretty good corner OF tandem. Only problem is its all RH. So you get a lefty with some pop (I vote Marlon Anderson, but a Geoff Jenkins type probably would be ideal) to sit in occasion and your fine.
Also, how can you rag on Gomez? The kid has five-tool player written all over him. He still has a way to go with his hitting, but if it ever develops, man he’s going to be a monster. With his size and speed, I mean think Hanley Ramirez type power with Jose Reyes type speed and Endy Chavez like OF defense.
I agree. Beltran gives you corner OF numbers so you can have a Gomez playing 120+ games. Chavez hits lefty and can spell Gomez or Milledge against tough righties. Defensively that outfield would be excellent. I’m not saying they’re going to give you 70 hr and 200 rbi, but consider the options.
It’s not about race or ethnicity, but about the transfer of numbers in japan to the MLB that don’t work out as well. Yes, you have H. Matsui or a Jojima who have done well, but you must remember that a lot of their games are played on solid turf. This means that the ball gets out a lot quicker. Which means either more hits or in Kaz’s case – more time to get the guy out at first – which was a big mistake for scouts not recognizing that he actually did not have a strong arm.
I’m not saying that japanese players can’t cut it in the US – I’m just saying, especially with the lack of success that WE have had – the scouts better be pretty damn sure about bringing a 31 year old over here to solidify an outfield on a team that needs definite answers as opposed to “Let’s hope he performs the way he COULD”
Alou will be back next year. Keep Milledge in right. Let Gomez master tripple A and then have him ready to take Alou’s spot in ‘09.
Focus on the rotation, bullpen, and catcher.
God forbid the man is signed and hits poorly…the chant will be :
Fuk-U- Dom-E….
You know, I’ve been thinking the Mets would need another lefty who can play OF for a while now, but the truth is, the answer might be simple: Marlon Anderson. We just have to make sure we keep him around this time. He can play OF, has a bit more pop than Endy (what’s his status btw?) with less defense (obviously), can easily spell Alou in left often without giving up TOO much against righties, and can probably also backup for Delgado at 1B. Then you’d have a good start for the bench: Endy, Marlon, Gotay (assuming he’s not starting), and a backup catcher. You can pretty much get the best RH pinch hitter available for the last spot, regardless of what position he plays your pretty much covered. Endy and Marlon backup in the OF, Marlon takes 1B, Gotay 2B, SS, and 3B, and of course a backup catcher. Ideally you get a righty IF who can also maybe play LF on occasion, but its probably not a huge deal. Someone like Damian Easley would once again fit perfectly.
You definetly need the lefty support with the projectable lineup though: four pure righties on most days in Wright, Alou, Milledge, and the catcher.
If Marlon gets another wacky two year deal that he’ll probably never finish up like he did after 2005, maybe the Front Office could convince Green to resume the role he had at the end of the season at a more reasonable price. He could be hard pressed to find a starting job anyway, especially with a contender. He was actually doing a really nice job. He’s a good hitter with some pop against righties. He could share time in the OF (although it would probably be Milledge that plays LF on the days when Green stands in for Alou) and also once again back up at 1B. The only downside, especially compared to Marlon, is that he’s not exactly a seasoned PH. But he seemed to adapt quickly to the part-time role he was given down the stretch, so it might be worth a gamble if there isn’t a better left handed option.
As for starting both Milledge and Gomez, ain’t gonna happen. Why would you possibly turn down Alou’s option? It only adds depth. Now you have at least a reasonable backup in the minors with Gomez AND you give the lineup some more pop. The only way they turn down Alou is if Omar somehow snags Adam Dunn, which I doubt. Plus, knowing Mets brass, they don’t want to hand a starting job to a young kid. Milledge is probably right on the cusp, but especially for Gomez, they want those two competing for the job in the spring. Make them earn it and build up their confidence. Even still, realistically the job is probably Milledge’s to lose. Look how the rotation competition worked out before this season. Maine and Ollie; who had more experience (like Milledge) wound up thriving, while Pelfrey; who had less (like Gomez) stunk.
I would however occasionally start Endy and Milledge/Gomez in the corners, especially on Ollie and Maine days when we know the balls are going to be sailing through the air. Ollie was so successful when he had that that “A+” defensive OF early on, its something I’d have figured Willie would have gone to when the team couldn’t seem to buy a win down the stretch. I guess he figured they needed their hitters down the, but that wasn’t really the problem, the problem was that none of their pitchers seemed to have the confidence in themselves to get three outs in an inning. Starting the A+ defensive OF a couple times very well could have gone a long way towards sorting that problem out. Oh well, live and learn, right Willie? (YOU’D BETTER!)
You have to be incredibly dense or oblivious to not realize that every signing or trade made this off season by Omar will be for a Latin player.
[...] doubtful that the Mets are seriously considering him, his name has already been thrown out there by MetsBlog, MetsGeek, and [...]
It wouldn’t be bad to go after him. The best thing is you wouldn’t lose a draft pick.
Sign Kos-K!
Give Bruce Wilpon (the other retarded son) something to do!
He’s my favorite team Chunichi Dragons’ one of the great player and extraordinaly hitter and out fielder. If you watch his play, you will understand how he’s amazing at any level though he’s injured now . But what attract fans most is his cleverness. Very tough physicaly and mentaly.
I’m gonna miss him if he leaves Dragons, but I understand he’s ready to try it.
There’s one thing you must know.
DO NOT USE HIM AS INFIELDER.
He sucks.
No, I never like Matsui.
By the way, has anyone told you how clever you aren’t?