Cleveland Indians & MLB

by **WiscTribeFan** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 11:05 am

Can't imagine we'd be giving up much for him. It's a 'meh' move. Since I've seen him quite a bit over the last 4 years, I'd say he's an upgrade to Buck, but not by a lot...

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/07/i ... udome.html

The Indians are in serious talks for Cubs right fielder Kosuke Fukudome, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. The deal is "very close to happening," tweets Danny Knobler of CBS Sports. With Shin-Soo Choo and Grady Sizemore on the DL, the Tribe has a clear need for outfield help.

Fukudome, 34, is hitting .273/.374/.369 in 345 plate appearances for the Cubs this year. Though his right field defense drew praise initially, he's been below-average per UZR over the last few years. Since Fukudome is owed almost $4.7MM for the balance of the season, the Cubs will likely have to kick in money to make a deal happen. He cannot be offered arbitration after the season, so draft pick compensation is not a factor. Fukudome has a limited no-trade clause, but it's not known which teams are on it.

by **redneckofsc** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 11:12 am

273/.374/.369

Seriously, what the fuck does this guy bring? This reminds me of when we aquired Wil Cordero in the stretch run. Why don't we just see if the Astros will trade us Jason Michaels? Or better yet, let the 100th fan through the gate play right field.

by **WiscTribeFan** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 11:26 am

It's not a game changing deal, but one that will help. He's been hitting leadoff for the Cubs quite a bit. It's a solid OBP, one that is light years better than Carerra and Brantley.

I'm OK with this deal, depending on who the 2 prospects are.

by **Govbarney** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 11:34 am

redneckofsc wrote:273/.374/.369

Seriously, what the fuck does this guy bring? This reminds me of when we aquired Wil Cordero in the stretch run. Why don't we just see if the Astros will trade us Jason Michaels? Or better yet, let the 100th fan through the gate play right field.

Its a Asian Travis Buck. Can't get Beltrain. Settle for Fukudome...? At least go after a poor man's Beltrain first... I dont know maybe someone who bats right handed...

by **RedDawg53** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 11:34 am

Oh Fuku me. I remember him having issues with the old Cubs manager, Lou Pinella. That was about it..

by **Govbarney** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 11:37 am

Per a Hoynse tweet: "Prospects #Indians giving up for Fukudome: one upper level, one lower level"

by **skatingtripods** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 11:40 am

His OBP would be third on the team. Behind Josh Tomlin and Travis Hafner. He has to be an upgrade based on that, right?

Hoynes says it's a pitcher + position player.

I'm hoping Gomez + some A level position player.

by **RedDawg53** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 11:42 am

Hey, at least we got a righty... yeah, he throws right. Bats left ::doh::

Thought we would acquire a right handed stick

by **skatingtripods** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 11:44 am

RedDawg53 wrote:Hey, at least we got a righty... yeah, he throws right. Bats left

Thought we would acquire a right handed stick

You know that there's 3 days til the deadline, right? It's not like we're done.

We couldn't be after all the effort they've put in exploring every possibility. The Beltran proposal, confirmed by damn near everybody, is proof that they'll give up a big prospect if the opportunity to acquire an impact guy is there.

by **onlyindreams** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 11:49 am

If we are giving up anything decent for this guy I will be so irritated. He's a 34 year old light hitting lefty, just what we don't need. I was thinking to myself on my drive into work that this team is going nowhere, all this talk of trades must be lip service to fans and they'll stand pat and say they tried. Whoops. :hide:

by **andrew6586** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 11:50 am

Please be Hector Rondon. Please be Hector Rondon. Please be Hector Rondon. Please be Hector Rondon.

by **WiscTribeFan** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 11:54 am

onlyindreams wrote:If we are giving up anything decent for this guy I will be so irritated. He's a 34 year old light hitting lefty, just what we don't need. I was thinking to myself on my drive into work that this team is going nowhere, all this talk of trades must be lip service to fans and they'll stand pat and say they tried. Whoops.

With an OBP of .374. It would be nice to have a few more runners on base, no?

by **redneckofsc** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 11:54 am

Onley said he expects the deal to be done by gametime, and the Cusb play at 2pm

by **redneckofsc** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 11:56 am

According to ESPN, it is an OF and a pitcher.

by **redneckofsc** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 11:59 am

Castrovince's tweets:

Kosuke Fukudome has a lifetime .979 OPS in April. Does April happen to come after July this year? #Indians

Fukudome has a .243 average/.698 OPS since May 8. #Indians

Fukudome must be offered an extension by 11/15 or he becomes a free agent.

OK, one last depressing Kosuke Fukudome split for you. Interleague career: .217 AVG, .594 OPS (.286 SLG) in 53 games. #Indians

by **RedDawg53** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:04 pm

redneckofsc wrote:Castrovince's tweets:

Kosuke Fukudome has a lifetime .979 OPS in April. Does April happen to come after July this year? #Indians

Fukudome has a .243 average/.698 OPS since May 8. #Indians

Fukudome must be offered an extension by 11/15 or he becomes a free agent.

OK, one last depressing Kosuke Fukudome split for you. Interleague career: .217 AVG, .594 OPS (.286 SLG) in 53 games. #Indians

I'm sure he can grind it out.

by **RedDawg53** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:09 pm

Make's me wonder if this move is to spark the offense or the box office. To get more Japanese tourists to come to the park, since Choo is gone so have the Koreans. You never know with Larry Dolan.

by **gotribe31** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:09 pm

Carlton Smith doesn't do a whole lot for me, but I hate losing Abner Abreu. The #'s aren't there and his approach is terrible, but the kid has talent. He's a real boom or bust type guy who could end up a solid ML RF when it's all said and done, or he could never play above AA.

by **onlyindreams** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:12 pm

WiscTribeFan wrote:
onlyindreams wrote:If we are giving up anything decent for this guy I will be so irritated. He's a 34 year old light hitting lefty, just what we don't need. I was thinking to myself on my drive into work that this team is going nowhere, all this talk of trades must be lip service to fans and they'll stand pat and say they tried. Whoops.

With an OBP of .374. It would be nice to have a few more runners on base, no?

Yeah, I'm not saying it won't help at all, but giving up prospects for such a meh rental is a bad idea. I'm assuming he'll hit 1st or 2nd and Brantley/Cabrera will probably drop down in the lineup.

by **Adverb Harry** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:13 pm

We kept hearing that the Tribe is willing to pick up all of a remaining contract (like Beltran), so it's interesting that Chicago is picking up the tabs on Fukodome. Pretty apparent we're not done adding players, based on that line of reasoning.

by **RedDawg53** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:15 pm

Adverb Harry wrote:We kept hearing that the Tribe is willing to pick up all of a remaining contract (like Beltran), so it's interesting that Chicago is picking up the tabs on Fukodome. Pretty apparent we're not done adding players, based on that line of reasoning.

Dear Lord. He's owed 13.5m

http://www.baseball-reference.com/playe ... ko01.shtml

Which I'm sure is owed by the Indians about half. 6.75m.

by **pup** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:23 pm

Fucking pathetic. The two worst players, with the least chance at developing, in the entire organization are too high of a price for 2 months of this slap swinging piece of garbage.

Way to go Lil Mark. now we can finish 76-86 instead of 75-87!!!!!!

by **Adverb Harry** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:23 pm

Yeah, that's what I mean...I remember hearing that they could pick up about 5 to 6 million, so he's basically a freebie in that sense. So, he doesn't count toward the payroll they're willing to add on.

by **cozmeesah** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:31 pm

by **WiscTribeFan** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:32 pm

RedDawg53 wrote:
Adverb Harry wrote:We kept hearing that the Tribe is willing to pick up all of a remaining contract (like Beltran), so it's interesting that Chicago is picking up the tabs on Fukodome. Pretty apparent we're not done adding players, based on that line of reasoning.

Dear Lord. He's owed 13.5m

http://www.baseball-reference.com/playe ... ko01.shtml

Which I'm sure is owed by the Indians about half. 6.75m.

No, he's owed the pro-rated amount of his contract, which is about $4.7M. From what I've read, the Cubs are picking up more than half that amount.

by **jerryroche** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:35 pm

This schmoe's a stopgap and nothing more. If we didn't have the OF injuries to Sizemore and Choo, the trade would have never been made. He's marginally better than the current options -- but that's not saying much.

Not the "blockbuster" deal that many Tribe fans are still hoping for. (Don't hold your breath.)

by **pup** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:38 pm

cozmeesah wrote:The Indians are picking up all of $775,000 of what remains of his salary this season. So keep on overreacting as you usually do, guys.

I don't care if the Cubs took all of his salary. It is a waste of time and energy spent even working up this deal. They acquired a .230 hitter with minus power. Should we be doing cartwheels?

by **redneckofsc** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:40 pm

jerryroche wrote:This schmoe's a stopgap and nothing more. If we didn't have the OF injuries to Sizemore and Choo, the trade would have never been made. He's marginally better than the current options -- but that's not saying much.

Not the "blockbuster" deal that many Tribe fans are still hoping for. (Don't hold your breath.)

When has the Tribe ever made a blockbuster trade?

by **Dnthateonthepronk** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:41 pm

For me it just depends on who they gave up to get fokudome

by **Rat_Tail** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:44 pm

pup wrote:
cozmeesah wrote:The Indians are picking up all of $775,000 of what remains of his salary this season. So keep on overreacting as you usually do, guys.

I don't care if the Cubs took all of his salary. It is a waste of time and energy spent even working up this deal. They acquired a .230 hitter with minus power. Should we be doing cartwheels?

I wouldn't be shitting bricks over it either. At least wait until he plays a couple games. Not like he was playing on the Yankees all year.

by **andrew6586** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:47 pm

Anyone else have a feeling that if we sent them too much it will turn into Fukuchris and Fukumark?

by **scott** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:50 pm

Look at it as insurance that Valbuena never plays in the outfield again this season and it doesn't look so bad.

by **cozmeesah** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:56 pm

by **skatingtripods** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:05 pm

Hilarious. The Indians give up a mediocre reliever with a 4.21 career minor league ERA and a guy who is at least 3 years out and may not even become anything and people are still going to bitch.

We got a piece that helps us. He's an upgrade over Buck, Kearns, and Carrera. We did so for $775,000 (the Dolans are cheap!!1!11!) and no real loss in terms of our prospect depth.

He's going to play CF and he's 2nd in defensive WAR. However that's calculated, he's clearly an upgrade at any OF position.

4.34 pitches per plate appearance and only 57 K's? Sign me up.

If you want to bitch about the low RBI, you can, but he's had just 45 ABs with a RISP and he's hitting .311 (.516 OBP!) in them.

I can't believe this move is getting any negative reaction.

by **andrew6586** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:06 pm

skatingtripods wrote:Hilarious. The Indians give up a mediocre reliever with a 4.21 career minor league ERA and a guy who is at least 3 years out and may not even become anything and people are still going to bitch.

We got a piece that helps us. He's an upgrade over Buck, Kearns, and Carrera. We did so for $775,000 (the Dolans are cheap!!1!11!) and no real loss in terms of our prospect depth.

He's going to play CF and he's 2nd in defensive WAR. However that's calculated, he's clearly an upgrade at any OF position.

4.34 pitches per plate appearance and only 57 K's? Sign me up.

If you want to bitch about the low RBI, you can, but he's had just 45 ABs with a RISP and he's hitting .311 (.516 OBP!) in them.

I can't believe this move is getting any negative reaction.

Who did we give up? I still haven't heard anything yet.

by **skatingtripods** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:08 pm

andrew6586 wrote:Who did we give up? I still haven't heard anything yet.

Carlton Smith, 25 and in AAA.

Abner Abreu, 21 and in High-A Kinston.

by **onlyindreams** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:09 pm

I don't think he's really what we need but it looks like we didn't give up any good prospects so I'm cool with it. Maybe they think he can play CF better than Carrera/Brantley while Grady is out, which would be helpful.

by **WiscTribeFan** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:10 pm

Columbus reliever Carlton Smith and Kinston 3B Abner Abreu.

by **andrew6586** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:10 pm

skatingtripods wrote:
andrew6586 wrote:Who did we give up? I still haven't heard anything yet.

Carlton Smith, 25 and in AAA.

Abner Abreu, 21 and in High-A Kinston.

As for Smith, I've never even heard of him. I was looking forward to seeing Abreu in a few years but I guess it's ok that he goes. It would have been a roll of the dice though that he would have made it to the pros. I guess I would approve of the trade because We didn't give up our high end prospects.

by **skatingtripods** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:14 pm

Not to mention, Fukudome waived no trade rights to come here. I guess I can read in to that more than others, but it shows me that he doesn't mind/wants to play here. Probably wore out his welcome in Chicago being overpaid, but the fact that he's content with playing here is a comforting thought.

by **peeker643** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:18 pm

No issue with this at all.

No pulse quickening excitement, no lament. It brings a major league ball player for a couple guys who won't likely have the career Fukudome has had/will have.

It's a move. If it makes them better it's marginally better at best.

It does NOT make them worse nor does it cost them anything in money or prospects

by **WiscTribeFan** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:19 pm

The overall fan opinion on him here (Chicago-land) is pretty much neutral. Yeah, they wish he'd have played better during his time up here, but I don't think anyone hates on him much.

His biggest flaw, and one that concerns me a bit the rest of this season, is that he comes out of the gate flying. His first month or two in Chicago he was lights out. The fans were totally stoked with that FA signing. I believe he hit a game winning HR in his first home game.

Then the slow erosion of his stats starts. This year was the same. Starts strong, then fades. No-one knows why, probably including him.

No-one will be sad to see him leave, but no-one's going to wish him ill either.

by **e0y2e3** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:22 pm

This thread is almost as funny as the Twitter meltdown.

Poor Bastian, his first taste of how w/ Cleveland Fans only the Browns can do no wrong.

by **British_Pharaoh** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:26 pm

redneckofsc wrote:273/.374/.369

Seriously, what the fuck does this guy bring? This reminds me of when we aquired Wil Cordero in the stretch run. Why don't we just see if the Astros will trade us Jason Michaels? Or better yet, let the 100th fan through the gate play right field.

He gets on base you whiner. OK he doesn't have power but he hits for a decent AVG he has a very decent OBP and he is MUCH better than what Kearns and Buck are offering right now.

The FO did the best they could after being denied Beltran. Their pursuit of Beltran shows they genuinely wanted to improve and acquire the best trade bait out there.

It makes us better which is what we need. Abner Abreu is blatently never going to become the great prospect he was expected to be and as for the pitcher we gave up... He never had a future in Cleveland.

Great trade.

by **skatingtripods** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:26 pm

Buck DFA'd to make room for Fukudome.

by **e0y2e3** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:27 pm

Buck DFA'd

by **Lokais** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:28 pm

One thing this place is great for is getting a little perspective. Man. Sometimes when I'm angry about things I can't control, I come here and say to myself, well, at least my whole summer isn't ruined because of Kosuke Fukudome.

by **Lokais** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:37 pm

redneckofsc wrote:273/.374/.369

Seriously, what the fuck does this guy bring? This reminds me of when we aquired Wil Cordero in the stretch run. Why don't we just see if the Astros will trade us Jason Michaels? Or better yet, let the 100th fan through the gate play right field.

But yeah, I can see why you would think that slash line is the same as .228/.275/.342 or .216/.318/.313...

by **Adverb Harry** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:39 pm

I'd hate to see us mortgage the future this year for such a flawed, downward-trending team, but I'm okay with trades like these. Give up a little, get a little, and see how far we can roll the rest of the way.

by **FortheWin** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:42 pm

Indians are also still in on Ludwick

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