Cubs try to make right move in how best to use Fukudome

By this point, Kosuke Fukudome is what he is, and the Cubs have to work with it for the next two years.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, unless of course you're not taking into account the $26.5 million in salary the Cubs owe their right fielder over the next two years.

The Cubs signed Fukudome with much ballyhoo after the 2007 season, and even some of their own people were talking of him in terms of something of a hybrid between Hideki Matsui and Ichiro Suzuki, two highly successful hitters out of Japan.

It hasn't quite worked out that way, not by a long shot. Fukudome has been a serviceable player who shows flashes of star potential, but nowhere near what the Cubs thought they were getting when they signed him to a four-year, $48 million contract.

That said, there's still a lot of good to Fukudome's game.

"Now 33 and entering his third season in the States, his on-base skills give him value at the top of the order, but Fukudome isn't going to develop a corner outfielder's power," the authors of Baseball Prospectus write in this year's book. "While the $26.5 million owed to Fukudome for the next two seasons isn't the worst contract on the Cubs' books, it's certainly not a cause for celebration."

Here are the ins and outs of the Cubs getting the most out of Fukudome.

Keep it right: The left-handed-hitting Fukudome had just 9 hits in 55 at-bats (.164) against left-handed pitching last year while batting .270 (120-for-444) with 10 of his 11 homers against righties.

The Cubs signed Xavier Nady this off-season, in part to play right field against left-handed pitchers. Nady's elbow may limit his time in the field early.

Keep him in right: Fukudome is a right fielder who had to play center last season because of the signing of Milton Bradley.

The Cubs and Fukudome both are glad he's moving back to right this year.

A defensive metric called ultimate zone rating (UZR), which determines how many runs above average a fielder saves his team, shows Fukudome to be a plus 17.9 in right field and a minus 20.3 in center.

Stick with the approach: The one big positive in Fukudome's game is his on-base percentage, which stems from a disciplined approach at the plate. Last season, he batted .259, but had an OBP of .375 to go along with a slugging percentage of .421.

In 2008, his hitting line was .257/.359/.379.

According to fangraphs.com, Fukudome swung at only 17.8 pitches outside of the strike zone, well below the major-league average of 25.4 percent. He made contact with 89 percent of pitches inside the zone.

Fukudome hit 38 doubles last year, up from 25 the year before. That may have come from hitting about 5 percent more line drives than he did in the previous year.

Although Fukudome "lost" whatever battle there was with Ryan Theriot this spring to be the leadoff hitter, he has done well there, and manager Lou Piniella can give him occasional starts in the No. 1 spot.

Fukudome had a .404 OBP as the No. 1 hitter in the order last year. When he led off an inning, he had 19 walks and a .401 OBP.

Avoid the June swoon: Fukudome's 2008 slide, from which he never recovered, began in June of that year, when he batted .264 after putting up averages of .327 and .293 in April and May, respectively. Last season, Fukudome batted .169 in June before recovering to .307 in July.

His batting coach from Japan is in Mesa, and he may be back during the season. He might want to book a flight for June 1.

<p class="factboxtext12col"><b>Where we rank the top right fielders</b></p>

<p class="factboxtext12col">1. Justin Upton, Diamondbacks</p>

<p class="factboxtext12col">2. Brad Hawpe, Rockies</p>

<p class="factboxtext12col">3. Jayson Werth, Phillies</p>

<p class="factboxtext12col">7. KOSUKE FUKUDOME, CUBS</p>