Breaking News: Fukudome Coming to MLB

According to Ken Rosenthal, Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome will leave Japan for the MLB. It appears that he is set to inform the Tokyo Giants that he will not accept their offer, and inform the team in the States that he will accept their offer in the next day or so. I talked to Kevin Towers on Wednesday at the Meetings and he told me that Fukudome is their primary target. As for the Cubs, I talked to Oneri Fleita who told me the Cubs plan to respect the process of Japanese baseball and would not make an offer until he made his decision. By now, I expect the Cubs have made an offer or plan to make offer in the next hour. As for the Padres, they have had Fukudome in their sights for ten years and I'm sure they will make an aggressive offer, if they haven't done so already. I consider the Padres the front-runner, despite the Cubs planning to make a serious run for him.

UPDATE: Joe Urbon denies internet rumor that Fukudome has decided to come to the United States. "He's not going to decide until Tuesday, or Monday our time," Urbon said. "If he had made that decision, you would have seen it out of Japan by now."