Indians Acquire Kosuke Fukudome

The Tribe sends RHP Carlton Smith and OF Abner Abreu to the Cubs.  Everything is official now.  Smith has lingered at AAA for the past two seasons, producing a brilliant start to the 2011 campaign then regressing back to mediocrity (at best).  It would have taken a slew of injuries for him to ever see the bigs with the Indians.  Abreu was ranked in the organizational top 10 prospects in 2009, coming off of an .839 OPS season with Lake County.  The multi-tooled outfielder has done little since, striking out 232 times over the past two seasons at Kinston.  He had been on a tear recently (.352, 8 HR, 17 RBI in July) and is the reigning Carolina League player of the week.  Abner needs a ton of work to even be considered big league worthy, but he is still just 21.  This is a bargain price to pay for a player that can certainly help the team contend and can be counted with only a select few of his new teammates as a "true" big leaguer. 

The Indians will pay just $775k of the $4.83mil remaining on Fukudome's $13.5mil salary for 2011.  The 34-year old outfielder will waive his no-trade clause in exchange for as yet undetermined "perks."  His contract includes an odd clause that the controlling team must sign him to an extension by 11.14.11 or release him into the free agent pool.

One would expect Kosuke to play his natural RF until Shin-Soo Choo returns.  Ezequiel Carrera moves to the bench, with Michael Brantley moving back to center and the platoon switching to left.  The odd man out is Travis Buck, who has been DFA'ed to create space for Fukudome on both the 40 and 25-man rosters.  What a shame.  After his monster spring, I honestly expected Buck to be of great help.

Cheers.