Don't Fukudome Like That

Uh oh. Chicago's most famous foreign import since Balki Bartokomous may be facing a little job insecurity. He's been ice cold at the plate, with all relevant numbers plummeting since June. But benching him for Reed Johnson? Oh, Cousin Louie, DON'T BE RIDICULOUS!

"If Lou decides to put me on the bench, that's where I'll be," Fukudome said through an interpreter. "I'm not going to start hitting just because he said something like that. I'll just follow whatever he tells me to do."

Piniella said he doesn't dole out playing time based on salary, which is good news for Reed Johnson, who is making $1.3 million this year, and Mike Fontenot, who is making $405,000, and not so good news for Fukudome ($7 million). Ronny Cedeno deserves to play more too.

"I'm going to put the best lineups that I can out there to win baseball games, period," Piniella said.

In limited playing time, Johnson has shown flashes of his 2006 form, aka his only really good pro season. Granted, the Blue Jays haven't made the best personnel decisions over the past few months, but Johnson was dropped in favor of Shannon Stewart. At least Fontenot has slugged .531 in limited playing time this year.

But, as Rick Morrissey mentions in that column, Fukudome is playing the best right field the Cubs have seen in a long time and more importantly, the Cubs are still winning. It seems like Lou has the luxury of letting Fukudome work things out, a development that would reap much greater rewards than plugging in Johnson or Fontenot.

Keep Fukudome in the lineup. He'll do The Dance Of Joy.