No other teams claimed him off waivers and the White Sox couldn’t find a taker via trade, so they released Kosuke Fukudome today after designating him for assignment last week.
Fukudome played sparingly and poorly after signing a one-year, $1 million deal as a free agent and was on the disabled list with a back injury when the White Sox decided to cut him loose.
He failed to live up to expectations after leaving Japan to sign a four-year, $48 million contract with the Cubs in December of 2007, but Fukudome has a .359 career on-base percentage and can be plenty useful if platooned versus right-handed pitching.
