Report: Chicago Cubs sign Fukudome

Chicago, -- The Chicago Cubs have signed star Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome to a four-year contract worth an estimated $50 million, The Chicago Tribune reported.

Terms of the deal were expected to be announced Wednesday by Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry, the newspaper said. Fukudome, a 30-year-old right-fielder with Japan's Chunichi Dragons, had been sought by the Cubs and other Major League Baseball teams, including the San Diego Padres and Chicago White Sox, despite suffering a season-ending elbow injury in August. He had surgery and missed the final two months of the Dragons' championship season.

The Tribune said Fukudome gives the Cubs their first right-fielder with a left-handed bat with power since the Sammy Sosa era. Fukudome could play either right or center and help the Cubs contend for their first World Series championship in a century.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.