More on Milton and Fukudome, too

Hey, didn't we just do this?

All during Thursday's press conference to introduce Milton Bradley, Cubs GM Jim Hendry kept referring to him as the Cubs' "right fielder." It was only about 13 months ago that Hendry introduced Kosuke Fukudome as the Cubs "right fielder" for the next four years. Fukudome made the all-star team on the strength of a good April and May, but a poor rest of the season forced Hendry to look for another right fielder, despite shelling out $48 million for Fukudome, who looks now to be a platoon partner in center fielder with Reed Johnson and perhaps a late-inning defensive replacement in right.

Late in Thursday's feel-good fest, I asked Hendry about Fukudome.

"We all feel that Fuke's going to come back and be more like the first-half guy than the poor-second-half guy," Hendry said. "I hope he really enjoys playing next to Milton. He'll get a chance to do that. He's an outstanding defender. We feel great about our outfield. Reed Johnson can play all three spots. Fuke can play all three spots. Milton can play anywhere out there. Joey Gathright adds a ton of speed for us. We've got a lot of positives out there. I do feel that Fuke's going to come back and be solid. I think we're going to benefit from that."

Afterward, Hendry reiterated that he told Fukudome after the season that the Cubs would be bringing in another left-handed bat to play the outfield. Bradley is a switch hitter, and he's here largely because Fukudome was a failure in the second half.

"I told Fukudome at the end of the season we were certainly optimistic he'd come back," Hendry said. "He's a proud guy, like we've talked about. I'm a big believer that he'll be better the second year. I did tell him that we certainly weren't giving up on him but...there was going to be another good player when he came to spring training. We'd have another good player in the outfield. He understood that. I said, 'Look, you might be playing right. You might be playing center. You might be competing for a job. That'll be determined by who we get.' I said, 'I'm going to be honest with you. We have to get one more good player out there that hits from the left side.'"

Although Bradley admitted he didn't have much use for the media, based apparently on them playing up his emotional blowups, I found him to be quite pleasant and direct. When I asked a question, he looked me directly in the eye.

For those of you who like stats, I asked him what kind of hitter he is, citing his high OBP and OPS numbers.

"My focus at the plate is just try to get on base," he said. "A lot of people say they try to get a hit. I'm just trying to get on base. I'm going to make the pitcher throw me three strikes. If I get the first one and it's a good one and that's what I want and I'm looking for it, then I'll hit that one. For the most part, I'm going to make the pitcher work. I want to get a good strike to hit. If I swing at strikes, I'm going to be successful."

Bradley did not shy away from sensitive subjects. When a colleague of mine asked about some black players having a tough time with some Wrigley Field fans, Bradley (who is black) did not duck the question.

"That's been discussed," he said. "You go out there and play well and everybody loves you and they're your fans. I don't see that as being a concern with me."

As we reported yesterday, Bradley will wear No. 21, made famous by Sammy Sosa. No. 21 was worn by Jason Marquis the last two years.

"It's a number they first gave me in rookie ball," he said. "I just kind of stuck with it. You can't wear 42 anymore (it's retired in honor of Jackie Robinson). I always said that 21 is half of 42. If I can be half the player, half of the person, Jackie Robinson was, I'll be a success. That's my motto."