Outfielder

Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome and the Chicago Cubs reached a preliminary agreement yesterday on a four-year, $48 million contract. The deal is subject to a physical, according to a person familiar with the negotiations who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no announcement had been made. The agreement could be finalized as early as today. Fukudome, who is expected to play right field, was considered one of the best outfielders in Japanese baseball. He had surgery on his right elbow in August but has 192 homers and a .305 batting average over nine seasons with the Chunichi Dragons.

Hard as it might be to believe with the snow and ice accumulating outside our windows, pitchers and catchers will begin their spring toils this week in Florida and Arizona. And that means it's no longer freakish to begin preparing for your fantasy baseball drafts at the end of next month. Spring training is a time of great intrigue for fantasy obsessives. Most of us already know how we'll value the top half of the player pool, but questions surround the bottom half. Will rookie X win that starting job he deserves?

The end of the Miguel Tejada era in Baltimore is also expected to mark the beginning of Andy MacPhail's Orioles rebuilding project Two years after demanding a trade from the organization, Tejada was sent yesterday to the Houston Astros for five players - outfielder Luke Scott, third baseman Michael Costanzo and pitchers Matt Alberts, Troy Patton and Dennis Sarfate. The trade of the team's most accomplished player was MacPhail's boldest move since being hired as president of baseball operations in June.

Today's baseball lesson: Be careful when you call a team a budding juggernaut. Case in point: the Chicago White Sox. They cruised to the 2005 World Series title, and then got better. Within weeks, they re-signed first baseman Paul Konerko and traded for slugger Jim Thome and starting pitcher Javier Vazquez. It was a potential dynasty, built by take-no-prisoners general manager Ken Williams and managed deftly by Ozzie Guillen. In less than two years, it's all unraveled. Now, the White Sox are fighting to stay out of last place and might be the biggest sellers at the non-waiver trade deadline.

GUTSY MOVE Give Nationals GM Jim Bowden and club president Stan Kasten credit for not being scared. They added Dmitri Young last year after his battle with addiction and traded for talented outfielder Lastings Milledge last week despite attitude questions. But yesterday's decision to deal minor league left-hander Glenn Gibson to the Tampa Bay Rays for troubled outfielder Elijah Dukes is much riskier. Dukes has had myriad legal run-ins and has demonstrated serious anger issues. If there's a change of heart in Dukes, it might be because of the Nationals' impressive manager, Manny Acta, who has shown a deft hand in handling all types of personalities.

Rather than take a plan into tomorrow's amateur draft, the Orioles are bringing something more closely resembling a philosophy.Pitcher or position player? Left-hander or right? High school or college? To scouting director Tony DeMacio, there's no clear preference."We'll just take the best players available," said DeMacio, who was hired Dec. 4 after spending the past four years as the Chicago Cubs' East Coast scouting supervisor."We have not been told anything other than that, and we're approaching the draft to line up our board and take the best players available."

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- As the Orioles prepare for today's first intrasquad game, manager Ray Miller continues to keep close tabs on Chris Hoiles, whose running has been labored as he deals with a chronically sore hip that won't allow him to catch. Hoiles will serve as the designated hitter today, a role he would fill part-time along with some duty at first base if he makes the club.Yesterday's workout included base-running drills. Asked about Hoiles afterward, Miller said, "He's obviously laboring a little bit. We'll just have to see if it gets better.

Quote: "People can call us a surprise, but this is a totally different team than last year." -- Outfielder Luis Gonzalez of the Diamondbacks, who have matched last year's win total of 65It's a fact: The Astros' Jeff Bagwell walked twice and leads the NL with 102.Who's hot: The Cardinals' Thomas Howard was 3-for-3 last night and is 6-for-6 in the series against the Phillies.Who's not: The Cubs have lost four straight and 15 of 19.On deck: Mets outfielder Bobby Bonilla, on the disabled list since July 4 because of an injured left knee, will begin a minor-league rehab assignment on Aug. 26.

Public schoolsFrancis Scott Key Eagles1998 record: 6-10Coach: Joe LinthicumTop players: Misti Myers, Jr., P; Meredith Carter, So., P; Megan Tracey, Sr., C; Cindi Stem, Sr., SS; Jordan Torbeck, Sr., 2B; Stephanie Robertson, Sr., 1B; Casey Henry, Jr., OF.Outlook: Pitching looks to be the team's strength, with right-handers Myers and Carter splitting the duties. Each should benefit from a strong defense. The key will be scoring, something the Eagles didn't do often a year ago. Cleanup hitter Tracey hits for average, and the junior-dominated team has above-average quickness.

CHICAGO -- Hobbled Orioles center fielder Brady Anderson successfully lobbied manager Ray Miller to include him in last night's lineup despite a frayed right patella tendon that caused the club to contemplate putting him on the disabled list on Tuesday.The start was Anderson's first since being injured Aug. 20 and was admittedly influenced by the club's fading hopes for overtaking the Boston Red Sox in the wild-card chase. He was 0-for-2 with two walks and a run scored."I guess I realized where we are in the standings," Anderson said.

NEW YORK - -With the bases loaded and one out in the second inning, Orioles leadoff man Brian Roberts' goal was to drive A.J. Burnett's two-seam fastball into the outfield and drive in a run. His past experiences against the New York Yankees right-hander told Roberts to keep his expectations low. "He's struck me out on that [pitch] many times," said Roberts, who entered the at-bat with 10 hits against Burnett in 39 at-bats (.256). "It was one of those where you kind of swing and you don't even realize what happened."

Jeff Fiorentino's last big league hit wasn't even on this continent. It came March 26, 2008, when the outfielder was with the Oakland Athletics and they played the Boston Red Sox in a season-opening series in Japan. That was his last game in the majors until this month, when he was recalled by the Orioles, his original franchise, who claimed him off waivers from the A's last June. On Sunday, Fiorentino made his first big league start since Sept. 30, 2006 - during his first stint with the Orioles - and he made the most of it. He hit two RBI singles, walked once and scored two runs as the Orioles beat the Texas Rangers, 7-0. "I think every at-bat I came up there today, I had somebody on base," Fiorentino said.

Baseball Two autograph sessions with ex-Orioles next week Four players from the Orioles' 1989 "Why Not?" team - catcher Mickey Tettleton, outfielder Mike Devereaux and pitchers Dave Schmidt and Dave Johnson - will sign autographs next Friday from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the MASN booth near Gate A on Eutaw Street at Camden Yards. Tettleton and Devereaux will throw out ceremonial first pitches. Former infielder-outfielder Dick Williams, who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager in 2008, will be among the signers at the Orioles Alumni Autograph Series before the game against the Oakland Athletics on Monday.

When he hit a home run against Hudson Valley in his second plate appearance, Aberdeen IronBirds center fielder Steve Bumbry appeared to be adapting quickly to professional baseball. "Up there, I actually felt really relaxed and comfortable at the plate," Bumbry said. "I tried to see a good pitch. ... Luckily, he got one down in the zone and I put a good swing on it." The 5-foot-11, 185-pound outfielder soon found out, however, that the road from short-season Single-A to the major leagues would also include some setbacks.

WASHINGTON - -Orioles outfielder Lou Montanez is expected to undergo surgery next week to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb, an injury that could keep him out for a good part of the season. Montanez, who hurt his thumb making a diving catch in Toronto three weeks ago, will likely remain on the active 25-man roster and not go on the disabled list until Tuesday, when the Orioles need to add a starting pitcher to replace the released Adam Eaton. The Orioles also could decide to keep him on the roster until Luke Scott is ready to come off the disabled list, which could be in about four or five days.

Former President George W. Bush wound up his right arm with two windmill whirls, then fired a high strike to help the Texas Rangers start the season Monday. In his first big appearance locally since moving to Dallas from the White House, Bush received a standing ovation and overwhelming cheers from a crowd of about 40,000 after the public address announcer said, "We welcome home the 43rd president." Bush was the team's managing general partner from 1989 until he was elected governor of Texas in 1994.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - When Luke Scott came to spring training camp this week to prepare for his second season with the Orioles, he came to play left field. Where he actually ends up in the Orioles' lineup on Opening Day might be another matter, but he wants to be clear about his intentions. The team appears likely to move him into a regular designated hitter role, but Scott is still projecting himself as a regular outfielder. "Absolutely, I don't see any reason not to ... any reason why I shouldn't," he said.

Angels' E. Santana agrees to 4-year, $30 million deal baseball Right-hander Ervin Santana and the Los Angeles Angels agreed to a four-year, $30 million contract yesterday, a day after their scheduled arbitration hearing was postponed. Santana's deal includes a $13 million club option for 2013 with a $1 million buyout. The 26-year-old is the youngest active major league pitcher with at least 50 wins. He rebounded from a sub-par season in 2007 to go 16-7 with a 3.49 ERA for the American League West champion Angels last year, striking out a career-high 214 in 219 innings with only 47 walks.

Selig says A. Rodriguez 'shamed the game' baseball Bud Selig said New York Yankees star third baseman Alex Rodriguez has "shamed the game," though the baseball commissioner indicated no plans to punish the three-time American League Most Valuable Player. "I am saddened by the revelations," Selig said in a statement issued yesterday, four days after Rodriguez admitted he used unspecified drugs from 2001 to 2003 while playing for the Texas Rangers. Players and owners didn't agree to a joint drug program until August 2002, and testing with punishment didn't start until 2004.

If you're an Orioles fan - and I know you're out there somewhere - you're probably thinking the same thing I'm thinking right now. Who kidnapped the conservative, methodical, one-step-at-a-time Orioles president of baseball operations and replaced him with the nonstop Andy MacPhail who is making me wonder whether they ought to implement amphetamine testing for baseball front-office employees? There have been a couple of times this month when I haven't even finished sizing up one Orioles move before Baltimore Sun baseball beat writer Jeff Zrebiec or Dan Connolly is breaking the news on another (and ESPN is rushing to take credit for it)