Here’s some of the fallout surrounding Dexter Fowler’s surprising return to the Cubs, especially as it pertains to his would-be new team in Baltimore…
- The White Sox offered Fowler a two-year contract worth more than $17MM, CBS Chicago’s Bruce Levine reports. The offer was for a set two years and didn’t include an opt-out clause or a mutual option after the first season. Fowler’s deal with the Cubs guarantees him $8MM in 2016, and then he and the team can either both enact a $9MM mutual option for 2017 or the Cubs can buy Fowler out for $5MM. It’s clear that Fowler and agent Casey Close were focused on flexibility after the 2016 season, as the Orioles’ refusal to include an opt-out clause is what caused the breakdown in talks between the two sides. The Sox have been known to be interested in Fowler and others this winter as they continue to look for corner outfield help, though the club hasn’t yet done much in the way of major moves to address left or right field. Melky Cabrera and Avisail Garcia are still on hand as the incumbent starters, though both had sub-replacement level seasons in 2015. Signing Fowler would’ve represented a major upgrade for the Pale Hose yet also cost the team the 27th overall pick in the draft since Fowler was a qualifying offer free agent. The top White Sox pick (the 10th overall selection) was protected, with the later first-round selection given to the team as compensation for Jeff Samardzija signing with the Giants.
- With Fowler no longer an option, the Orioles are likely to pursue another corner outfielder, MLB.com’s Brittany Ghiroli writes. Manager Buck Showalter is satisfied with his internal options, which include the likes of Mark Trumbo (who will probably see lot of DH time), Nolan Reimold, Henry Urrutia, Dariel Alvarez and Rule 5 draft pick Joey Rickard on the 40-man roster. Urrutia is the only left-handed hitter of the bunch, so one of the righty-swingers will be used to complement new addition Hyun-soo Kim in left field. Ghiroli cites Jay Bruce, Austin Jackson or Pedro Alvarez as possible targets for the Orioles, with Alvarez joining the club as a DH and Trumbo then getting most of his playing time in right. With so many right-handed hitting outfielders already in the mix, left-handed hitting free agents like David Murphy, Grady Sizemore or David DeJesus also make sense as speculative fits.
- One of the many unusual aspects of the Fowler/Orioles drama was that Adam Jones seemingly had verbal confirmation from Fowler that the outfielder was indeed joining the team. Jones addressed that situation with reporters (including Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun), saying he was surprised to learn Fowler wasn’t signing with the O’s but there was no issue between he and Fowler. “At the end of the day, he’s happy where he’s at. His family is happy in Chicago, so good for him,” Jones said. He also expressed that this gives an opportunity to the Orioles’ other outfielders, and noted that the O’s could pursue midseason upgrades with the money they saved on Fowler’s contract.
If the plan was to go back into free agency next year, then why didn’t he take the QO from the Cubs to begin with. I’m sorry, but there’s a stench emanating from the Fowler/Case camp. There was clearly an agreement in place. He’s texting Jones about coming to Baltimore, and telling Rizzo that he’s leaving Chicago. Then his idiot agent has the temerity to rip the Orioles for saying they had an agreement? Close figures if he stomps his feet and whines about the Orioles everyone will forget that he cost his client millions of dollars this offseason. Perhaps I can hire Close to negotiate my salary down by 20%, then blame my employer.
The Cubs were the only team with the ability to offer a one year option and not have to think about losing a pick, so it also makes sense that the Cubs were able to give Fowler what he wanted. I think the Sox have too much rebuilding to do to lose a pick on a 1 year gamble that Fowler was the final piece to make the playoffs and even go further.
Ditto for the Orioles. For a team that needs to hold on to their draft picks—unless you’re truly getting a stud, which Fowler was not—that opt-out clause Fowler and his agents wanted was a deal breaker. No way they were going to risk losing that pick for possibly only one year of commitment.
There was a good article on fangraphs.com yesterday about the problem of qualifying offers with players like Fowler. A lot of interesting suggestions in the comments section too. Why do players like Fowler get the same QO as the superstars? And they only get a week to try and determine what the market might be for their services. The system definitely needs some tweaks.
Fowler is a good example of the limits of the QO. He’s not a star–merely a player someone might be willing to risk overpaying for one year to get back a draft pick.. The system fails for him, as it does for a player in his mid-thirties who has one last chance at getting a decent multi-year contract,
They should have the QO guarantee 3 years using the current formula. It would make it much more reasonable to accept the offer since there would be some guaranteed stability as well.
I hate it when this argument comes up. The Cubs gave up a pick to sign Fowler every bit as much as any other team would have — unless you honestly believe he would have gone unsigned all the way to the draft.
Not really IMO, the Cubs offered a QO to Fowler, which means he could have taken it back then (and probably should have based on what he is getting now), and ‘cost them a pick’ one can argue that the Cubs are far better off with their minor league system than the Sox are, at least that is all I hear about in Chicago. (not sure about the O’s). Finally the Sox got a comp pick already but would have lost it, the Cubs had no pick to ‘give up’
That just is not true as the Cubs gave him the offer
Yeah thats a good point but it feels like the Sox just half a$$ed they’re way through this offseason. Kinda trying with Lawrie, piqueing fan’s interest with the Frazier trade, then missing out on seemingly everyone has been really odd to follow. Just seems to be a representation of their past ten years, trying but never separating from the rest of the pack.
Not sold on Lawrie at 2nd, was not sold much on him being at third either..It makes you wonder if the Sox did not know they were going to get Frazier so they first got Lawrie for third, then thought we can move him to second, but he glove is a bit suspect to me as well (not really good to give up runs with the glove, not matter how many he drives in in a game). The problem is mixed messages, if the Sox are really ‘going for it’ then they should have done whatever it took to get Cespedes. He would have been a boon to the fan base (ticket sales) the line up , and improvement in the OF, AND would not have cost the Sox their comp pick.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Austin Jackson in an O’s uniform next year.
Reimhold is done. He’s been a “prospect” for 11 years…..sorry, next! The Orioles wont trade for Jay Bruce because all he offers is maybe some power and his hitting generally over the past 2 years does not inspire confidence and anyway that would leave Trumbo in the outfield most of the time with Bruce DHing…why bother? I like Henry Urrutia . He OBP was climbing end of 2015 when he was called back up. If he can learn to take more walks and keep the OBP up, he has 15-16 HR pop. Loss of 20 SB bases not such a big deal on a team constructed around 5 or 6 home run hitters. If he starts to come on in spring training I would stay with him and keep the 35 mil not spent of Fowler for a later season acquisition or use it for more pitching help now. Austin Jackson would be a good pickup if the terms are right.
Please don’t ever say “Pale Hose” again.
The QO has to change. Look someone like Hayward gets a QO he be stupid to take it. Most top stars wouldn’t. Now if there was some adjustment for people like Hayward or top tier player it be different. Hayward or Zimmerman or Umpton are not taking 15.8 million. Their value to high. This really goes two ways. Fowler over looked the market. Not that he’s not worth more, but between all the OF out there and teams like Rockies n Reds dumping players it was too flooded for this year. The QO just protects the Cubs. Yes when you look at it that way he probably would have taken it if he knew now what he should have known then. Really this was the perfect storm for the Cubs. They knew it. Seems everything has gone right so far for the Cubs. Now we just need to have a great season – post season n win a title. That be a story book ending.
What I wonder is had Flower taken the QO would Cubs have still signed Hayward?