The Giants, Cardinals and Blue Jays are all believed to be interested in free agent outfielder Dexter Fowler, per Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports, who hears that Fowler’s camp is of the mind that they can land a multi-year deal that will pay the switch-hitter $18MM on an annual basis (Twitter link).
[Related: Dexter Fowler’s Free Agent Profile]
Any of the three listed clubs make perfect sense as a landing spot for Fowler. The Giants saw Angel Pagan hit free agency and have somewhat of a vacancy in left field. Beyond that, they could see a significant amount of money come off the books following the 2017 season. Matt Cain’s ill-fated contract extension will come to a close at the end of next year’s campaign, and if he repeats the form he displayed in 2016, Johnny Cueto figures to opt out of the remaining four years and $88MM on his contract. Infielder Eduardo Nunez, too, will be a free agent at season’s end.
As for the Cardinals, they’ve been linked to Fowler for most of the offseason due to the potential void they face in the outfield. Signing Fowler would allow Randal Grichuk and Stephen Piscotty to flank Fowler in the outfield. While many are quick to point out that Fowler isn’t necessarily a defensive upgrade over Grichuk in center — improved glovework is said to be a priority for GM John Mozeliak — an outfield alignment of Grichuk, Fowler and Piscotty would be superior to last year’s mix of Matt Holliday, Brandon Moss, Grichuk and Piscotty.
As for the Blue Jays, they’ve previously been linked to Fowler on more than one occasion but also represent an easy on-paper fit. Toronto’s primary corner outfielders from the 2016 season, Jose Bautista and Michael Saunders, are both free agents. Fowler would represent a defensive upgrade while providing the Jays with lineup balance and speed — two elements that GM Ross Atkins has gone on record to call desirable this offseason (when speaking generally and not specifically of Fowler). Signing in Toronto would surely require Fowler to shift to an outfield corner, as Kevin Pillar is arguably the game’s best defensive player, but Fowler’s reported talks with the Orioles last offseason potentially signaled a willingness to do just that. His openness to an outfield corner this winter hasn’t been stated to this point, but he’d certainly widen his market if he were comfortable shifting off of center field.
An $18MM average annual value represents a lofty goal for Fowler, who one year ago languished in free agency for nearly the entire offseason as teams were reluctant to part with a draft pick in order to sign him. Multiple reports indicated that he agreed to a three-year deal with the Orioles in February, but that deal was either never agreed to or never finalized, as Fowler wound up back with the Cubs on a more modest one-year deal worth $13MM. The decision represented a show of faith in Fowler’s talent and somewhat of a gamble from both the player and his agents at Excel Sports, but Fowler’s terrific 2016 season made the decision look wise; in 551 plate appearances with the Cubs, Fowler batted .276/.393/.447 with 13 homers and 13 stolen bases in addition to vastly better defensive and baserunning contributions.
It’s also worth noting that an $18MM annual value can mean a variety of different things, as contract length is often a larger deterrent than AAV for teams when signing players to a long-term pact. An $18MM AAV over five years would represent a massive commitment to Fowler and seems decidedly unlikely, but an $18MM AAV over a four-year term would line Fowler up for the same payday that Alex Gordon scored from the Royals last winter. That outcome seems more plausible, depending on the level of interest in Fowler, but the market for his services does seem to be more robust this year than last.
It’s probably fair to rule out the Cubs as a candidate to make a big splash for Fowler given their signing of Jon Jay and the glut of outfielders up and down the rest of their roster, but plenty of other teams make sense. In addition to the three listed by Heyman, the Mariners, Rangers, Phillies, Dodgers, Nationals, Indians and Orioles (if that bridge isn’t burned) are all logical suitors, though that list is speculative on my behalf.
Would be out of character for the Cardinals.
Would be a huge mistake for the Cards.
Agreed, but what is funny is it seems like it would be less of a mistake than if they had signed Heyward.
A great break for STL Hayward picked the Cubs. Same for Pujols picking LA over the Birds. Sometimes, the deals you DON’T make are the best.
You could make an argument with Pujols though. He is still clearly producing and would he really have buckled the team had he took the 10 year 195M contract? Not at all. Also Cards fans would have got to see him reach historic milestones and not to mention the comfort level he had and would have continued to have in STL. That possibly would make him even more productive. He would have gone down as the all time greatest Cardinal in history. To me its a lose on both sides however the lose heavily favors Pujols leaving STL.
The problem becomes lack of a dh in the nl he’s worth it even if he was doing what he’s doing now for that franchise more so but could he even do that with the lack of a dh?
Oh, Albert is still producing. He’s not a complete bust. But he’s also not giving LA the numbers he gave STL. He’s become another Adam Dunn. I don’t think that’s worth the money he’s getting. Whether he would be producing better numbers in STL is something we can’t know. He would have been thought of in Musial terms had he stayed there but he took the money. I cant’ blame him, either. It was significantly more than the Redbirds were offering. But it sure hasn’t helped the Angels.
He probably wouldn’t have stayed healthy given his foot issues and that’s dhing alot that’s the biggest problem. The contract that st Louis offered wouldn’t have been that bad with the fact he’d have been the musial to the team but that foot problem is the issue 10 years with that they wouldn’t have been happy with that.
and that’s the reason you don’t give a ten year contract to an older player. i’m sure STL wanted him to finish his career with the Redbirds and be considered with Stan. But business is business and Albert decided to take the money and run to the coast.
Agreed, mistake!
Yup. Exactly. This isn’t their strategy at all
He would help this team more than Heyward did, due to his ability to play CF and bat lead-off, which the Cardinals offense needs if they plan to push Carpenter back down in the batting order.
However, signing Fowler would not only cost $60 to $80 million, but it would also cost them a draft pick.
It’s the latter that makes me think Mo won’t pull the trigger on Fowler.
draft picks are overrated. if the guy can produce now and get your team to the playoffs, it’s WORTH a #1 draft pick. the question is this: is Fowler worth a 4-5 year deal? He’s not a bad player but he’s hardly a great player, either. Ask the Rangers if they would do that Sin-Soo Choo deal again? A 31 year old FA outfielder,, mediocre average, good OBP who would steak 10-20 bases a year and hit 15HR’ and play decent defense.
U may think they’re overrated but teams don’t that’s the biggest reason fowler is a free agent again his market sucked last year. The sin soo choo thing I think they’d take it back given the length of the deal and the fact he’s started to get hurt last year the steals in Texas also went down probably given the age thing.
Heyward, Lackey, and Jay on the Cubs? The Cardinals HAVE to sign Fowler for that reason alone.
I don’t understand why? Heyward is flat out not good at anything except defense, John Jay isn’t even average, and I don’t get how Lackey fits into this. I’m assuming it’s because they were all Cardinals previously?
In regards to Fowler, anyone who gives him anything remotely close to $18m/year will regret that as fast as the Cubs did giving Heyward an absurd contract for never even being a star player (except in the media). Fowler had a decent year but his career numbers are nothing impressive at all. Career .268 hitter who has a little pop in his bat, a little speed, and that’s about it.
You either do not know how evaluate players properly or you do not know what players of Fowler’s caliber are worth today. “Had a decent year”. No he had a fantastic season.. 129 wRC+, superb defense, and baserunning 4.7 fWAR.
“Career .268 hitter” . Batting average treats all hits equally and does not count walks so it’s not something you should look at really. Fowler has NEVER had an OBP lower than .345. He has excellent discipline, walks a ton. .366 career OBP.
18MM is around a 3 win player. He can easily be that.
You have to understand half the people around here have no idea about the game. Anybody using average as a barometer should never ever talk baseball again. He’s always had a very good OBP and although just a slight upgrade over Grichuk in Center that outfield overall would be very good defensively with Piscotty in Right. Also he’s a switch hitter which is big. I’ll definitely take him!
Stop with the War and sabermetrics talk. Not worth 18 per year. Plain and simple.
Did we just become best friends??? YEP!
I know, how dare anyone give stats that go against your opinion!!!
I’m new here- Is that better or worse than cherry picking stats and then insulting people?
Yah, well that .268 hitter has a career .366 OBP, which is VERY good. Add that to a .422 SLG, and you have a career OPS of .788 from CF. That’s excellent for a CF. Even if he has to move to a corner spot, that’s still solid. He’s a much better hitter than you’re giving him credit for.
Also, like eviola1 mentioned, last year was far from “decent.” An .840 OPS from CF is pretty ridiculous. Heck, it’s impressive from any position. Just to put that into perspective, the only CF’s with a better OPS last year were Trout, Blackmon, and Cespedes…
That being said, his defense was solid, definitely not “superb.” Not sure where you’re getting that from.
One bad year doesn’t make him suddenly an awful player.
I doubt Fowler would go to San Fran. They have zero offense. He’d be the 3rd best hitter on the team Maybe the 2nd best. Crawford and Posey. Being slightly better. I guess belt but they have zero pitching besides bumgarner. Why go to a bad situation. I can’t see him Being a canuck. I think he goes home to Denver or hell maybe even Atlanta. They need a CF anyway. Incerate or whatever his name is can move to left. I think he wants to stay close to his offseaon home in las vegas
Me thinks you’re forgetting about this guy named Johnny Cueto…
Denver? Why on earth would he go BACK to Colorado (where they have zero room for another outfield bat; especially one of the left handed variety)? Zero pitching behind Bumgarner? Do tell.. who started the All Star game for the National League last year? Seems to me like you have no idea what you’re talking about.
Um, the Braves don’t need a CF. Inciarte is one of the best defensive CF. No way they would move him to LF.
“Why go to a bad situation” and proceeds to list two teams that are currently worse than the Giants (granted, the Braves have a bright future ahead). And if he wants to stay close to his offseason home in Vegas, wouldn’t San Francisco make more sense then Atlanta? You’re talking West Coast and East Coast here.
Pretty sure Inciarte (sp?) just won a gold glove and while Fowler isn’t a bad defender he was nowhere close to a gold glove player. Don’t think Inciarte moves anywhere for Fowler defensively
The Giants have zero pitching?? What planet are you living on?
Astrosfan4life, you are severely underestimating Fowler’s value as a lead off hitter. He may not be worth $18MM per year, but he never has bad at-bats. He gets on base at a high rate, and rarely strikes out. Add to that a little power and speed, plus above average baserunning. Guys like that are hard to find, and they’re absolutely essential to have on a quality team.
As a lead off hitter he is a good option, I have not denied that. I’m saying that $18m is way too much for someone who is not a superstar. Baseball contracts are getting ridiculous and players are being treated/paid like superstars, when they are closer in status to average (overall, not adjusted for position etc).
While he is a great addition to most teams, AT THE RIGHT PRICE, you are completely wrong about him rarely striking out. The guy strikes out over 110 times per year on average. That’s not “rarely” at all.
So you are acknowledging that the average player is getting paid more (like superstars), than they used to. Now, all you have to do is put Fowler into that current frame of reference. It seems like you object to any players making more than the nostalgic players of your childhood, more than you object to what Fowler may actually receive. Do you object to the owners making more money, today, also?
I contest this. Three years ago Ellsbury signed for $151m or so, Choo for like $132m. This year Cespedes signed for $110m.
And yeah Heyward but he’s an outlier due to extremely you age.
If you watched every game Fowler played with the Cubs you’d understand. Best CF/lead off hitters the Cubs have had in over 30 years
Disagree. Kenny Lofton was the best leadoff hitter the Cubs have had, EVER. 2003 buddy
A 2 month rental will go down as your best CF ?
For his career he was better. Not the Cubs best
Completely agree, DJ. Most of these “he’s not that good” comments are from amateurs, or people that didn’t consistently watch the Cubs.
Fowler is one of the best leadoff hitters in the game. If you’re judging him off of average (which, by the way, is pretty good), speed (which he definitely has), and defense (which he was solid at), alone, then you don’t know how to evaluate talent.
Fowler is one of the most disciplined guys at the plate, rarely swings at any bad pitches, hits from both sides of the plate, takes plenty of walks, knows how to get on base at all costs, does all the little things right, and was one of the MAIN reasons the Cubs won the WS. Look at their record with him out of the lineup. They were roughly 9 games under .500.
Sorry thats a dumb reason to sign a player..
Personally I like the idea of him going there i think the first 2 years or so it’ll be worth it . Having said that buyer beware speed guys tend to fall hard and fast like Bourne Crawford etc. But he does fit a position of need and make them better without mortgaging the future and even on a four year deal not a crippling contract.
Agreed and who’s to say that there’s a better option on the trade market? Lbvs
I’m a real baseball player who understands the game, not a “modern fan” who throws around random and arbitrary stats like fWAR and wRC+, both of which are subjective statistics. Fowler had good defense, not superb, but I will admit that his year in 2016 was pretty good (earlier I said decent); but definitely not fantastic.
He averages less than 70 BBs per year and over 110 Ks per year, so how can you claim he has excellent plate discipline and he “walks a ton?”
Ultimately, I do understand how grossly overpaid players are today and that was my entire original point. Someone will pay big money for a guy who is nothing more than a fairly good player, and they will regret it less than halfway into the contract. That’s baseball though.
Ya wRC+ and WAR aren’t subjective. They’re objective. Saying “I’m real who understands the game” is subjective.
Citing totals isn’t good. Cite rates. He has a career 12.6% walk rate. That’s very good for an OFer. He does strikeout, but he does everything else very well that it doesn’t hurt his value.
Again, 18M isn’t an overpay. That’s about right for a player of his caliber which is very good defender, very good at not getting out, can play premium position, is only 30 years old, draft pick attached.
Fowler has never been a “very good defender”. At his best he is just good, but normally he is average, if not slightly worse. He’s a very good offensive player, but I don’t get all this talk about him being such a great defender.
He’s fast, that’s about it. People usually correlate being a fast outfielder with being a good defensive outfielder. Sometimes its true, but more often, the player’s speed makes them an acceptable player in the OF.
All those sabermetric statistics are subjective whether we agree or not. They are all “adjusted for this” and “adjusted for that”, whereas good old fashion objective statistics like BA, OBP, OPS, etc. are tried and true statistics that don’t consider any “what if” factors like ballpark adjustments, etc.
“They are all “adjusted for this” and “adjusted for that”, whereas good old fashion objective statistics like BA, OBP, OPS, etc. are tried and true statistics that don’t consider any “what if” factors like ballpark adjustments, etc.”
Where to begin?
Not being adjusted for park factors doesn’t make it objective, it makes stats stupid and useless. Without park factors, Colorado hitters will always look like MVPs and San Francisco hitters will always look like little leaguers. Not using park factors turns baseball stats into football stats: there will be absolutely no way to accurately understand how those stats correlate with people on other teams.
Could there be better ways to account for park factors? Yes, even the guys at Fangraphs admit that it’s a huge challenge.
Second, saying that “batting average” is a tried and true stat is like saying using your feet to gauge the temp of the water is better than a thermometer. Sure, it gives us a sense of how the player is doing, but it does nothing to actually tell us about him. Are all hits equal? What do we do about walks? What about home runs vs. singles? What if there are guys on base? Batting average tells us none of that.
OBP and OPS treats walks and hits like they are the same. They aren’t. A walk, if runners are on base, only allows other runners to advance one base (and that’s in a force out), a hit can get them to advance more. They treat getting hit by a pitch and getting a base hit as exactly the same. They aren’t. HBPs are often total mistakes (or intentional) from the pitcher. They even that intentional walks and unintentional walks as the same. Again, they aren’t. (Sensing a pattern???). An unintentional walk, with rare exceptions, takes patience from the hitter and a good eye.
If we just go on the old school stats, we’ll never be able to accurately gauge how the players are doing. Ever.
Calling those old school stats “objective” is disingenuous. They might have an objective method of deciding them (kind of… if the scorer wants to subjectively take a hit away and score an error, then it’s not entirely objective), but that doesn’t mean we can objectively understand them. There is little to no context in those stats. Context is king when handing over millions of dollars.
Does playing for 20 years qualify someone as being a “real baseball player”? Trust me, I understand the game. You clearly don’t if you think he was “decent” last year. Either that or your standards are way too high.
Just for the record, the only player on the Astros that had a higher OPS (definitely not a random/arbitrary stat) than Fowler last year was Jose Altuve. So I guess everyone on that team was decent at best.
The Astros sucked last year overall, which is why they overhauled the team. I’m not a homer who can’t admit that about my hometown team, so please pick a different avenue to validate your argument than a petty lane of “I’m going to pick apart your favorite team to try and win the disagreement.”
And in my opinion he was nothing more than slightly above average last year. We can just agree to disagree and see/value people differently.
I wouldn’t even agree to disagree with you on that, I would refuse to agree to disagree with you. You are wrong, that’s all there is to it. You can hide behind it being your “opinion”, or just you valuing players differently, but that’s just a poor excuse to blatantly ignore stats and come to an arbitrary decision as to how well a player performed.
You want to be taken seriously? Then show us how you value players. Show us your calculations and then apply them to every player in the league to show us that Fowler was only slightly above average using your methodology. Otherwise you’re full of nothing but hot air.
There’s no agree to disagree, Fowler had a great 2 seasons on the North side. I think someone’s just salty over his favorite team trading him for Valbuena and Straily. Talk about a steal for the Cubs!
Yeah, forget those stats, lets go based on the “astrosfan4life system”. He’s played baseball, so he obviously knows things. Despite the fact that we see and hear constant examples of current and former players who do not grasp proper evaluation of players.
Then this real baseball player doesn’t know what subjective and objective mean lol
They are 100% objective. How you use them can be subjective.
Also, any appeal to yourself as an authority in an argument is an immediate grounds for ‘who gives a …’. And you also shouldn’t appeal to authority in arguments in the first place.
These stats are information. To dismiss them is silly in a discussion about baseball. To not care about them would be fine, but to dismiss them as a measuring tool is nothing short of foolish.
Take a few minutes and learn about them. They make insanely good sense. Why deprive yourself of knowing more about this game that you identify with as a ‘real individual’ of?
I do understand them and while they can “make sense” as you state, they are all adjust for this and adjusted for that. Real statistics are not adjusted for anything, which is my point of objective/subjective.
Those “real statistics” are fine if you only want to know what that player did in the ballparks he played, against the pitchers, defense, and scorekeepers he faced.
If you want to know what he’s likely to do in the future, those stats are worthless.
I do agree regarding fWar and WRC , but as a long-time baseball fan, I also realize that a .366 career OBP for a guy with even moderate stolen base potential is extremely valuable to a team with RBI guys in the middle. We tend to remember guys like Rickey Henderson and Tim Raines for stolen bases, but the real thing these guys brought to the game was that they were ALWAYS on base.
I agree actually, and he is really good at getting on base. To me it’s actually perplexing since he doesn’t walk much (less than 70 times a year on average), his BA isn’t great (career .268), and strokes out frequently for a good on base guy.
Overall I’ve seen him play up close for the Astros and my entire point is that there is no way he should make $18m a year as the contract would be an albatross in very short order. He just happened to have the second best season of his career at just the right time.
I’m not sure astrofan4life where you get the notion that less than 70 times walking per year doesn’t mean he doesn’t walk much. There is a reason why a few posters have suggest using rates instead of totals (although there are a time and place for each imho) All the stats I am quoting come from fangraphs site, the 2016 leader boards, advanced tab for some…League stats tab for others)
Fowler has a BB% of 14.3%…that was 10th in the entire majors last year for qualified batters (Bryce Harper was 1st with a rate of 17.2%). The major league average was ONLY 8.2% walk rate! That is a SIGNIFICANT difference over league averages. I’m not sure how much more you want from the guy walk wise if being 10th in the league doesn’t count as being a high walk rate.
league stat link:
fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&…
While I will readily agree with you that I don’t think Fowler SHOULD make $18 million a year (over the course of a 4 or 5 year deal) there is a distinct possibility someone pays him quite well and he exceeds that AAV. I don’t think however that you are giving him enough credit for being what he is: a switch hitting outfielder who is a capable defender with consistent performance of a good OBP, and slugging % for a centerfielder.
Fowler: .393 OBP, .447 slg%,
avg cf:.324 OBP .407 slg%
fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=cf&stats=bat&#…
As you can see Fowler substantially outperformed fellow centerfielders on average. If a team is looking to add offensive improvement in center, then the chances are that Fowler is high on their list.
He’s not a 20 million a year player if that’s what you’re implying
between fowler and desmond, i would rather st louis sign desmond.
You shouldn’t Fowler far superior to Desmond. Not even close.
So slide, you’d rather have someone who hits from one side of the plate, strikesout more frequently, and has been far more inconsistent? In Desmond, that is what you’d have.
yes, the hr’s and rbi difference more than makes up for fowlers limited skills
And he has a cannon and is willing to play anywhere on the field but the lineup would be to righty heavy
i don’t understand that righty/lefty stuff. be like chevy chase, see the ball, hit the ball.
If it’s $18M AAV, that’ll leave the Giants out. They’re up against the tax barrier and still need to spend big for a closer. They would need to spend to replace Cueto and Nuñez for 2018 as well.
3 Year deal, 42 Million.
The Giants three outfielders is a mess
Not championship caliber
Added Dexter Fowler will just be part of it
Giants should of gotten Dexter then Span
Span is a waste
Good outfielders must have speed, defense and power
The Giants has non
Pence…
As a Jays fan I’ll be sick if they sign Fowler to a 5 year, AAV $18M contract and let EE walk because he’s too expensive. I’d rather pay the extra $5M per year and have EE back. Not that Rogers can’t afford both but they act like they don’t have money to compete with the big boys so it’s either/or.
While I know that many may think it is a mistake for the Cards to sign Fowler, to me it is the place that makes the most logical sense (but of course their may be many factors we aren’t aware of and $18 million a year would seem steep for me).
Fowler’s camp has repeatedly stated that he desires to still play centerfield. The Giants already have a centerfielder in Span. They also were one of the worst teams in the majors in homeruns in 2016 While I personally don’t see homeruns in an of themselves as being critically important to scoring (they do help of course), I can envision San Francisco as wanting to improve in that area by adding more power.
Toronto is another place that already has a centerfielder entrenched, and Pillar is far superior defensively to Fowler. There is also the taxes in Toronto that may be a factor in Fowler’s decision making.
The Cardinals on the other hand are the type of Midwest America heartland team that Fowler is familiar with, they need a centerfielder, and the Cards just cleared $12 million in salary from trading away Garcia.
Don’t be surprised if Fowler ends up a Cardinal.
Has there been any suggestion that Denard Span is unwilling to move over to LF if the Giants want a CF?
From what I’ve heard, he seems willing to take whatever role the team would need from him.
mrnatewalter, you are correct that I’ve seen no such indication from Span. That however wasn’t my intended point. I apologize for my lack of clarity. The point was that the Giants can probably increase offense more cheaply and more significantly by adding a corner outfielder that is a big improvement over their production last season in leftfield than adding Fowler and moving Span to left.
While it certainly isn’t impossible for the Giants to sign Fowler (and I for one think he is an improvement over Span), I don’t think that it is the most likely scenario from the facts I can piece together. As I said though there may be many factors of which we are currently unaware.
No problem, just trying to clarify.
I agree that the Giants would be better off making a move for some power, but I’m also not sure the cost is worth it. You’re either going to overpay for J.D. Martinez (who’s bat won’t translate in the Bay, and his defense is beyond putrid), take on a massive salary in Braun, or get low production with high power (Colby Rasmus?)
Fowler presents an option that the Giants have known for a while: switch-hitting, speed and OBP. Remind you any of Angel Pagan? Only Fowler has the durability that Pagan never had.
As a Giants fan, I’m actually okay with going after Fowler (or some player like him, ahem, Billy Hamilton). But I’d also be interested to see them throw Nunez at 3B and go after a 3B option, which seems to fit more of the power hitter profile they need.
Having watched JDM virtually every game he has played for the Tigers, he is not the abysmal OF you describe. He gets to what he can and makes the catch, is decent in going back, is willing to dive, and has a strong and accurate arm. More range would would be nice. I have never been disappointed in his effort. His “metrics” don’t paint a fair picture of him, IMO.
I think the giants’ lack of power comes from AT
I know it won’t happen, but if the Astros miss on Beltran or Edwin Encarnacion I would be in favor of us going after Fowler. I know Springer can play CF, but it’d be nice to keep him in RF and stick Fowler in CF. Plus, I know he was injured during his stay in Houston, but he played great when healthy. $18M I feel is a bit high though, $15-$16M is more like it.
Look at the Cubs record in 2016 with Dexter in the lineup and then look at it without. Then look a little deeper…look at their record when he gets on base to leadoff a game or when he gets on base more than 3 times in a game. Then the people who say he’s “overrated” or just “decent” can eat crow.
If Volquez is getting 2/22 then Fowler is totally going to get 4/72, or 3/54 from someone. Agents are always blowing my mind with how they make these things happen. Fowler might even get 5 years, nothing surprises me anymore.
What Volquez made entering his age 33 season as a starting pitcher has nothing to with what a centerfielder entering his age 31 season will make.
I think he is simply saying prices appear on the rise.
Just cuz the Cubs signed Lackey, Heyward and Jay, doesn’t mean the Cardinals should sign Fowler in retaliation. Sign him if he solves your issues you need addressed, not cuz of what another team did to you in the past. I like Fowler, but I think there are better fits for the Cardinals out there.
All Fowlers stats are based off a guy who averages 131 games a season. He has only played over 150 games a season once in his career.
Anyone that signs him for anywhere near $18/yr better have a decent 4th OFer because he’ll be getting a months work of playing time.
As a jays fan I agree with Fowler in Toronto (Not overpaying) if and only if your willing to play Outfield Right or Left. Your not gonna take Kevin Pillar’s spot.
And of course set him as the leadoff hitter. Jays really need it.
If they can get Fowler for 3/48-50ish, and he is willing to move to RF then you jump on that. They would get the leadoff hitter they NEED and a decent defender. Pillar will not be moved so Fowler would have to compromise.
I have given up on EE returning so filling obvious needs would be appropriate.
Forget that, I’d sign Fowler if I was the Cardinals and try to sign Justin Turner. You would have a lineup of CF Fowler 1B Matt Carpenter RF Piscotty 3B Turner C Molina LF Grichuk SS Diaz 2B Wong. I like it a lot, but the Cardinals always does something that we never see coming. So who knows what they have up their sleeves.
I like it but I don’t like Diaz hitting 7th. He should hit 2nd IMO.
Fowler
Diaz
Carp
Turner
Piscotty
Yadi
Grichuk
Wong
I don’t see both of them being signed but I can wish.
makes sense for all thoose teams