NEWSLETTER
[Edit: Nope. He’s coming back to the Cubs.]
The long offseason for Dexter Fowler may finally be coming to an end.
Roch Kubatko (who has been on this story for a while now) is reporting that he and the Orioles have reached a three year agreement.
There are no particulars on the contract just yet (other than the years), but the early rumors had it going as high as $39 million. (UPDATE: Yup, the final tally, according to Buster Olney is three years and $35 million).
Source: #orioles reach agreement with Dexter Fowler on 3 year deal
— Roch Kubatko (@masnRoch) February 23, 2016
Brett will have more on this as it shakes loose – and I’m sure he’ll be frantically reading this post as soon as he lands – but for now, suffice it to say: Fowler’s long free agent journey has ended.
Once this deal becomes official, the Cubs will regain their second round draft pick and the corresponding bonus pool.
UPDATE: It appears the deal is for 3 years and $35 million. While that is a bit less than he hoped for at the outset of the offseason, it’s a fair deal at this point of the winter.
Sources: The Orioles have agreed to terms with Dexter Fowler on a three-year deal for about $35 million.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) February 23, 2016
UPDATE 2: As for the non-dollar cost for signing Fowler, the Orioles will now forfeit the 28th overall pick in the 2016 MLB Draft – though, they had already lost pick number 14 for Yovani Gallardo (if that deal goes through), making the relative cost of adding Fowler much lower.
[adinserter block=”1″]My initial reaction is that this is a fine, if not underwhelming deal for Fowler. It appears that both Brett and I vastly underrated how much the draft pick compensation would hold down his market – I expected him to exceed the FanGraphs projections, which predicted something along the lines of 4 years and $56 million. In the end, the Orioles waited out the marker and got Fowler on a good – but not necessarily a steal – of a deal.
UPDATE 3: Brett here, as I’ve finally landed. Thanks to Michael for the updating duty, and for pretty much sizing up everything I would have said anyway. The deal is small for Fowler, relative to what our – and his – expectations would have been back in November. But it’s not a total steal for the Orioles, or a total abdication of value for Fowler. So that’s good, I suppose.
In the end, I’m just relieved to see Fowler land a decent deal, and to see the Cubs finally recoup their draft pick. They now will pick in the second round, having lost their first rounder and the compensatory pick (the one they picked up, right here, for Fowler) for signing Jason Heyward and John Lackey.
UPDATE 4: So, it looks like it’s a little lower, but not too much lower:
fowler deal with orioles is $33M for 3 years
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 24, 2016
