In a move that has taken everyone in the baseball world by surprise, the Chicago Cubs have re-signed free agent outfielder Dexter Fowler to a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2017.
Fowler will receive $8 million in 2016 and the mutual option is for $9 million with a $5 million buyout. In other words, he gets $13 million for 2016 which is less than the $15.8 million qualifying offer he declined.
The way this went down was stunning, here is how David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune explains it:
“At the end of a Cubs workout Thursday morning, outfielder Dexter Fowler surprised everybody by walking onto the field with Epstein to a warm welcome from his old teammates — who also qualify as his new teammates. The Cubs officially announced they had signed Fowler to a one-year contract with a mutual option and $13 million guaranteed, stunning the baseball world and even people in their own clubhouse.”
Only yesterday, it was reported that Fowler had agreed to a three-year, $33 million deal with the Baltimore Orioles, so imagine their shock.
The move now allows Jason Heyward to return to his natural position in right field where he won a gold glove.
“This is where my heart is,’’ Fowler told reporters outside Sloan Park at Cubs spring training camp.
