The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fowler leaves Cubs for rival
Outfielder finalizes 5-year, $82.5 million deal with Cardinals.
Dexter Fowler is headed from the World Series champions to their biggest rival.
After helping the Chicago Cubs end their long championship drought, he finalized an $82.5 million, five-year contract with the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday. Fowler fills the last big hole left in the Cardinals’ lineup after moves earlier in the offseason to shore up the bullpen.
“It was an honor just to be considered to be in the Cardinals organization,” said Fowler, who will wear No. 25 in honor of his mentor, Barry Bonds, because his usual 24 is retired by the Cardinals.
“You play against the Cardinals, I’ve been playing against them for eight years now,” Fowler said, “and they always come out fighting. And then being with a rival, you see them and — it’s always good a winning team wants you.”
Fowler signed a $13 million, one-year deal with the Cubs last winter and hit .276 with 13 homers and a careerbest .393 on-base percentage that landed him in his first All-Star Game. He had a pair of home runs in helping the Cubs win their first World Series title in 108 years.
“Playing over there, and playing against the Cardinals, you see them and you saw that they weren’t far away,” Fowler said. “Obviously they beat up on us, we beat up on them. It was almost even. It was one day or another.”
His new deal calls for a $10 million signing bonus, payable in $1 million installments each July 1 and Oct. 1 for the next five years, and annual salaries of $14.5 million.
Diamondbacks: Closer Fernando Rodney agreed to a $2.75 million, one-year contract that allows him to earn an additional $4 million in performance bonuses.
Brewers: Right-hander Phil Bickford was suspended for the first 50 games of next season after a second positive test for a drug of abuse under the sport’s minor league drug program. Bickford, 21, is on the roster of Milwaukee’s Class A Carolina Mudcats of the Carolina League.