Chicago Cubs: Will the Cardinals pursue Fowler to get even?

After plucking two of their better players in Jason Heyward and John Lackey, will the St. Louis Cardinals try to sign Dexter Fowler in an attempt to “get even”?

No, Dexter Fowler doesn’t play for the Chicago Cubs anymore. He’s a free agent and has been all winter. But after the Cubs signed Lackey and Heyward, it feels like the Cards could make a run at Fowler. Partly because they could use him, and the rest because the Cubs may still want him and they probably feel like they need to beat the Cubs at something right now.

The Cardinals have several candidates to replace Heyward, but none have proven themselves over an entire season. Randal Grichuk is coming off sports hernia surgery while Stephen Piscotty and Tommy Pham have shown potential but not consistency. Fowler would be a smart signing in that he immediately would stabilize their leadoff spot while sliding one of those three out of the running (Matt Holliday has left locked) and to the bench.

Fowler has a career on-base percentage of .363, and last year he was down a bit from that at .346. But Fowler made up for that by posting his highest slugging (.411) since 2011 when he posted a .474 in the upper elevation of Denver with the Rockies. Still, better than what the Cardinals currently have in place.

While not known for his defense, he’s not really a liability either. He makes the plays he’s supposed to, occasionally misplays ones that were borderline out of his range. He’s no Heyward, that is for certain–but it doesn’t mean they’ll collapse with him in the field either.

In the grand scheme, the Cubs haven’t “won” anything yet. But they beat the Cards in the NLDS, then signed away two big free agents from them–while also “winning” the winter (which means nothing, really). But the fans in St. Louis might be dying to say “Ha! We got your center fielder from last year, even though you took our right fielder!”.

More cubs: Should the Cubs bat Rizzo second?

I mean, St. Louis fans are never bitter though. Best fans in the world? You won’t have to scroll far..they show their colors almost immediately most of the time.