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Just a few days ago, it looked as if former Chicago Cubs outfielder Dexter Fowler was getting ready to join the American League East when a three-year deal with the Baltimore Orioles was announced.
It was a slow offseason for the soon-to-be 30-year-old switch-hitter but a return to the North Side of Chicago appeared to be out of the question following the signing of Jason Heyward. And I’m going to admit, that I, myself, was wrong about the chances of him returning.
When the news broke, the internet, in a way, lost its mind. Here we are, expecting to hear something about Jon Lester, John Lackey, Jake Arrieta, Kyle Schwarber, etc. only to find out that Fowler strolled out onto the field behind Jed Hoyer to surprise his teammates.
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While all this was happening, the front-office made yet another deal with the Oakland Athletics that involved outfielder Chris Coghlan and 25-year-old pitcher Aaron Brooks.
The last time these two got together, they swapped Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel for Addison Russell and Billy McKinney. As we all know, Russell quickly climbed through the minor league circuit, joining third baseman Kris Bryant as another highly anticipated rookie to make their debut for the Cubs.
This has something fans have been getting used to over the past couple of seasons and now Jorge Soler and Javier Baez will be coming off the bench for Joe Maddon in 2016.
Originally, Soler was penciled in as the starting right fielder for this lineup. Now that Fowler is back in the mix, Heyward will be moved over to right, allowing the newly signed free agent to return to his primary position.
Having talent such as Soler on the bench will be huge for this team in the long-run. We all know how often Joe loves to mix things up, so it’ll be interesting to see how he decides to use the 24-year-old slugger.
Here are a few more stories you may have missed:
‘How much is Theo Epstein worth?‘ – Cubbies Crib
‘It’s time to start turning expectations into results‘ – Cubbies Crib
‘Cubs shock the world with Fowler signing‘ – Cubbies Crib
‘Cubs trade Coghlan, sign Fowler‘ – Cubbies Crib