Chicago Cubs: Fowler signs deal with NL central rival, St. Louis Cardinals

The Chicago Cubs Dexter Fowler has been one of the biggest prizes available in the outfield coming into this past week’s winter meetings, and it’s been said that he has decided to accept a multi-year deal from the St. Louis Cardinals.

Sources have said that the deal is reportedly for five years and at least 16 million a year for the 30-year-old outfielder.

Fowler is coming off one of his best seasons yet in his eight-year career, posting a  .276/.393/.447 slash. He hit 13 homers this season, to go along with 48 RBIs. He also played some stellar defense in center field for the World Series Champions. Fowler also posted a 4.2 WAR, which is by far the best of his career.

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The Georgia native is somewhat following the same path of now former teammate Jason Heyward, who signed a multi-year deal last season with the Cubs after coming over from the Cardinals.

Fowler was a huge part of the 2016 World Series Championship team. Fowler hit three home runs in the playoffs. He also made several sparkling defensive plays. Most notably, he hit a clutch home run in Game 7 of the World Series to lead off the game against the Indians.

St. Louis will be the fourth team that Fowler will play for. He was originally drafted back in 2004 out of a Georgia high school in the 14th round and went on to make his big league debut in 2008 with the Colorado Rockies. He then spent one year with Houston in 2014, then the past two years on the north side with the Chicago Cubs.

Next: Cubs sign Uehara

Since the Cubs extended a qualifying offer, the Cardinals will give up the 19th pick in the upcoming June draft . The Cubs will now receive a compensatory pick. While Fowler heads to the rival Cards, the Cubs won’t go away empty-handed.