On Monday the Chicago Cubs acquired a center fielder from the Houston Astros, which is one of the last pieces they were looking for this offseason. Chicago sent a pitcher and an infielder to Houston in the deal.
Dexter Fowler will now likely take over in center field for the Cubs and they'll likely move Arismendy Alcantara elsewhere. Bruce Levin of 670 The Score first reported details of the trade on Monday morning and then Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle and Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports provided more details.
It was expected Fowler, 28, would make $9 million in arbitration this offseason, but at right now it's up in the air since he filed for $10.8 million and the Astros offered $8.5 million, according to Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle. He'll now have to work out a deal to avoid an arbitration hearing with the Cubs. The switch-hitter slashed .276/.375/.399 with 61 runs scored, eight home runs, 35 RBIs and 11 stolen bases in 116 games last season.
The trade shakes up the Cubs roster a bit. Chicago will send right-hander Dan Straily (reports Slusser) and third baseman Luis Valbuena (reports Passan) to Houston, which is a move to seemingly make room for the Cubs' top prospect, third baseman Kris Bryant, to join the roster early in 2015. Bryant led the minor leagues with 43 home runs in 2014, but never reached the major leagues because if he received service time with the Cubs he would be one year closer to arbitration eligibility. Instead, Chicago now gets an extra year out of Bryant before they have to pay him the big bucks (in the event he's the player they expect him to be).
As for Alcantara, perhaps the team moves the youngster to left field to replace veteran Chris Coghlan. He was already shifted from second base to center field and will likely endure another move in just his second MLB season. Alcantara, 22, slashed .205/.254/.367 with 31 runs scored, 10 home runs, 29 RBIs and eight stolen bases in 70 games in 2014.
But more importantly, the Cubs have added yet another veteran to join their young roster this offseason. Fowler is the fifth to join the team, along with starters Jon Lester and Jason Hammel, catcher Miguel Montero, relief pitcher Jason Motte and outfielder Chris Denorfia.
As for Houston, the team relieved themselves of at least $9 million toward their 2015 payroll and has a number of options in the outfield with George Springer and Jake Marisnick. The two have the ability to play center field, so it looks like Marisnick will join Springer and left fielder Evan Gattis after playing in only 65 games last season.
With no clear ace in their starting rotation, did the Astros clear some room to sign a No. 1 pitcher such as James Shields? We'll have to wait and see.
