Cardinals sign Dexter Fowler

[pioneer98]

Maybe it's every team but it sure feels like the Cards succcess depends on several guys playing like we hope they can. Grichuk, Wong, Reyes, Diaz, Martinez, Piscotty.
They aren't unreasonable hopes. Consistency from Wong and Grichuk. Pitching maturity from Reyes. No regression from Diaz. And a step up to to elite level for CMart and Stanford educated Piscotty.

To a point, I definitely think that's by design. Acquire as many young, inexpensive assets as you can, let them play and see who steps up. Or put another way, their success depends on several guys stepping forward because they have so many young guys who CAN step forward (they aren't paying on the open market for more certainty, as a general rule). It kind of gets lost in all of the "AGING CORE!!!!" discussion that they have a lot of under-25 talent right now.

Last summer, I read In Pursuit of Pennants (sorry if I've mentioned it too many times). AWESOME book, by the way. It's all about the way teams historically have put themselves together, and it takes special note of when teams do something groundbreaking (like Branch Rickey inventing the farm system, for instance).

There's a HUGE section about Pat Gillick from back in his Blue Jays days. He built their back to back WS winners (then he went to Baltimore and built a winner there, then helped build the 114 win Mariners, then helped build the 2008 WS winning Phillies).

His whole philosophy was to build a team that could win 85 to 90 games, and turn over every stone to build up to that number. For Gillick, it meant the Latin American academies (the Jays were a forerunner), using Rule 5 when other teams weren't, and of course just plain old draft and development. Because if you're 85 to 90 wins, more often than not you'll get a few random-ass players, usually young, who step up and carry you over the top. And if you're on that pace (85 to 90 wins), you can also make a deal at the trade deadline... and if you've done your diligence and have enough young talent, you can also call those guys up at the end of the year. So your 85 win team can become a 95 win team if you're smart about it. Hell, your 85 win team can become 90 just on sheer luck.

The long and short of it is, it's made me think a lot about the Cardinals under Mozeliak. And [expletive], even before that. They seem content to live in that 88-90 win projected range and then hope something good presents itself to them.

That is interesting.

[ghostrunner]

Maybe make a separate thread for whether Fowler reeeeeaallly wanted to play here or not, or whether journalists made it up.

[JL21]

That is interesting.

Slight tangent- I can't recommend that book enough. It even closes by looking at the 2013 Cardinals (VERY briefly) and the 2013 Red Sox. It went to the publisher right after that World Series.

The early part, mostly about John McGraw and the Pirates' ownership from 1900 to 1920, is pretty dry, though others may like that part more than me. But once it gets to Rickey in the 20s, and the Yankees building their dynasty in the 20s/30s/40s/50s, and the Dodgers during and after Rickey, and the Big Red Machine, and briefly the 60s Cardinals... Seriously, it's good stuff if you dig baseball's front office dynamic.

https://www.amazon.com/Pursuit-Pennants ... 080323497X

[Jocephus]

[Fat Strat]

When is the last time the Cards went out and got the upper-end player they were publicly chasing?

Matt Holliday is the guy who comes to mind, but he had already been a Cardinal. Before that... I don't even know.

I'm all for this signing, but it is kind of ironic to me that the one time the Cards go "over the top" to get the player they are publicly chasing, it's Dexter Fowler. Not David Price or Jason Heyward or even Jason Schmidt. Dexter Fowler.

[Fat Strat]

I just looked and Fowler still hasn't changed his Twitter page. All Cubs. He's probably going to want to have someone look into that for him in the next 8 minutes. https://twitter.com/DexterFowler

[Fat Strat]

Anyone else notice what has happened with the Cubs and Cards the last 2 offseasons?

We bring in Heyward - +5 WAR to us.
Cubs grab Heyward from us - +5 WAR to Cubs (didn't work out that way), -5 WAR for us. -10 WAR difference on paper. Huge.
We grab Fowler from Cubs. -4 WAR from Cubs. +4 WAR from us. +8 WAR difference in one transaction. Huge?

In both cases, the team that lost the player had to settle for much less than equal production -- Cards by sticking with Holliday/Piscotty/Grichuk (pick the one who doesn't play if Heyward is a Cardinal). Cubs by going with Jon Jay instead of Heyward.

Sometimes the best way to beat your enemy is to steal from your enemy. It's essentially doubles your production. The only path that we could take that would lead us to gaining 8 WAR on the Cubs was to take it from the Cubs themselves.

[Farewell Friends]

I'm all for this signing, but it is kind of ironic to me that the one time the Cards go "over the top" to get the player they are publicly chasing, it's Dexter Fowler. Not David Price or Jason Heyward or even Jason Schmidt. Dexter Fowler.

Let's hope the next guy they go over the top to get is Kris Bryant. Just as Fowler wraps up his Cardinals career, here comes Bryant. Poetic.

[Fat Strat]

BTW, you can watch the press conference here: http://m.cardinals.mlb.com/stl/video/v1 ... conference

I have a ton to do that I don't want to do. Perfect excuse to not do it.

[GeddyWrox]

I see why Mo was willing to go outside of his "comfort zone". My interest in this signing is rising now, too.

[SHOW]