Hey, the O's finally decided that Adam Jones shouldn't have to carry the entire outfield by himself! Though Yovani Gallardo's contract hasn't been finalized yet ("physical" is the scariest eight-letter word in Birdland), the Orioles are keeping busy. They've agreed to a three-year deal with free agent outfielder Dexter Fowler, late of the Cubs. Like Gallardo, Fowler is on the verge of his 30th birthday and has had to wait until the start of spring training to find a team thanks to the thorny issue of draft pick compensation. But giving up a lottery ticket on a young amateur seems like a fair price to pay in order to bring in a player with a .363 career on-base percentage. What's more, Dexter will slide over from center field to right, improving Baltimore's outfield defense to levels unseen since Nick Markakis was young and spry. Fowler's acquisition also allows Buck Showalter to write Mark Trumbo's name into the lineup at designated hitter, which is assuredly the slugger's natural position. The O's are a better team today than they were yesterday, and I think I can live with that.
Dexter is my favorite current player. That cat can fly. I was 8 rows back in left-center at Target Field when he made this catch in June 2014. I went AWOL.
ReplyDeletehttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vb7efnatXUo
That is one right pretty catch.
ReplyDeleteCounted our chickens a bit too early on Fowler - no pun intended.
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