Cubs, Dexter Fowler agree on 1-year contract

Chicago Cubs center fielder Dexter Fowler (24) during a workout in preparation for Game 1 of baseball’s NL Championship Series in Chicago, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015.

You read that correctly, Fowler walked away from a reported three-year, $35 million deal with the Orioles and has signed a one-year deal with a mutual option for a second year with the Cubs.

Well, slowly but surely we’re learning that maybe Fowler and the Orioles never had an agreement at all, and on Thursday his agent sent out a statement making sure that everyone knows that’s indeed the case here, as well as blasting Baltimore for the way they handled things.

But, for those of you that don’t know, this was most shocking in the sense that people expected to see Fowler on a Spring Training field soon, but not with the Cubs. As it stands, Mark Trumbo would be the right fielder (and he’s not good in the field) rather than his better-suited DH role, which would now probably be Jimmy Paredes. “The Orioles have made it clear that that type of deal wouldn’t really work for us”.

Rizzo said Thursday he was very surprised about Fowler’s decision to re-sign with the Cubs and said teammates were thrilled to welcome him back with open arms.

The deal was announced just minutes after reports that the Cubs had traded another outfielder, Chris Coghlan, to the Oakland Athletics for right-handed pitcher Aaron Brooks.

The 29-year-old Georgia native will likely be the fourth outfielder behind Kyle Schwarber, Jorge Soler and Jason Heyward, but his versatility makes a lineup that is already the envy of the National League that much deeper.