Jan. 21--A month ago the White Sox reportedly were interested in signing one of three top free-agent outfielders.
But with four weeks remaining until camp opens at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz., Alex Gordon and Justin Upton are off the market, leaving Yoenis Cespedes as the last man standing.
Can the Sox get him on a short-term contract, or will Cespedes wait for the mega-deal everyone expected him to get a year ago?
It's anyone's guess.
In the meantime, another option could be explored that would fill a need and probably be a lot more affordable for Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf.
Center fielder and leadoff man Dexter Fowler is still out there and could be a better fit on the South Side than any of the Big Three.
Fowler, who turns 30 in March, is still unsigned despite playing a major role in the remarkable Cubs playoff season. As you may recall, Fowler started out slowly in 2015 after being acquired from the Astros, hitting .232 with a .309 on-base percentage in the first half.
But he began heating up in August with a .408 OBP and .995 OPS, helping spark the Cubs to the second wild-card spot and having a big game in their wild-card victory over the Pirates. Fowler finished with a .375 OBP and career highs in home runs (17) and runs scored (102).
So should the Sox bite?
Depends on Fowler's asking price, but it's something to at least consider if Cespedes asks for the moon.
Their first-round pick is protected, so if the Sox signed Fowler, who turned down a qualifying offer from the Cubs, they'd have to give up the sandwich-round pick from the Giants for Jeff Samardzija's signing. If you're going for it, as the Sox obviously are, that shouldn't be a real concern.
The Sox are still in on Cespedes, but it seems less likely that he'll to accept a deal of three years or fewer after Upton's six-year, $132.8 million deal with the Tigers. Remember, the Adam Dunn Factor is at play here. Reinsdorf doesn't want to get stuck with another albatross down the road, and who can blame him?
Aside from being more affordable, Fowler seems like a better clubhouse fit than Cespedes, who already has been on four teams. Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said last October: "(Fowler) always has a smile, he's always bouncing around the clubhouse, he's very loose and confident in his abilities, sometimes in almost a brash way. And that's great with our team."
It'd be great for the Sox too. And it would allow manager Robin Ventura to play Adam Eaton in left and right, giving Melky Cabrera and Avisail Garcia time as designated hitters while decreasing Adam LaRoche's at-bats. Before Trayce Thompson was dealt, Ventura said at the winter meetings that Eaton was amenable to a switch from center.
Fowler would automatically improve the outfield defense, while he and Eaton would be a nice 1-2 punch at the top of the lineup.
This is the time of year remaining free agents generally wind up with one-year deals after failing to get the contract they thought they deserved. Most teams are done with the big spending. But conventional wisdom has been thrown out the window, as evidenced by the huge deals Upton and Chris Davis got last week.
Players scoff when asked to accept less than what they believe they're worth. That's understandable. The money tree keeps growing in baseball, so why should they settle for less when others get theirs?
Back in 1990, after Will Clark signed a four-year $15 million deal that briefly was the game's biggest, I asked Jose Canseco's agent, Jeff Borris, how high the market could go.
Borris predicted Canseco would one day become the first $10 million-per-year player, and said fans needed to look at ballplayers like rock stars.
"Bruce Springsteen plays at the L.A. Coliseum and sells it out," he said. "He's making a lot of money, but I don't hear people saying that Bruce isn't entitled to that money. Being a pro athlete is no different than being an entertainer. No one forces (fans) at gunpoint to buy tickets."
Twenty-six years later, Springsteen is still raking it in, and no one seemed to mind shelling out $150 or more to see "the Boss" play this week at the United Center.
If Cespedes feels he's an entertainer in the Springsteen category, let someone else pay him.
Perhaps Fowler can be more like Wilco, and then everyone will be better off.
psullivan@tribpub.com
