No Luck for Cardinals’ Dexter Fowler

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Dexter Fowler can’t catch a break since signing with the team in December of 2016. Whether it be an injury, a lost season, or an injury shortened lost season, he hasn’t made the greatest of impressions. Especially when fans are expecting an 80 million dollar player.

On Wednesday afternoon, Fowler was placed on the IL for a bit of an odd reason. He has a stomach ailment which requires him to take medication. While taking that medication, and with the Covid pandemic, team doctors agree that he should remain sidelined just for precautionary reasons. The meds could make him more susceptible than others to Covid-19.

Cardinals’ Favorite Quandary

Although it is all an unfortunate situation, even more unfortunate for Dex is that he was off to a fairly hot start. Fowler is one of the few Cardinals that easily falls out of favor with fans. I think fans see much of John Mozeliak’s failures when they see that contract. That being said, Dex set career marks in home runs and RBI in 2017 with the team, and then again in both categories in 2019.

Whether he is worth 16.5 million a year is obviously debatable, but with the mediocre amount that the Cardinals like to put into payroll, I’m fine with the young man getting his money. You can bet that the Dewitt family is going to get theirs. Fowler is the 5th highest paid right fielder in the league, the 5th highest paid guy on the team this season, and finished with the 5th highest OPS on the team a season ago. 

Fowler’s Big Moment

Hell, the walk off against the Cubs was worth the entire contract in my opinion. It all seems to add up on my end. As much room as we’ve had between us and the luxury tax, I just don’t believe that John Mozeliak and Bill DeWitt III were going to spend any more money anyway. As for the young guys that he’s been blocking, well, we’re starting to see how some of those are panning out already.

Not to say that none of the young outfielders will work out, just that if one was really standing out that much, I doubt we would be playing infielders out there as much as we have. Paging you Mr. Tyler O’Neill. But…I guess the last few paragraphs are another topic for another day. 

Cardinals’ Stagnant Offense

John Mozeliak seemed confident that Dexter would return to the field at some point this season, stating that he would check back in on him in a week or so. Although that’s rather vague, he did assure the media that Fowler has received this medication for this stomach ailment in the past, before he became a Cardinal in 2016.

Whether it be the vague descriptions or just the history here, I, for one, am worried. Not only for Dexter’s health, which is first and foremost, but also for the future of the Cardinals offense which is inconsistent as it is. Take the following numbers away, then what happens?

Dexter currently ranks 2nd on the Cardinals in RBI and home runs. He ranks 4th in OPS and OBP. This move to the IL will definitely hurt the team for a few weeks to come. Luckily for the Cardinals, the Covid IL has no effect on the 40 man roster, so no additional moves needed to be made. For the sake of the Cardinals on-base percentage and Dexter’s health, lets just hope he makes a quick recovery.

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