16 CARDINALS MAGAZINE
Editor’s note: Aliya and Dexter Fowler
met in 2010 when Dexter was on a rehab
assignment with the Colorado Rockies’
Triple-A affiliate. Cardinals Magazine asked
Aliya to share her reflections on the free-agent
process, which the Fowlers went through
following the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
When Dexter became a free agent,
I quickly was reminded that while baseball is
my husband’s passion, it’s also his profession.
You go into the process looking for a
perfect match with the perfect team, but
much of it is out of your control. Despite
what some fans may think, very few players
have the opportunity to choose which teams
they’ll entertain offers from. The sport is
a business – one in which you, as a player,
often get your identity from numbers, both
on the field and on the payroll. And if your
numbers align with a team’s numbers, then
you get a deal.
I started to understand and prepare for
the business side of baseball years before
Dexter became a free agent. When he did
enter the market, we met with his agent,
Casey Close, to talk about the “next steps”
and try to educate ourselves about potential
outcomes. I had no idea there were so many
rules, deadlines and statistics that could
make or break Dexter’s future.
Dexter had never talked about
free agency in much detail so, not
understanding the ins and outs at the time,
I just assumed it meant he would be free to
choose a new team. How cool, I thought. A
player can finally, after all those years, pick
whichever team he wants to play for.
That notion of having a choice seemed
so reassuring. From a family perspective,
baseball is always unpredictable, and as
much as you try to get settled in, the
unknown haunts you every day. In the
early years, there are constant fears of being
sent down or traded. Then, as you finally
near free agency, the anxieties change: If he
doesn’t put up the numbers in his “walk
year,” will everything he’s done prior to
that be ignored? Or, if he gets hurt, will
everyone lose faith in him?
With all this uncertainty comes a lot of
strain on your family. You learn to never get
too comfortable; it’s a defense mechanism
against the reality of feeling disposable.
Free agency is supposed to be your “big
break” after all the years of pressure andinsecurities. After five years of anticipating
that moment – a stretch in which Dex was
traded twice – I thought we would feel relief
and freedom.
In reality, it’s a big waiting game.
When Dexter became a free agent, we
were expecting a flood of phone calls from
teams courting us to join their organization.
That’s the dream, right? You want to be
inundated with phone calls and proposals,
to get deeply involved with negotiations
and options.THE WAITING GAME
OF FREE AGENCY
“The freedom to choose what’s best for a player’s family is a benefit of free
agency, but we also had to weigh it against what’s best for Dexter’s career.
In the end, it’s all about finding that sweet spot.”How Cardinals wives manage
big-league culture in the game of lifeBETTERHALVES