Ahead of the 2015 campaign, veteran left-hander Jon Lester signed a six-year deal, worth $155 million. The gritty lefty may go down as the best free agent signing in Chicago sports history. But the Chicago Cubs did more than just add an ace. They also made one of the more underrated moves of that offseason, acquiring outfielder Dexter Fowler.
The Houston Astros traded Fowler to Chicago in exchange for Luis Valbuena and Dan Straily. Fowler set the table for this lineup, which featured the additions of rookies Kris Bryant, Addison Russell and Kyle Schwarber later in the season, making for a pretty deadly 1 through 8 in the batting order.