The Cubs have made a roster move, and another move that was fully expected.
To no one's surprise, this happened Friday afternoon:
If you are not familiar with the qualifying-offer system, the dollar amount is arrived at by the average of the top 125 salaries in baseball in the preceding season, so for 2016 that's $15.8 million. No one expects Fowler to accept this offer, as he's likely to get several multiyear offers on the open market. He also might receive a multiyear offer from the Cubs.
The qualifying offer is made so that if Fowler does leave the Cubs for another team, the Cubs receive draft-pick compensation in the 2016 amateur draft, a pick that would follow all the regular first-round choices in next June's draft.