I had Dexter Fowler as the second-best free agent in this winter’s class behind only Yoenis Cespedes, but he would have been No. 1 if we were talking specifically about the Cardinals’ needs.

St. Louis had few spots on their roster where they could clearly use an upgrade and gain a couple of wins just by one move, and centerfield was the most obvious one, with no true center fielder on the roster and a rather glaring need for another high-OBP bat in the lineup.

Only four Cardinals hitters managed to top a .330 OBP last year, and one, Aledmys Diaz, is probably going to regress at the plate from his 2016 performance. Fowler’s .393 OBP was a career high and it’s reasonable to expect him to regress as well, but even his subpar .346 on-base percentage from 2015 would be a boost to this lineup over the .290 the Cards got from center fielders this past season.