Bob Nightengale

USA TODAY Sports

ST. LOUIS - Dexter Fowler is quietly relishing the fact he’s made the rest of baseball look awfully stupid.

Most of his peers who want drastic reform in free agency, are savoring it, too, believing that Fowler exemplfies what’s wrong with the current system.

Fowler was hanging around all winter waiting for the phone to ring, only for the center fielder to fall back into the Chicago Cubs’ lap simply because teams were so worried about protecting a precious draft pick.

“We couldn’t believe it,’’ Cubs manager Joe Maddon told USA TODAY Sports. “We were hoping he may come back to us, but little did we realize at that particular moment how important he would be to us.

“At the end of the day, if you look at our record on top of the paper right now, we would not be that good without him. I promise you that. Period. He’s been invaluable.’’

Fowler has been one of the premier leadoff hitters in baseball, hitting .314 with a .435 on-base percentage, including five homers and 21 RBI. He has the third-highest WAR among NL position players, and the Cubs, not coincidentally, are 29-14.

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Yet, he was available 10 days into spring training when the Cubs signed him to a one-year, $13 million contract, because teams were so intent on retaining the first-round draft pick they would have forfeited to sign Fowler, one of 16 players who rejected a $15.8 million qualifying offer.

When the amateur draft is staged in two weeks, the reality is if any of these players ever have a career approaching Fowler’s, it will be an analytical or scouting triumph.

The facts: Two-thirds of the first players drafted may never make it. Just 34.5% of the first 60 picks were on opening day major-league rosters, according to MLB research. There are actually more players on teams who were drafted after the 15th round than kids selected among the first 30 picks. Fowler, himself, was a 14th-round draft pick.

“I think it’s crazy to say that Dexter Fowler is not worth more than some unknown draft pick that may or may not work out,’’ St. Louis Cardinals veteran Brandon Moss said, “when he’s a proven commodity. When push comes to shove, if you really want to win, how can you value a draft pick over a proven center fielder that hits for power, steals bases, and gets on base like Dexter Fowler does.?

“I mean, that’s kind of what you hope that your future first-round draft pick will be, right?’’

This is why the free-agent system badly needs fixing, and will be the biggest topic at the negotiating table this summer between the powerful players’ union and Major League Baseball.

When you have about a third of NL teams trying to rebuild, and a handful more not strongly inclined to improve, something is dreadfully wrong.

“I think the first and foremost thing that rings in everyone’s ears,’’ Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer said, “is when you see teams that are not active in free agency. That’s what gives everybody pause for concern.

“When you see teams trying to shed payroll, and not being competitive in the free agent market - when we know there’s revenue sharing - that’s a problem. That’s why we believe in revenue sharing to try to alleviate the difference in market size. So when you don’t see teams that are active in free agency, it makes you question why revenue sharing is there.’’

The New York Yankees, 21-22, are the only team among the top 11 biggest opening-day payrolls who entered Tuesday with a losing record. The Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Indians and Miami Marlins are the only teams among the bottom 11 spenders who have a winning record.

“That’s one of the thing our union is looking at pretty heavily,’’ Cubs veteran catcher David Ross said. “We would like to see a change because it just doesn’t make a lot of sense now. You wait for the opportunity to be a free agent, and all of a sudden, you get penalized for being great.

“So guys like me who don’t get qualifying offers are able to find jobs easily, but the guys who are really, really talented players, but maybe not the best in the class, get penalized for going out and doing exactly what they’re supposed to do.

“Dexter has become a superstar, one of the best center fielders in the game, but then nobody wants him? How does that make sense?’’

You can go on and on. It was no different for shortstop Ian Desmond, who had to switch positions and go to the Texas Rangers as an outfielder on a one-year contract. The only offer second baseman Howie Kendrick received all winter was a two-year deal from the Los Angeles Dodgers, who merely brought him back. Outfielders Yoenis Cespedes and Justin Upton had to wait almost the entire winter to find jobs, with Cespedes likely to opt out and test the market again next winter.

“It was frustrating,’’ Fowler said, “but is what it is. You couldn’t do anything.’’

Well, just wait until this winter, when you can be assured change is coming as the game’s collective bargaining agreement expires.

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The biggest problem with the system now, as we’ve learned, is that clubs value draft picks more than free agents. It’s not simply preserving a first round-pick, but the pool of draft money that comes with it.

The Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, San Diego Padres, Atlanta Braves and Colorado Rockies all can spend between $11.1 million and $13.9 million in the draft without penalties for stinking last year.

The Cubs - who spent $272 million signing free agents Jason Heyward, John Lackey and Ben Zobrist - and the Kansas City Royals will have only $5.4 million combined to spend as punishment for being good. The San Francisco Giants, who signed free agents Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija to bolster their starting rotation, are severely penalized for trying to improve, receiving just $3.49 million in pool money.

The Seattle Mariners, GM Jerry Dipoto concedes, weren’t about to shop the expensive section of the free-agent meat counter simply because they didn’t want to forfeit that 11th pick in the draft, which is worth a $3.38 million slot.

There’s something dramatically wrong when unproven amateurs are more valuable than proven veterans with All-Star pedigrees.

Owners are hardly motivated to change a system in an industry with $10 billion in annual revenue, with every team flush in money. No team has been sold, or even up for sale, since the San Diego Padres on Aug. 6, 2012 -- the longest period since the advent of free agency without an ownership change. Players, however, are making it known loud and clear they want fixes, no matter how creative the solutions.

They can implement a sign-and-trade provision, enabling teams who won’t risk a first-round draft pick by signing the free agent, and then immediately trading him.

They can modify the qualifying offer proposal to at least a one-year guarantee with a player option for a second season, or even a sliding scale depending on a players’ age. It makes no sense for Fowler and others to make a decision on qualifying offers less than two weeks into free agency, without ever knowing the marketplace. Fowler had to make a decision before the Cubs even made a free agent bid on anyone.

And what sense does it make that players who are traded their final season before free agency have no draft pick compensation attached to them, while players who aren’t traded are penalized?

“If I had a draft pick attached to me, it would have been a totally different story," said Zobrist, who turns 35 on Thursday and fielded multiple offers before signing a four-year, $56 million deal with the Cubs. "I was just fortunate that I ended up in Oakland, we weren’t playing well, and they traded me to Kansas City. Being traded is the best thing that can happen to you when you’re a free agent.

“I get what teams are doing - they know the young guys can save them money, but the players don’t like it. We want to win now. And when you to win, you want to go out and get that established free agent.’’

So enjoy the upcoming draft, and when the 50 rounds conclude, maybe your team will get lucky and select that player who not only makes the big leagues, but enjoys a decade-long career and perhaps even evolves into an All-Star.

You know, like Dexter Fowler.