The Chicago Cubs entered 2025 knowing their trade with the Houston Astros for Kyle Tucker might have been for a one-year rental. One small market team is trying to boost Tucker’s price before he heads to free agency after the season.
The star outfielder’s price is expected to be near the maximum of Chicago’s budget.
At 28, he’s made three All-Star appearances, won a World Series, has three-time All-MLB Second Team honors, won a Gold Glove Award, won a Wilver Slugger Award, led the American League in RBIs in 2023, and was the AL leader in triples in 2020.
Such a packed resume comes with the expectations of a sizable paycheck. The Cubs are paying Tucker $16.5 million this season, but that sum will be higher annually for any team that signs him to a new deal.
Estimates suggest Tucker could make anywhere from $300-400 million on his next deal. One team is trying to up that price.
A “small market team is trying to drive up Kyle Tucker’s price
Per Jesse Rogers of ESPN, an executive of a “small-market team” suggested $400 million was Tucker’s floor and he could ask for something near what the New York Mets gave Juan Soto when he signed for a 15-year, $765 million deal ($51 million per year).
“The numbers are crazy these days but if he has a Tucker-like year, how can he not command $400 million or more?” one executive of a small-market team said. “I’m not saying this either way, but some people believe he’s better than Soto.”
Who would drive up the price on the Chicago Cubs?
Even Rogers doesn’t think Tucker can ask for Soto money.
“Tucker will turn 29 next winter while Soto signed with the Mets two months after turning 26, so the odds of his deal approaching Soto’s record $765 million contract are nonexistent,” Rogers wrote. “Still, those who have shared a dugout with Tucker point to his all-around ability as a difference-maker.”
One has to wonder why this “small-market” executive is trying to up the bid for Tucker before the offseason, thus helping to ensure he signs with teams with big pocketbooks like the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees.
Theoretically, that would make it harder for their small market team to win the World Series. Unless of course, the goal of the executive is to be petty enough to get Ticker out of the NL Central so they can make the playoffs by BREWING up an artificially high price.
Tucker started the regular season going 1-for-8 at-bat with one RBI and one walk during the Cubs’ two-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Japan. Chicago is 0-2 and will next play a regular season game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on March 27.
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