It’s never too early to talk about potential free agent moves. In fact, per USA Today, the Dodgers have already let slip which major free agent they’re expected to be in on this coming offseason, with current Chicago Cubs slugger Kyle Tucker expected to be a target.
According to USA Today, the Dodgers plan to “jump into the fray” for Tucker, and while they are not guaranteed to be the high bid or anything like that this far out, “they’ll surely keep everyone honest just as they did when they were in the Juan Soto sweepstakes.” Soto, thanks to bids from the likes of the Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, and the team that ended up landing him, the Mets, ended up pulling in a record $765 million, none of it deferred. Which means that Tucker, who was never expected to come cheap, is going to cost whoever he does end up with if bids are similarly aggressive for the top hitter on next winter’s market.
Not $765 million over 15 years, as that’s just the kind of money the game has for an absurd talent like Soto, but Tucker is still quite the slugger. He’ll be 29 in 2026, and after batting .275/.362/.515 with 82 home runs and a 144 OPS+ for the Astros from 2022 through 2024, he’s currently at .269/.379/.531 with 10 homers and a 156 OPS+ for the Cubs in his first — and potentially only — year with Chicago. That kind of production, and not being past 30 yet as he reaches free agency for the first time, is going to likely earn him hundreds of millions of dollars. Even if it won’t come at the level of a Soto or even a Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who had the benefit in his recent extension negotiations with the Blue Jays of being two years and change younger than Tucker.
The Dodgers have been criticized for their spending — and defended for it, too, by the likes of Phillies’ star Bryce Harper — and that would surely continue were they to sign Tucker, but it’s their very presence just as much as that spending that looms the largest for someone like Tucker. Any team that does want the free agent slugger won’t be able to be coy about their interest, not if the Dodgers are also out there shopping for the same thing. For that reason, the Cubs might want to start talking to Tucker about an extension sooner than later, if they’re interested in keeping him around beyond just 2025 – it might be better to strike while the rest of the market cannot.
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