After being acquired by the Chicago Cubs in a trade from the Houston Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker says he is “open” to signing an extension with the Chicago Cubs.
The Chicago Cubs have so far been cooking up a meal on this off seasons Hot Stove that all fans can seemingly appreciate. What started out as some minor moves here and there have catapulted into Blockbuster territory. To sum it up the Cubs went from making little noise with trading for Eli Morgan and Matt Thaiss to screaming that they’re serious about winning with trading for Kyle Tucker and trading away Cody Bellinger.
Now without playing a game as a member of the Chicago Cubs it seems like Kyle Tucker already wants to stay with the team long-term. In an article published in the AP News written by Jay Cohen on the topic of a contract extension Kyle Tucker said:
“Definitely Chicago’s, you know, great city to play in. Great city just in general,” Tucker said. “So I’m open for anything.”
Jed Hoyer and of the Cubs told Jay Cohen of their side on getting a deal done with Tucker that Jed Hoyer:
“Indicated the team was interested while promising to keep those conversations between Tucker’s camp and the organization.”
Hoyer, who according to Cohen enters the final year of his deal needed to get moves like Bellinger and Tucker done to not only build a winning roster for 2025 but also to show ownership that he indeed is capable of doing the job and building a winning roster.
Tucker, who will turn 28 this coming January was one of the Houston Astros top stars who helped lead them to their 2022 World Series title. With the Astros enter a “retooling” phase after trading away all their prospects down in their farm system to set up their run of seven consecutive ALCS appearances (2017-2023), the writing was on the wall that Tucker was going to be shipped out. Which ended up happening when on December 13th the Chicago Cubs acquired him in a trade with Houston which sent over third basemen/first basemen Isaac Paredes, third base prospect Cam Smith (Cubs #7 prospect, MLB #73) and right-hander Hayden Wesneski. Per ESPNs Jeff Passan.
Signing Tucker to a long-term extension at some point this off season or in spring training is paramount for the Cubs to get done. Tucker for his career is a 3x All-Star, a Gold Glover, a Silver Slugger winner, and has finished in the top 20 for MVP votes three times with his highest finish being 5th. As well as being a career .274/.353/.516 hitter with an OPS and OPS+ of .870 and 139
Last year Tucker was limited to just 78 games after suffering a shin contusion on June 3rd which made him miss the rest of the season. In those 78 games however, Kyle Tucker did produce numbers that could’ve land him in the top 10 for the MVP voting. Tucker had 80 hits, 13 doubles, 23 HRs, 49 RBI, 11 stolen bases, with a slash line of .289/.408/.585 for an OPS and OPS+ of .993 181.
The caliber of player that Kyle Tucker is and given he’s hitting the free agent market at the prime age of 28, he’s looking at a contract in my opinion almost similar to that of either Bryce Harpers (13-years $330M) or Mike Trout (12-year $426.5M) contracts. Tucker playing at the same level of play that both Bryce Harper and Mike Trout were playing at when they signed their deals and with the market being the way it is now adays for star players that’s what the demand will be. The Chicago Cubs, now that they have Cody Bellinger’s contract off the books can certainly get a deal of this magnitude done.
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