Chicago Cubs right fielder Kyle Tucker is playing his way to earning a nice contract extension in the early season. Tucker arrived in Chicago on the final year of his contract via a trade from the Houston Astros this offseason.
Tucker is batting .322/.452./.678 with five home runs. He leads the Cubs in hits (19) and runs scored (16). The three-time All-Star made telling comments after seeing the Toronto Blue Jays give Vladimir Guerrero Jr a 14-year deal worth $500 million this week, saying he was with the Cubs for “right now.”
The Chicago Cubs are gauging the market
During an appearance Thursday on 670 The Score‘s “Mully & Hugh Show,” Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins said Guerrero’s contract made it hard for the Cubs to judge the market when it comes to Tucker’s potential extension.
“Generally, you’re trying to judge markets,” Hawkins said as to whether he felt there was a sense of urgency to extend Tucker after Guerrero’s extension. “You’re trying to understand, are there certain positions, certain players that are overvalued or undervalued, and allocate your dollars appropriately within those contexts, but it’s hard to judge markets.
“The guys that are doing it on Wall Street are having a really hard time right now, and it’s not too much easier over here in baseball either.”
Can the Cubs win efficiently with Kyle Tucker on a new contract?
Hawkins dropped a clue about how Chicago will determine whether to extend Tucker or not. They want to make sure paying Tucker is “efficient” for their goal of winning when it comes to their overall budget.
“So yeah, I mean, those are conversations that we’re constantly having during the offseason, and during the season, trying to understand where there might be some inefficiencies,” Hawkins said. “And we’re just trying to make sure that when we’re spending money, that that money is going towards wins, and that money is going towards wins in an efficient fashion.
“And there’s a lot underneath that sentence, but that’s really the goal.”
Chicago doesn’t want to give Tucker a hefty contract at the expense of not being able to put quality players around him.
GM Carter Hawkins: Tucker is a player to build around
Hawkins wouldn’t say if the Cubs were negotiating with Tucker during the season, but he did echo president Jed Hoyer’s earlier statements that Tucker is a player to build around.
“He’s a player you want to build around, and he’s absolutely an elite hitter in this league, and played a great defense as well, Hawkins said. ” And he’s carried our lineup along with our catchers over the last couple of weeks, and we’ll expect to see that continue through the season.”
How much will the lineup have to change if they pay Tucker?
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