The Cubs and outfielder Kyle Tucker on Thursday agreed to a one-year, $16.5 million deal for the 2025 season, reports ESPN. This deal means the two sides avoid what would be an uncomfortable arbitration hearing, but it’s still possible some feelings of angst will linger for Chicago’s newly acquired All-Star.
Tucker initially asked for $17.5 million while the Cubs were offering $15 million in front of the filing deadline. At the time, the two sides failed to agree. This sent a good portion of Cubs fandom into a tailspin. If the Cubs just traded so much capital for one year of Tucker, why weren’t they trying to extend him in good faith and if they were trying to extend him before he hit free agency, why play around with this arbitration filing?
The good news is the two sides have agreed to terms now and maybe it’s a positive sign that the Cubs ended up coming up with the offer more than Tucker came down from his asking price.
Still, sometimes this stuff can matter in the big picture. Remember, then-Brewers ace Corbin Burnes said his arbitration battle “hurt” his relationship with the team. Gerrit Cole was once so furious with the Pirates for low-balling him that he called a media outlet to vent.
Then again, each player is different and Tucker just joined the Cubs. It’s entirely possible he doesn’t even worry about the arbitration process and just let his agency (Excel Sports Management) handle matters.
The Cubs, however, absolutely should be doing everything they can to sign Tucker to an extension.
They traded productive third baseman Isaac Paredes, pitcher Hayden Wesneski and top-level prospect Cam Smith to the Astros for Tucker last month. Tucker is just one year away from free agency. The Cubs then traded Cody Bellinger to the Yankees, and the thought was this freed up money to enhance the remaining Cubs roster, but the way things have unfolded thus far, it sure looks like Bellinger was traded to be able to afford Tucker.
If this all happened for just one year of Tucker, the optics are terrible for Jed Hoyer’s front office and the Ricketts family ownership group.
After dismantling the core of the 2016 World Series champions, both Hoyer and Ricketts publicly told fans this wouldn’t be another radical rebuild. It wasn’t, but they haven’t shown the commitment to more than mediocrity since. After losing 91 games in 2021 and 88 in 2022, they have gone 83-79 in each of the past two seasons. Save for a Bellinger out/Tucker in swap and a few other minor moves, the 2025 Cubs right now don’t look much different than the 2024 Cubs.
Tucker is an upgrade over Bellinger, to be sure. He’s the type of star around which to build a ballclub. He finished fifth in AL MVP voting in 2023 and was having a monster year last season before injury held him to 78 games. He hit .298 with a 181 OPS+, 23 homers and 4.7 WAR in a little less than a half-season. He turns 28 years old on Friday.
Absent some other high-profile moves, it looks like the offseason has been a half-measure for Hoyer. That wouldn’t be all too surprising in light of his track record as the big boss so far, but he’s only under contract for one more year. Does the Ricketts family only demand mediocrity these days or does Hoyer really believe the team as constructed is so much better than last year that a deep playoff run is possible?
There’s still plenty of time before spring training to change the narrative. There are big free agents left on the board that could move the needle. The Cubs have a great farm system now and could shed more of it to land a major player via trade, again. Tucker would be signed to a major-market extension, which would look like a great sign to the fan base.
In the meantime, though, the offseason since what looked like a brilliant trade for Tucker has been a series of head-scratchers and it looks like Hoyer is pulling another half-measure.
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