Chicago Cubs not having Kyle Tucker non-buyer’s remorse

The Chicago Cubs don’t look to be having non-buyer’s remorse when it comes to Kyle Tucker.

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The team essentially let the right fielder walk into free agency this past offseason without much of an effort to keep him aboard. The lack of a real try to re-sign the four-time All-Star following just one year with the team—after trading away their no. 1 draft pick Cam Smith, third baseman Isaac Paredes, and pitcher Hayden Wesneski to get him—sort of speaks volumes.

It also raised a few eyebrows when their official 2025 highlight real used to kick off the Cubs convention in January showed no footage of Tucker.

And now, Chicago can look at the stat sheets and box scores and totally justify using that Tucker money to sign Alex Bregman and a couple of relievers instead.

As of this writing, Tucker is hitting just .239 with 3 home runs and 15 RBIs for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who signed him to a “Dodger-y” 4-year, $240 million contract in January.

These aren’t really irredeemably “bad” stats, but they’re not $60 million AAV stats by a long shot.

Patience running thin for Kyle Tucker in LA

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The slow start has already stirred up some negativity among fans and media.

Per Billy Heyen of Sporting News:

“They had just traded for Kyle Tucker a year earlier, but when he hit free agency in the offseason, they didn’t really pursue him. They let teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays battle for his next contract.

The Cubs may have known what was coming, or they may have gotten lucky.

But so far, Tucker’s deal with the Dodgers hasn’t worked out.

He signed an absurd four-year, $240 million contract—that’s $60 million a season, although some is deferred.

And so far, Tucker has been a below league average hitter. His OPS+ is just 96, which means he’s been 4% worse than the league average bat.”

Dylan Hernandez of AOL.com was just as harsh, even after a walk-off hit Monday night by Tucker versus the Marlins:

“The purported grand prize of the most recent free-agent class, the $60-million-a-year left-handed hitter is batting just .236, even after his ninth-inning heroics. His batting average and OPS are the lowest of any of the Dodgers’ regular starters, and his early-season slump already prompted Roberts to drop him in the lineup from second to fourth.”

Tucker’s “trying too hard”

“I think he’s probably trying a little bit hard,” Dodgers hitting coach Aaron Bates told The Athletic. “He’s just getting settled in a little bit. Everyone’s always trying hard, so I don’t want to say it that way, but it’s more so (that he’s) trying to force it, maybe force hits.”

Bates’ conciliatory words reflect all of the Cubs coaching staff’s words last season as Tucker languished through a career-worst slump that began on July 1 and never actually ended.

Tucker’s poor performance and a perceived lack of fire to turn things around even drew boos from the usually mega-loyal Wrigley Field fans. A late season calf strain made things even worse as he sat out a bunch and only contributed as a DH in the postseason.

By the end of his Cubs run, the fans who were rabid about re-signing him throughout the entire first half of the season, were absolutely silent when they saw that the front office was moving on.

Tucker may turn his season around and start putting up elite numbers. It’s still April, after all. But the Cubs won’t be missing him or cursing his departure. In Chicago, he just wasn’t the right player for the right team at the right time.

The post Chicago Cubs not having Kyle Tucker non-buyer’s remorse appeared first on ChiCitySports.

Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-kyle-tucker-slow-start-dodgers-free-agent/