The New York Mets have signed Bo Bichette to a blockbuster contract after missing out on high-profile target Kyle Tucker to the Los Angeles Dodgers, U.S. media reported Friday.<\/p>\n
The pair of deals by MLB’s biggest-spending franchises for arguably the offseason’s two most coveted free agents had yet to be confirmed by the clubs, but have sent shock waves through a sport already divided over huge payroll disparities.<\/p>\n
Bichette, who powered the Toronto Blue Jays to a World Series appearance last year, has signed a three-year deal worth $126 million, league sources told The Athletic.<\/p>\n
Though typically a shortstop, he is reportedly expected to play third base for the Mets if the move, which is pending a physical, is finalized.<\/p>\n
On Thursday night, ESPN reported that Tucker \u2014 another Mets target \u2014 had instead opted for the Dodgers, who have won the two past World Series titles.<\/p>\n
Tucker’s deal is for four years at $240 million, the U.S. sports outlet reported.<\/p>\n
The right fielder spent last season with the Chicago Cubs after a hugely successful stint with the Houston Astros that included their 2022 World Series crown.<\/p>\n
Tucker now joins a star-studded Dodgers lineup that also includes the likes of Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. The Los Angeles franchise will be eyeing a historic World Series threepeat.<\/p>\n
But their recent free-spending dominance has drawn criticism from rival teams, particularly in smaller markets, who say they cannot compete financially.<\/p>\n
MLB is the only major North American league not to have a salary cap, instead implementing a luxury tax for teams that exceed a payroll threshold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Mets have signed Bo Bichette to a blockbuster contract after missing out on high-profile target…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,21598,16051,1187,591,1830,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-418536","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-bo-bichette","11":"tag-kyle-tucker","12":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-new-york-mets","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}