{"id":207466,"date":"2025-10-12T12:30:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T12:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/207466\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T12:30:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T12:30:06","slug":"kyle-tucker-unsure-of-cubs-return-as-free-agency-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/207466\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyle Tucker unsure of Cubs return as free agency looms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With the <a data-clubhouse-guid=\"5cda5067-7075-66b1-4b94-2333ab8d9807\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com.au\/mlb\/team\/_\/name\/chc\/chicago-cubs\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chicago Cubs<\/a>&#8216; season having come to an end, the questions about <a data-player-guid=\"b963b85d-6db2-f0e5-b763-88d4a41c0d73\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/player\/_\/id\/34967\/kyle-tucker\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kyle Tucker<\/a>&#8216;s future can start.<\/p>\n<p>One of the biggest prizes on the market entering free agency, the outfielder said after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com.au\/mlb\/story\/_\/id\/46567492\/brewers-top-cubs-game-5-make-first-nlcs-2018\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Saturday&#8217;s loss in Game 5<\/a> of the NL Division Series to the <a data-clubhouse-guid=\"4750d73d-d92e-b390-758c-2c7b44a810db\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com.au\/mlb\/team\/_\/name\/mil\/milwaukee-brewers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Milwaukee Brewers<\/a> that he isn&#8217;t sure what&#8217;s next.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll see what happens,&#8221; said Tucker, who could command a deal in the $400 million range in free agency after agreeing to a $16.5 million deal to avoid arbitration this season. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know what the future is going to hold. If not, it was an honor playing with all these guys and I wish everyone the best of luck, whether it&#8217;s playing next year or not with them. It&#8217;s a really fun group to be a part of.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Editor&#8217;s Picks<\/p>\n<p>2 Related<\/p>\n<p>The addition of Tucker, who was acquired via trade from the <a data-clubhouse-guid=\"00a3015f-09ec-1b03-52af-656f5e0a18d5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com.au\/mlb\/team\/_\/name\/hou\/houston-astros\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Houston Astros<\/a> prior to this season, buoyed the Cubs&#8217; hopes of a deep postseason run. And when Tucker was healthy and rolling early in the season, he was a viable MVP candidate and a catalyst in a dynamic, varied offense.<\/p>\n<p>However, Tucker, who turns 29 in January, suffered a fractured right hand in June and a calf strain in September as the Brewers won the NL Central by five games over the Cubs, who landed the top wild-card spot at 92-70.<\/p>\n<p>After returning from the hand injury, Tucker struggled at the plate, hitting .218 in July and .244 in August.<\/p>\n<p>Still, he slashed .266\/.377\/.464 for the season with 22 home runs, 73 RBIs and 25 steals in 136 games while earning an All-Star nod for the Cubs. He returned in time for the playoffs and was 7-for-27 with a home run and one RBI.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He meant a lot,&#8221; first baseman <a data-player-guid=\"52d0b18a-1810-3aa6-b963-84ecef72a66d\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/player\/_\/id\/42415\/michael-busch\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Michael Busch<\/a> told reporters. &#8220;The consistency of at-bat. Getting on base and driving [in runs]. He&#8217;s just as complete of a hitter as you can get. I think putting him in any lineup, he&#8217;s going to be right up at the top. I think he&#8217;s one of the best hitters in the game. He can change that lineup just with putting him in there.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But the Cubs and Tucker, who is represented by Excel Sports Management, never came to an agreement on a long-term deal as the season unfolded.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t really know right now,&#8221; Tucker said when asked if the Cubs have an advantage in signing him as a free agent. &#8220;I was more worried about the game tonight and everything. I&#8217;ll kind of get through this today and worry about that a little later.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think this team is really, really talented. A great group of guys. And I can definitely see this team having a lot of success in the future.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>ESPN&#8217;s Jesse Rogers and Bradford Doolittle contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the Chicago Cubs&#8216; season having come to an end, the questions about Kyle Tucker&#8216;s future can start.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-207466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}