{"id":287994,"date":"2026-04-27T11:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T11:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/287994\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T11:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T11:37:08","slug":"kyle-tuckers-former-cubs-teammates-shocked-by-his-dodgers-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/287994\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyle Tucker’s former Cubs teammates shocked by his Dodgers deal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kyle Tucker<\/a>\u2019s signing with the Dodgers<\/a> surprised Cubs hitting coach Dustin Kelly.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot surprised that the Dodgers were in on him,\u201d Kelly told The Times before the season. \u201cSurprised that they were actually able to pull it off and get him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly, a former Dodgers minor league coach, said he exchanged text messages with Tucker over the offseason. But Kelly had avoided bringing up Tucker\u2019s free agency, seeing the news at the same time as the rest of the industry gawked at his four-year, $240-million contract<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s going to be a great place for him,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cThat staff is incredible. I know that staff really well. They\u2019re going to treat him really, really good, he\u2019s going to fit in great there, and Dodger Stadium is a great place to hit. I mean, it\u2019s not cold and there\u2019s not wind.\u201d<\/p>\n

This weekend, the Cubs escaped Chicago, which tends to be cold and windy this time of year, to face Tucker and his new team at Dodger Stadium.<\/p>\n

Tucker has had a glacial offensive start to his Dodgers tenure. Through Sunday, he had a .696 OPS. But moving him out of the No. 2 spot in the batting order has been a promising development. In four games hitting cleanup or fifth, he has four hits, including three doubles.<\/p>\n

The Cubs saw both versions of Tucker in the batter\u2019s box last year, when a lingering hand injury threw off his swing mechanics in the second half, but also when his hot bat elevated the offense in a torrid first half.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy, there\u2019s probably not many guys who you could add to that [Dodgers] lineup and look at and be like, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s better,\u2019\u201d Cubs first baseman Michael Busch<\/a>, a former Dodgers prospect said this spring. \u201cBut I think Tucker\u2019s a guy who you add to any lineup in this league and he\u2019s going to make it better no matter what.\u201d<\/p>\n

In some ways, Tucker\u2019s landing in L.A. was all too predictable. The Dodgers have been so successful at recruiting the best free agents on the market in recent years that it\u2019s become a point of exasperation for opposing teams and fan bases.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t surprised,\u201d Cubs left fielder Ian Happ<\/a> said this spring. \u201cFor a short-term high AAV [annual average value] deal, that\u2019s the perfect suitor. And he\u2019s going to be great in that lineup, great place for him to hit. It all lines up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, however, wasn\u2019t sure they could tempt Tucker with that kind of contract, knowing other teams were willing to offer far longer deals.<\/p>\n

Tucker chose the Dodgers anyway.<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers right fielder Kyle Tucker celebrates with teammates in the dugout after hitting a home run against the New York Mets on April 15.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is great organization, great players and people,\u201d Tucker said in a conversation with The Times at the beginning of the season. \u201cI think it gives me a pretty good chance at being a part of something great and having success here. And the city and the atmosphere and everything, playing here is great.\u201d<\/p>\n

He spoke highly of the home facilities at Dodger Stadium, the support the team provides for the players\u2019 families and charity efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust made sense for me,\u201d Tucker said, \u201cand I just wanted to be part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The contract offer was no slouch either. It included opt outs after the second and third years. And it came with a record-setting present-day annual average value ($57.1 million when factoring in deferrals).<\/p>\n

Tucker\u2019s former Cubs teammates and coaches, for the most part, had a similar reaction to that number.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty wild,\u201d Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson<\/a> said. \u201cGood for him, good for other players that just like continuing to push the needle and set the precedent for guys to make the money that they\u2019re making.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly raised his eyebrows.<\/p>\n

\u201cHigh,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it makes sense with what we\u2019ve seen. … It\u2019s not that far-fetched anymore for these teams to do the shorter term deals with the big number with an opt out in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

It won\u2019t be possible to evaluate the success of the signing until the end of Tucker\u2019s contract. But the Dodgers clearly thought it was a fair price for what he could provide. And the structure was part of a recent trend.<\/p>\n

Swinging back from a spike of uber-long deals \u2014 starting in 2021 and peaking with Juan Soto\u2019s 15-year, $765-million contract with the Mets after the 2024 season \u2014 shorter term, higher AAV deals have become increasingly popular recently.<\/p>\n

When Tucker signed with the Dodgers, he was the best free-agent hitter available, joining a star-powered team that had just won its second straight World Series title. The signing was immediately thrust into the context of an upcoming collective bargaining fight and likely lockout.<\/p>\n

Happ, a former member of the MLB Players Assn. executive subcommittee, pushed back on the narrative that Tucker\u2019s contract could be a tipping point.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see that as like the one thing or the last thing,\u201d Happ said. \u201cYou could have made that argument however many years ago when a bunch of guys signed over 10-year, $300-million deals that it was like, \u2018This is out of control.\u2019 And you see how the market\u2019s moved.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Sunday<\/a>, Tucker showcased the kind of all-around influence he\u2019s been known for in his career. He hit a double off Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga in the first inning, drew a walk in the sixth and scored on an errant back-pick attempt. He made a sliding catch in the right-center gap to rob Cubs utility player Matt Shaw of a hit.<\/p>\n

This was the player for whom the Dodgers were willing to break another record.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kyle Tucker\u2019s signing with the Dodgers surprised Cubs hitting coach Dustin Kelly. \u201cNot surprised that the Dodgers were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287995,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[11585,2139,123294,123297,123296,11199,40287,11443,48,52,51,6131,47,50,49,123295,1459,278,123298,32722,427],"class_list":["post-287994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-cubs","tag-dodger-stadium","tag-dodgers-contract","tag-dodgers-deal","tag-former-cubs-teammate","tag-great-player","tag-kelly","tag-kyle-tucker","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lineup","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-many-guy","tag-part","tag-season","tag-short-term-deal","tag-signing","tag-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}