{"id":405313,"date":"2026-07-20T15:04:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/405313\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T15:04:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:04:24","slug":"dodgers-arent-panicking-over-their-60-million-kyle-tucker-bet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/405313\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers aren’t panicking over their $60 million Kyle Tucker bet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEW YORK\u00a0\u2014\u00a0He is baseball\u2019s invisible man.<\/p>\n

Remember when the Dodgers<\/a> signed Kyle Tucker<\/a>? The prophets of doom wailed<\/a>. The Dodgers had opened Pandora\u2019s box, and out would fly a lockout<\/a>, a pall of smoke over their games, and a plague of locusts.<\/p>\n

The salary cap proposal was coming anyway. The Dodgers did play through wildfire smoke at Yankee Stadium last Friday. No locusts, at least not yet.<\/p>\n

But no one foretold that the star to whom the Dodgers agreed last winter to pay an average of $60 million each year would be, well, average.<\/p>\n

Over the first half of the season, Tucker\u2019s OPS+ was 100, making him a player defined by that metric as \u201cleague average.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is batting .240, 30 points below his career average. He is on pace for full-season career lows in home runs (11) and OPS (.702).<\/p>\n

His WAR is 0.9, below the 1.3 of Tyler Glasnow<\/a>. By that metric, Tucker has contributed less to the Dodgers\u2019 success this season than Glasnow, who has pitched in seven of the team\u2019s first 100 games.<\/p>\n

Hardly anyone outside Los Angeles has noticed, and hardly anyone in Los Angeles has gotten all worked up about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate that our fan base, compared to some others, gives a lot more grace to players,\u201d Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. \u201cAnd I know he sees that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here is what Tucker\u2019s trials have cost the Dodgers: Absolutely nothing. <\/p>\n

He had two hits, both singles, in 13 at-bats as his team won the weekend series against the New York Yankees. The Dodgers remain the owners of the best record in the major leagues.<\/p>\n

Tucker\u2019s four-year contract, lucrative as it is, was not accompanied by a withering spotlight. He does not need to lift his team into the postseason, a burden often borne by marquee free agents signed to put their team over the top.<\/p>\n

With the Dodgers?<\/p>\n

Shohei Ohtani<\/a> is the face of baseball. Freddie Freeman<\/a>\u2019s son walked around the All-Star Game in a T-shirt that read \u201cMy Dad Has 2,500 Hits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mookie Betts<\/a> last played here as a World Series-winning, Gold Glove-winning right fielder; he returned as a World Series-winning, Gold Glove-caliber shortstop.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it certainly helps being around a lot of other guys who have high expectations,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n

Neither rain nor smoke nor heat can keep the Dodgers from their appointed October rounds. They need Tucker to prosper then.<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers outfielder Kyle Tucker singles during the second inning against the New York Yankees on Friday.<\/p>\n

(Caleb Bowlin \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we all want to play well all year,\u201d Betts said. \u201cIt\u2019s not like we\u2019re kicking the can and nobody cares. Even then, we\u2019d love to be ready in October.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really just about playing. You never know. You could have a great October and get one hit, and it could be the biggest hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said Tucker: \u201cEveryone here is very talented. Everyone is here to help each other out. Everyone here just wants to get back to another World Series, and win it. So I\u2019m trying to do my part and just play baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n

He insists he is not weighted down by the external expectations that accompany his contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s the beauty of it, the thing that\u2019s refreshing,\u201d Betts said. \u201cI don\u2019t think he cares about any of that. He just wants to play well and do his thing and help the boys.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he really cares about the expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

You may think \u201c$60 million\u201d when he comes to the plate. He does not.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try, regardless of what my situation is,\u201d Tucker said. \u201cSometimes it works out. Sometimes it doesn\u2019t. I\u2019ve just got to try and do better.\u201d<\/p>\n

His strikeouts are up significantly this season. His bat speed is down slightly. His hard contact rate is down significantly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s working on fixing his swing. He\u2019s been working on it. He\u2019ll keep working on it.<\/p>\n

Roberts said the quality of Tucker\u2019s at-bats have looked better over the past couple weeks, even if the results may not show it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing that I\u2019ve appreciated since Day 1 is, he hasn\u2019t run from his struggles,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cHe\u2019s owned it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tucker made the All-Star Game in each of the four years preceding this one. The Dodgers are betting his level of performance will at least approach that in the second half.<\/p>\n

Betts said he does not see anything specific to worry about with Tucker.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see anything at all,\u201d Betts said. \u201cHe\u2019s a competitor. He\u2019s already come through a bunch during the year. It\u2019s not like he\u2019s not doing anything.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not hitting .330 with 30 [home runs], like we all would dream we were doing, right? But, as a team, we\u2019re doing OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, the Dodgers are. Their true season starts in a little more than two months.<\/p>\n

From Tucker, the accountability is appreciated. Production would be better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK\u00a0\u2014\u00a0He is baseball\u2019s invisible man. Remember when the Dodgers signed Kyle Tucker? The prophets of doom wailed.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2135,426,423,1049,162534,48,52,51,47,50,49,63,3835,1594,424,278,16030,427,26336,162535,72],"class_list":["post-405313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-baseball","tag-dodgers","tag-game","tag-hit","tag-kyle-tucker-bet","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-mookie-betts","tag-other","tag-roberts","tag-season","tag-smoke","tag-team","tag-tucker","tag-world-series-winning","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405313","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=405313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}