{"id":392481,"date":"2026-01-07T05:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T05:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/392481\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T05:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T05:28:10","slug":"blue-jays-making-more-aggressive-run-at-kyle-tucker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/392481\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays Making More Aggressive Run At Kyle Tucker"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Blue Jays had already been one of the sport\u2019s most aggressive teams before signing NPB star Kazuma Okamoto<\/a> to a four-year, $60MM contract over the weekend. Okamoto joins\u00a0Dylan Cease<\/a>,\u00a0Cody Ponce<\/a> and\u00a0Tyler Rogers<\/a> as significant free agent acquisitions. They\u2019ve also been one of the clubs most frequently tied to the top two free agent hitters,\u00a0Kyle Tucker<\/a> and\u00a0Bo Bichette<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There has been plenty of speculation that the Jays could be Tucker\u2019s eventual landing spot. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com<\/a> wrote yesterday that two of his sources pegged Toronto as the favorite for the market\u2019s top player. Meanwhile, Mitch Bannon of The Athletic<\/a> reports this evening that the Jays are making a stronger push for Tucker than they had earlier in the winter. Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet<\/a> adds that the sides have had recent conversations, though he suggests the door remains open to Tucker or Bichette. Toronto\u2019s interest in Tucker stretches back to the beginning of the offseason; he visited the club\u2019s Spring Training facility in Dunedin on December 3.<\/p>\n

RosterResource<\/a> calculates the Jays\u2019 payroll around $280MM, which is already $40MM above where they opened the 2025 season. Their luxury tax estimate sits at $308MM, more than $20MM north of last year\u2019s season-ending tax number. They\u2019re above the $304MM mark that represents the top tier of penalization. That already has them on track to pay around $30MM in luxury taxes, more than all but four teams (the Dodgers, Mets, Yankees and Phillies) paid last season. Any future spending is taxed at a 90% clip on the average annual value. A hypothetical $35MM AAV for Tucker would come with a $31.5MM tax on top of it.<\/p>\n

[Related Poll: Will Jays Add Another Bat?<\/a>]<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear how much of a deterrent the tax obligations are for the Jays. They\u2019re already into uncharted financial waters after coming a few inches away from their first World Series in three decades. The Rogers ownership group and the front office are clearly committed to a win-now posture.\u00a0George Springer<\/a>,\u00a0Shane Bieber<\/a>,\u00a0Kevin Gausman<\/a> and Daulton Varsho<\/a> will all be free agents next offseason. That\u2019s a lot of money coming off the books but also four key contributors whom they\u2019re not guaranteed to have back in 2027, which should only increase the motivation to make another run this year.<\/p>\n

Tucker, a career .273\/.358\/.507 hitter, is the best offensive player available. He\u2019d step into an everyday right field role, pushing\u00a0Anthony Santander<\/a> to left. The Jays would have Springer as their primary designated hitter. Okamoto and\u00a0Addison Barger<\/a> could play either third base or factor into the corner outfield. It wouldn\u2019t leave much playing time for\u00a0Nathan Lukes<\/a>, who\u2019d be a speculative trade candidate. Lukes is coming off a solid season (.255\/.323\/.407 with 12 homers) but isn\u2019t the kind of player who\u2019ll prevent teams from making a run at a star.<\/p>\n

General manager Ross Atkins spoke in generalities this morning about the team\u2019s diligence in looking for continued ways to improve (link via Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet<\/a>). Atkins noted that any \u201cadditions at this point start to cut away playing time from players that we feel are very good major league pieces.\u201d While it\u2019s not a given that they\u2019ll make any moves, that\u2019d seemingly point toward them only strongly pursuing impact talent rather than targeting marginal upgrades over role players.<\/p>\n

If the Jays were to land Tucker, that\u2019d almost certainly close the door on a reunion with Bichette. One team signing the top three free agents in an offseason is essentially without precedent, and adding both players would push Toronto\u2019s luxury tax number well above $350MM. Bannon indeed suggests that while the Jays aren\u2019t out of the running for Bichette, a new deal with their longtime shortstop looks less likely after the Okamoto signing.<\/p>\n

Playing Okamoto and\/or Barger regularly at third base pushes Ernie Clement<\/a> to second, where Bichette would probably be penciled in if he heads back to Rogers Centre. The bigger deterrent may simply be a reluctance on the team\u2019s part to make a long-term commitment to Bichette. Bannon writes that a reunion could be more likely if the infielder settles for a shorter deal that allows him to opt out after the first season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Blue Jays had already been one of the sport\u2019s most aggressive teams before signing NPB star Kazuma…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[382,10006,363,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-392481","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-bo-bichette","9":"tag-kyle-tucker","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}