Despite there already being major free agent signings this offseason, the baseball world is holding its breath to see where slugger Kyle Tucker ends up signing.
The outfielder is expected to be one of if not the most highly-coveted free agents this offseason, with an expected average annual value of about $38 million for the 28-year-old star.
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Tucker has had bad luck with injuries over the past two seasons, but hit 55 home runs in 214 games over the past two years.
“It goes without saying that when he’s healthy, Tucker is one of the best hitters in the league,” an MLB executive told ESPN. “Pair him with other good hitters like he had in Houston, and he’s even better.”
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According to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, the Los Angeles Dodgers — who are not a team known for shying away from signing top free agents — remain interested in bringing in Tucker. With a relative weakness in the outfield, the Dodgers could easily justify bringing in one of the league’s best right fielders in Tucker.
According to Feinsand’s reporting, the Dodgers, Yankees and Mets are interested in Tucker, although the Toronto Blue Jays seem to be in the lead as the four-time All-Star has already visited their player development complex in Florida earlier this month.
“Let’s not get carried away with that idea. You remember Shohei Ohtani, a couple of years ago, visiting the Jays Training Complex in Dunedin, didn’t sign,” Ken Rosenthal said on Foul Territory. “This is a normal thing for players to do. And Kyle Tucker does live in Tampa, which is a short drive from Dunedin. So really for him, hop, skip, and a jump, no big deal to go there. But at the same time, I don’t want to underplay this.”
The Dodgers have reportedly been focusing on signing players to short-term deals with higher average annual values rather than coming to terms on 10 or 12-year contracts as they did with Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Tucker, who is just 28 with plenty of prime years left, might prefer the long term security of a long term deal.
Photo Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
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