Los Angeles Dodgers star outfielder Kyle Tucker revealed why he signed with L.A. over teams like the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Mets.
In his introductory press conference on Tuesday, Tucker said, “There are a lot of great ball clubs out there with great teams, and they all have unique things that make them great.
“But kind of like I said, I think this organization from the top down is first-class, and the team that these guys put together and assembled to give a great product for the fan base and the city to go out there and compete for a championship kind of speaks for itself. Just kind of taking everything into account and wanting to be a part of that, I think is very special. You don’t really get that very often. So it’ll be a lot of fun playing with these guys and competing for another, hopefully, a three-peat here.”
Tucker signed a four-year, $240 million contract with the Dodgers.
The race for the 29-year-old All-Star was an intense one. Not only were the Dodgers in on Tucker, but so were L.A.’s National League rival, the New York Mets and the team that L.A. faced in the 2025 World Series, the Toronto Blue Jays.
According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the Blue Jays were offering Tucker a long-term deal, but it paid him less than he was seeking. As for the Mets, they were willing to pay him $50 million per season.
Did the Dodgers Just Pull Off Their Third Straight Offseason Heist?
The Dodgers come out as winners in this move, and that has been the case for the past three offseasons. Los Angeles has dominated the offseason, and that has translated well into the season.
It all started in 2023, when the Dodgers landed arguably the best player ever, Shohei Ohtani. A few days later, the Dodgers signed international superstar Yoshinobu Yamamoto to a massive contract, the largest for any pitcher in league history.
L.A. stuck gold, and it immediately translated to a World Series win. Last offseason, the Dodgers didn’t stop there, adding Japanese sensation Roki Sasaki to shore up their starting rotation.
Now in comes Tucker. The Dodgers desperately needed to improve their outfield, and they did so on both defense and offense by adding the four-time All-Star.
The Florida native is a complete baseball player. He does it all on offense and alongside players like Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, and Max Muncy, to name a few; it will be tough to get outs on L.A.
As for his defense, Tucker may not be the elite defensive outfielder he was in 2022, but he is certainly an upgrade over last season. While that is the case, his numbers last season were suspect, ranking in the 25th percentile in Outs Above Average, the 83rd percentile in arm value, and the 58th percentile in arm strength.
L.A. is the team to beat and has all the tools to complete the three-peat.
4 Responses
Why is Kyle Tucker wearing Kirk Gibson’s uniform at his introductory presser? (Poor Optics, certain numbers are off-limits even though they are not officially retired numbers)
Eh, poor form at his into maybe, but might be his number from his last team. And Gibson who had a great year with seemingly ordinary numbers and an unbelievable World Series homer, was only a Dodger for what, 2 years?
I think it’s been used since then, perhaps more than once and recently even, though I don’t have the data at hand.
Probably because his number belongs to Dave Roberts and he didn’t want to make a scene asking for it. Besides, while Gibson did hit one of the biggest HR in Dodger postseason history and was the NL MVP in 1988 but he only played three years with the Dodgers and his career with Dodgers was a declining one. He had 150 Games played’s in 1988, his MVP Year, but only 71 in 1989 and just 59 in 1990. He had 25 HR, 9 HR and 8 HR respectively and a WAR of 6.2, 0.8 and 2.3 over his three years. Injuries dogged him after 1988 and after 1990 he signed as a free agent with the Kanas City Royals who traded him to the Pirates in 1992, whom he retired from on May 5th 1992. Some years later Sparky Anderson convinced him come back to baseball and he played his final three season with Detroit from 1993 to 1995. Gibson all-out style of play led to injuries to his legs that caused him to be available less than 25.4% of the time and he retired permanently as a player after 1995..
Gibson was good for the Dodgers but he wasn’t with the team long enough to deserve any more than cursory acclaim. If Tucker wants to wear his number for 2-4 years then let him. I’m sure Gibby wouldn’t care, so why should we?
Tucker was unable to wear No. 30 with the Dodgers because Dave Roberts wears it. Tucker chose to wear No. 23 in honor of his mentor.